Demand Planner

Role Overview

As a Demand Planner located in Durban, you will be pivotal in steering the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, ensuring alignment across cross-functional teams and managing demand forecasting to support company sales targets accurately.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional Sales and Operations Planning meetings and ensure timely delivery of all required data with clear underlying assumptions.
• Develop a harmonized S&OP plan that transparently highlights risks and opportunities, supported by clear data and consensus forecasts.
• Keep the S&OP process decision-oriented, documenting decisions and executing follow-up actions effectively.
• Align demand forecasts with financial, sales, and marketing strategies to meet sales objectives.
• Collaborate with Centers of Excellence to identify capacity constraints in the unconstrained demand plan and implement action plans to optimize customer service while minimizing costs.
• Manage various demand planning scopes including S&OP, standard and manual planning, promotion planning, new product planning, and forecast enrichment.
• Produce the most accurate net demand forecasts using actual sales consumption data for supply unit decision-making.
• Maintain planning systems by managing master data, correcting historical data, and overseeing product lifecycle phases.
• Maintain clear distinction between contributions from different forecasting steps and ensure statistical forecasts by central teams remain unmodified.
• Enhance forecasts with market and customer insights to improve reliability.
• Take full responsibility for sales forecasting of new product launches and challenge launch volumes to align with pipeline fill targets.
• Plan and manage Value Added Services (VAS) promotions separately to identify promotional uplift, adjusting forecasts as necessary.
• Engage in VAS development and coordinate with demand, supply, and cross-functional teams to ensure timely and specification-compliant availability of repacked products, displays, and gift packs.
• Manage VAS repacking capacity through partnerships with third-party co-packers and monitor component stock levels.
• Oversee supplier (co-packer) relationships and maintain excellent master data quality for involved processes.
• Continuously seek to improve process efficiency and cost management in collaboration with logistics partners to reduce VAS expenses.

Candidate Profile

• Possession of a relevant 3-year undergraduate degree.
• A minimum of 2 to 3 years’ experience in operational demand planning, preferably in FMCG.
• Advanced knowledge of statistical forecasting techniques, SAP APO, and business analytics tools such as Power BI, Analysis for Office, and PowerQuery is preferred.
• Strong analytical, organizational, decision-making, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work independently and cultivate productive internal and external partnerships.
• Proactive in challenging current methods and open to adopting new approaches and feedback.
• Effective team player with strong knowledge and skill-sharing capabilities.
• Fluent in English.

About Beiersdorf

For over 140 years, Beiersdorf has innovated in skin and body care with renowned brands such as NIVEA, Eucerin, La Prairie, Hansaplast, and Labello. We embody the purpose “WE CARE BEYOND SKIN,” committing to consumers, employees, environment, and society through an inclusive culture rooted in respect, trust, and our core values: CARE, COURAGE, SIMPLICITY, and TRUST. We champion diversity and equal opportunity for all.

Additional Information

Your dedicated recruiter is Akash Sharma. Application submission is through Beiersdorf’s internal intranet, with the deadline on 22nd September 2026.