Senior Manager Category Demand Planning

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Your task as a Senior Manager Operational Demand Planning is to drive the planning process and to create the aligned demand and the Demand Planning Signal for China, including all sales channels and brands and respective categories assigned. Deliver accurate rolling forecasts, reports and analysis for business partners, in a standardized approach. Aligns brand and channel demand plans, providing an objective demand plan that reflects true customer demand for the marketplace. Leads cross-functional collaboration to achieve one committed sales plan

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the omni channel demand planning process for the area of responsibility and drives bottom up planning.
  • Ensures adherence to local and global timelines
  • Leads the demand planning process for China with ensuring the timely and accurate output of demand plan to purchasing.
• Manages the upstream data and input required for the End to End demand planning process
  • Resolve issues related to the integration of information between systems (Both upstream and down-stream systems for DP).
  • Provide Demand review information at article level and aggregated level.
  • Participate demand review meetings with focus on forecast trending and comparison vs business targets, define actions items with business team.
• Drives high level of teamwork and interaction between key functional departments.
  • Drive the consensus of the unconstraint Demand between Categories and Channels
  • Facilitate the consensus with the BU and OMB teams
  • Drives to identify opportunities and risks and to facilitate Gap closing activities.
  • Provides senior management team and functional teams with relevant demand planning-related trends analysis, qualitative analysis and management reports to support business decisions.
• Owns the Demand Planning Signal submitted based on the unconstraint demand and the RMA forecast submitted by Marketing, per Channel.
• Finalize Demand Planning Signal prior to sending to Purchasing
  • Ensure demand forecast is regularly reviewed, aligned with respective channel heads
  • Supports management team and purchasing in operational analysis, as input into the Buy Plan Review.
  • Represents Demand Planning in the Buy Plan Review Meeting with Purchasing.
  • Measure and continuously improves the forecast accuracy or other KPI's at market, brand, channel and article levels

Key Relationships:

• adidas and Omni Buy and BU teams
• Wholesale, Franchise, Retail, and Ecommerce teams
• Customer service teams
• Purchasing teams
• IBP teams

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent analytical and ability to see the “big picture” while still playing attention to the details.
• High degree of commercial and business acumen
• Strong planning and organizational skills
• Ability to multi-task in a dynamic environment.
• Ability to challenge the status quo using analysis from data and proposing corrective actions, providing scenarios and options
• Proven methodological skills e.g. trend and forecasting.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills e.g. relationship management, facilitation, team collaboration, and communication skills.
• MS Office (Excel; PowerPoint), SAP APO skills a plus
• Fluent in written and spoken Mandarin and English.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree or equivalent education
• Minimum of 5-7 years' related work experience, preferably in Supply Chain Management/Finance
• Minimum of 2-3 years' experience managing people
• Preferable experience in the sport or clothing industry