Junior Demand Planner (Fixed Term Contract)

About RCL Foods and Position Overview

RCL Foods is a prominent food manufacturing company committed to delivering trusted brands and nourishing people. With a focus on innovation, sustainability, and employee development, we are searching for a motivated Junior Demand Planner for a 12-month fixed-term contract role within our Supply Chain team based in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Role Purpose and Responsibilities

• Conduct Activity and Demand reviews monthly as part of the S&OP process to communicate forecasted volumes and assumptions to the business unit.
• Collaborate with Customer teams to analyze monthly sales performance and its effect on the 12-month volume projections for categories.
• Partner with the front-end team to develop and maintain a rolling 12-month forecast including promotional uplift, documenting all assumptions such as promo mechanics, volume, pricing, and regional impacts.
• Utilize historical promotional volume data to refine accuracy of predicted promotion uplift and reassess promotional assumptions post-promotion.
• Monitor Forecast Bias and Accuracy for SKUs and customer portfolio by tracking sales versus forecast weekly and monthly, adjusting forecasts as necessary.
• Generate and sustain statistical baseline forecasts within the planning system.
• Clean and update weekly sales history in collaboration with customer teams.
• Publish forecasts and key performance indicators (KPIs) on a weekly and monthly schedule in accordance with established formats and timelines.
• Engage with cross-functional teams on all new product innovations, including creation of Master Data, estimating volume assumptions, and managing discontinuations.
• Track innovation progress versus forecasted volumes, identifying and communicating risks of underperformance or overselling.
• Maintain and manage product hierarchy master data to meet demand planning and business needs, coordinating with the Master Data team for hierarchy adjustments and communication.
• Support Customer Hierarchy updates upon request.
• Keep all reports, files, and documentation organized centrally on SharePoint for weekly and monthly periods.

Candidate Requirements and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Economics or a related Supply Chain field.
• At least two years of experience in Demand Planning or a Supply Chain role, with exposure to FMCG environments.
• Proficiency at an intermediate level with Microsoft Excel is necessary.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
• Solid understanding of the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
• Excellent numerical analysis skills with a keen ability to interpret trends.
• Meticulous attention to detail and the capability to operate independently.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Relationship-building aptitude combined with a curious, inquisitive attitude focused on strong interaction, especially with front-end teams.