Demand Analytics Planner

Job Description

Title:

Demand Analytics Planner

At Unilever, you’ll be part of a bold, digitally empowered Supply Chain revolution — where advanced analytics, AI-driven forecasting, and human ingenuity come together to shape the future of how we plan, produce, and deliver. Joining our Demand Analytics team means stepping into a high impact role at the heart of digital innovation, where your ideas fuel smarter decisions, your expertise strengthens global performance, and your work drives meaningful transformation across markets.

As a Demand Analytics Planner, you’ll play a pivotal role at the intersection of business and data science, translating real-world challenges into digital solutions that elevate forecast quality and unlock value across our markets. This is a digitally empowered, AI-forward role: you’ll work hands on with machine learning forecasting, exception-based planning, and emerging agentic tools as we accelerate our journey toward autonomous, no‑touch planning — setting the pace globally as Unilever’s integrated forecasting lighthouse.

You’ll drive forecast accuracy improvements at a Distribution Center level, troubleshoot issues with speed and curiosity, and collaborate across a wide network including:

• Business-facing category SMEs (Market Collaboration Planners & Demand Fulfillment Managers)
• Machine Learning Operations & Data Science teams
• Global Forecast Engine Utility Design & Support partners (PACE, Uni Ops, I&A)

• Shape the baseline forecast that fuels our monthly S&OP cycle, ensuring teams begin with a strong and data-grounded starting point.
• Interrogate and strengthen forecasting models using input stress tests, model diagnostics, and structured root cause analysis.
• Continuously elevate item and site level forecast accuracy through daily, weekly, and monthly Demand Analytics routines.
• Partner with Planning Excellence & Insights, One Forecast, and Analytics & Insights teams to guide model improvements and champion enhancements.
• Monitor forecast performance in real time, identifying early signals of quality decline and taking proactive action.
• Lead continuous improvement work streams that address cross‑category patterns and systematically reduce forecast error.
• Apply an innovation mindset to strengthen forecasting performance through mastering current technologies and pioneering new ones.
• Plan by exception with digital tools, using Power BI dashboards and Kinaxis Rapid Response to surface anomalies, droppages, net negatives, and forecast value add — focusing your energy where it moves the needle most.
• Pioneer next-generation forecasting capabilities alongside our Data Science partners — helping test and adopt advances such as TimeGPT/Prophet, hierarchical forecasting, and other breakthrough capabilities to continue driving better forecast accuracy and growth.
• Bring AI to life in everyday planning by piloting Copilot and emerging agentic tools that automate routine analytics, accelerate root cause analysis, and free you to focus on high‑value, strategic decisions.

• A bachelor’s degree in Operations, Supply Chain, or equivalent experience.
• 1–3 years of experience in Supply Chain, Planning, Manufacturing, or related fields.
• A growth mindset rooted in empowerment, experimentation, and collaboration.
• Strong stakeholder management and team leadership skills—across functions and levels.
• A track record of accountability, coaching others, breakthrough problem solving, and end‑to‑end Supply Chain thinking.
• The ability to influence, inspire, and drive strategic conversations that shape performance.
• Digital curiosity and data fluency — comfort working with Power BI or other platforms to interrogate large datasets and turn them into insight.
• Data-driven decision making — strong root cause analysis, statistical thinking, and storytelling skills to translate numbers into clear, actionable recommendations.

• Forecast Engine Utility (FEU) & the Lego ML pipeline — our machine learning forecasting engine and modular best practice model.
• Kinaxis Rapid Response & Anaplan — for exception-based planning, selected forecast…