Head of Demand Planning

As part of the next phase of the company's evolution, they are seeking an ambitious and commercially minded Head of Demand Planning to establish and lead a best-in-class demand planning function. This is a genuinely greenfield role, offering the successful candidate the chance to design processes, build capability, influence strategy, and create a scalable planning framework that supports continued global expansion.

The Opportunity

You will be responsible for developing the demand planning vision and roadmap, creating a robust forecasting capability and driving alignment across Sales, Commercial, Finance, Operations and Supply Chain.

You will lead the implementation of best-practice demand planning processes whilst providing strategic insight that enables the business to make informed decisions around capacity, inventory, service and growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and implement the company's end-to-end demand planning strategy.
• Establish forecasting processes, governance and KPI frameworks from the ground up.
• Lead and facilitate the S&OP / IBP demand review process.
• Partner with commercial and regional teams to improve forecast accuracy and demand visibility.
• Build and develop a high-performing demand planning team as the function grows.
• Drive data-led decision making through analysis of market trends, customer demand patterns and business performance.
• Influence inventory, production and capacity planning decisions through accurate forecasting.
• Champion continuous improvement and planning excellence across the organisation.
• Support the implementation and optimisation of planning systems and tools.

About You

We are looking for an experienced demand planning leader who thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment and is excited by the challenge of building something new.

You will ideally possess:

• Significant experience within demand planning, forecasting or integrated business planning within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading S&OP or IBP processes across complex supply chains.
• Proven success building or transforming planning functions and processes.
• Strong leadership capabilities with experience developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leadership.
• Strong analytical capability and a data-driven approach to decision making.
• Experience working within global or multi-site organisations.
• Exposure to advanced planning systems, ERP platforms and forecasting tools.

Why Join?

• Rare opportunity to create and lead a demand planning function from inception.
• Join a global manufacturer experiencing sustained year-on-year growth.
• High-profile position with significant visibility across the executive leadership team.
• Opportunity to shape future supply chain strategy and business performance.
• Opportunity to develop into a group role.
• Excellent career progression within a rapidly growing international organisation.
• Competitive salary, bonus and comprehensive benefits package.

If you are a strategic demand planning leader looking for the opportunity to build, influence and make a lasting impact within a high-growth manufacturing business please send your CV to susannah.warrington@robertwalters.com.