Demand Planner

Role overview

Nestlé SA is seeking a Demand Planner to join its Bryanston team. In this role, you will be responsible for shaping, maintaining, and continuously refining demand plans across a portfolio of products and customers. The position also carries end-to-end responsibility for building and sustaining the statistical forecast using insights from Sales, Marketing, and external sources. You will help align the demand plan with internal and external stakeholders through the Monthly Business Planning process and Integrated Collaborative Planning activities, while monitoring exceptions, improving forecast quality, and supporting supply and production planning so finished goods are available in the right place, at the right time, and at the lowest practical cost.

Location and closing date

This position is based in Bryanston, Gauteng, South Africa. The closing date for applications is 18 June 2026.

Key responsibilities

• Set up, update, and safeguard master data in the planning systems, keeping errors, duplicates, and outdated records to a minimum.
• Work closely with Customer Services to keep system health strong and prevent distorted demand signals.
• Coordinate with Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance, and Supply Chain teams to secure commitment and maintain clear communication in line with Monthly Business Planning best practices.
• Capture, assess, prioritize, and load key demand drivers such as marketing activity, sales events, customer and consumer insights, competitor movements, and other internal or external influences.
• Use demand planning system capabilities to manage by exception, following the “Animal Farm” methodology.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing on launches, portfolio changes, commercial decisions, tenders, and customer behavior trends.
• Apply statistical models and Forecast IQ tools to create accurate base forecasts and improve them with commercial intelligence.
• Build and maintain demand plans for assigned products, locations, and customers at the level where business decisions are made.
• Deliver a stable forecast while still reflecting recent market changes and improving demand plan accuracy, consistency, and bias control.
• Ensure planning is carried out at the right aggregation level for both product hierarchy and time horizon.
• Take part in cross-functional planning forums such as Monthly Business Planning, Scenario Planning, and the Dynamic Planning Framework.
• Share forecasts and demand information through reporting, communications, and ad hoc analysis so internal partners have the visibility they need.
• Pass on best practices and tools to other demand planners and help grow a superuser network.
• Track actual sales, sell-out data where available, and unusual demand activity to spot exceptions and missed forecasts early.
• Take prompt corrective action to limit the impact of forecast deviations and keep stakeholders informed.
• Review past performance, manage reason codes and learning logs, and drive improvement in forecast bias and accuracy.
• Identify and implement process or tool improvements that create measurable benefits such as time savings and efficiency gains.
• Assess net dispatch needs and maintain aligned supply and deployment plans that balance demand, capacity, stock corridors, and distribution cost.
• Support promotional execution and new product launches while protecting cost of failure and limiting write-offs.
• Set and regularly review finished goods stock policies across locations, and act quickly when actuals deviate from plan.
• Highlight upcoming supply constraints or risks and provide alternative supply scenarios to support decision-making.
• Challenge manufacturing and production planning teams to maintain the right freshness and inventory levels, and run weekly reviews with supply markets to confirm demand alignment and follow through on critical actions.

Requirements

• A degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, or a closely related field.
• At least 3 years of relevant operational experience in Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, or Finance-related business planning roles.
• Working knowledge of Nestlé Continuous Excellence (NCE) methods.
• Practical understanding of monthly business planning processes and supporting tools.
• Familiarity with the roles, goals, and interactions of cross-functional teams across Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and Finance.

Additional information

Company: Nestlé SA

The role focuses on improving demand visibility, strengthening forecast reliability, and enabling better supply decisions through structured planning and collaboration across functions.