Mars
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Manager F/M/X
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Job Description
Job Purpose/Overview
Royal Canin is undertaking a major transformation programme called EOS to deliver against its strategy of being Fit for Future and removing business risk. The transformation has 4 key elements: new technology including implementation of SAP4 HANA, E2E standardized core processes, a strengthened data & analytics foundation, supported by a dedicated transformation team and change management. Following a successful pilot in Poland the 1st wave of implementations will go live in summer 2027 and RC EKA (European Key Accounts) will be one of 3 units to participate in the first wave. The approach will see local associates with relevant expertise moving onto the project and their day-to-day roles covered via backfills for the length of the project.
EKA operates a unique model within Mars, delivering to major pan-European online customers operating in 28 markets and supplying direct ex-factory from 5 factories across Europe. It’s a small team of 37 associates with each role having high responsibility and impact.
This role will be part of the backfill team covering day to day responsibilities in the running of the unit and it offers pan European perspective and stakeholders, in-depth and varied customer dynamics, and an agile entrepreneurial environment.
Role Purpose
The CPFR manager for European Key Accounts (EKA) plays a pivotal role in securing health through nutrition for cats and dogs by establishing robust Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) processes with our strategic European retail partners.
During this 12-month assignment covering for key team members seconded to a business transformation project—the successful candidate will manage daily collaborative customer planning while serving as a strategic capability champion. By showcasing the quantifiable benefits of collaborative forecasting, inventory synchronization, and replenishment planning, this associate will build a comprehensive internal business case demonstrating the long-term value that dedicated CPFR resources deliver to Royal Canin Europe.
Key Responsibilities
- Customer Collaboration & CPFR Excellence
- Lead and refine the collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) process with assigned major EKA customers to synchronize demand signals and commercial plans.
- Act as the primary supply chain point of contact for customer supply chain teams, leading regular collaborative reviews to proactively identify and resolve potential forecasting discrepancies or supply imbalances.
- Partner with customer planning teams to integrate inventory levels, promotional calendars, and replenishment plans into the overall planning process and cycle and then feed this insight into the EKA S&OP+ cycle.
- Proactively mitigate the "bullwhip effect" upstream to the factories by aligning retail sell-through data with Royal Canin production constraints or the "golden rules" and hold customers to this accordingly.
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Demand Sensing, Forecasting & Systems Management
- Build and maintain a highly accurate customer-level demand forecast utilizing FutureMaster and advanced Excel models.
- Apply advanced statistical forecasting methods and quantitative analysis to historical sales, promotional uplifts, and seasonality data to optimize baseline forecasts.
- Translate customer-specific market intelligence, pipeline changes, network changes, sell out shifts into the weekly and monthly demand planning cycles.
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Analytics, Reporting & Business Case Creation
- Design, track, and share collaborative KPIs including Forecast Accuracy, Bias, On-Time In-Full (OTIF), On-Shelf Availability (OSA), and Customer Inventory Weeks of Supply (WoS).
- Conduct deep-dive data analysis on inventory flow, safety stock levels, and service level failures to establish root-cause corrective actions.
- Document and quantify the financial benefits generated through the CPFR pilot (e.g., gaps reduction, service level improvements, and inventory holding cost savings, factory savings, efficiency benefits) to construct a robust business case for a permanent CPFR function in RC EKA.
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Cross-Functional S&OP Alignment
- Collaborate closely with demand planning, Sales, Key Account Managers, Demand creation teams, Regional Planning, customer services and Logistics to ensure customer promotions and launch volumes are fully integrated into the regional S&OP/S&OE cycles.
- Provide clear, data-backed insights on customer-specific demands during internal sales and operations alignment meetings.
- Cover for demand planner during absence or holidays.
Context and Scope
Operating within the highly dynamic and fast-paced European Key Accounts (EKA) business unit, this role sits at the critical intersection of Supply chain, Sales, demand creation, and our customers’ supply chain planning teams. The position is a temporary 12-month assignment, filling a critical resource gap created by our ongoing digital and operational business transformation.
The position requires managing multiple external data sets (e.g., sales in and sales out history, demand forecasts, order forecasts, inventory, customer verbatim) and translating them into a coherent planning signal within Royal Canin's planning tools. The successful candidate must navigate varied retailer behaviors and levels of maturities across Europe, employing strong communication and negotiation skills to transition customer relationships from transactional purchasing to shared, strategic value creation. A core expectation of this role is the independent creation of a performance proof-of-concept to validate the long-term ROI of the CPFR process.
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Job Specifications/Qualifications
Education & Professional Qualifications
- Fluency in English verbal and written is essential and fluency in French or German verbal would be advantageous.
- University degree (Bachelor’s or Master’s) in Supply Chain Management, Business Analytics, Logistics, Economics, or a related field would be advantageous or a background of planning work experience.
Professional Experience
- 3+ years of experience in demand planning, customer collaboration, or supply chain analytics within an FMCG, CPG, or Petcare environment.
Customer-Facing Experience
- Proven experience working directly with the supply chain or planning teams of major retail key accounts in Europe.
Technical Savviness
- Advanced capability in MS Excel (Power Query, advanced data modeling, pivot tables, and statistical formulas and latest AI assistance for planning insights).
- Experience in extracting data from various sources (data warehouses, customer data sharing sources, ERP systems, API's, Power BI, Tableau, SQL or similar platforms).
- Proficiency in data analysis through collecting, cleansing, validating and transforming data to ensure accuracy and consistency.
- Hands-on proficiency with specialized planning systems, specifically FutureMaster or a direct equivalent (e.g., SAP IBP, Blue Yonder, Kinaxis O9).
- Strong foundational understanding of statistical forecasting methodologies and demand sensing techniques.
Interpersonal Skills
- Outstanding verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present complex data insights simply to both internal sales teams and external buyers.
- Strong stakeholder management, influencing and negotiation skills, comfortable driving collaborative change without direct authority.
Key Mars Leadership Competencies
- Individual Contributor delivering consistent results and creates collaborative relationships.
- Customer-focused.
- Analytical.
- Drives Results.
- Embraces Curiosity.
Key Functional Competencies & Technical Skills
- End to End Supply Chain.
- Planning ideally Customer demand planning.
- High knowledge of working with and manipulating large data sets.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
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