BU Demand Planner

Job Details: Deman Planner

BG and BU: Amcor Flexibles Europe, Middle East & Africa (AFEMEA) 

Function: Operations 

Sub-Function: Supply Chain Planning — Centre of Excellence (CoE) Demand Planning 

Location: Flexible location within Europe 

Travel: Approximately 10–20%, primarily to Business Unit and commercial locations, with occasional site visits 

Line Manager's Job Title: CoE Demand Planning Director 

Advertising Legal Entity: Amcor Group GmbH 

Work Contract Legal Entity: Contract will be issued according to legal requirements and the legal entity of the hiring country 

Contract Type: Permanent 

Job Purpose

The Demand Planning Manager is accountable for demand planning within their assigned Business Unit(s) and is a core member of the AFEMEA CoE Demand Planning team.

This role is an individual-contributor / functional manager role with significant cross-functional leadership, coaching, and influence responsibilities; direct line-management accountability, if any, will be defined by local organization design.

The role has three dimensions:

– Plan — Owns the Business Unit demand planning cycle: develops and maintains effective forecast models based on industry trends and demand patterns, collaborates with and constructively challenges the sales organization, identifies and manages risks and opportunities, facilitates the Demand Review, and communicates the consensus demand plan after sign-off.

– Standardize — Drives adoption of common demand planning standards across the Business Units in scope (forecasting methodology, planning calendar, consensus process, and KPI definitions), coaching all

involved stakeholders on forecast ownership and the consensus process, and feeding learning back into the development of CoE standards and tools.

– Steward — Owns the quality and completeness of demand-side planning master data for their scope (product and customer hierarchies, planning attributes, history cleansing and outlier rules, forecast parameters), defines and communicates central data requirements, and partners with the Planning Data Coordinator, BI and IT roles to close gaps — building reliable demand visibility even where current systems do not yet provide it.

Job Dimensions & Scope

Internal and external relationships:

– CoE Demand Planning and CoE Supply Planning teams, operating as one planning community

– Sales VPs, Sales Directors, Managers and Executives, and BU commercial organizations

– Business Unit Vice Presidents, Supply Chain and Management Teams

– Customer Service teams

– Key Customers, in partnership with Sales teams

– Business Intelligence SC&CS, the Planning Data Coordinator, and data & analytics partners

– Supply Chain Transformation team (planning standards development and deployment)

– Functional teams linked to supply chain processes: Manufacturing, R&D, Procurement, Marketing, Finance, Legal

– Stakeholders within other Amcor Business Groups

– Scope will be assigned by Business Unit, product family, geography, or site cluster depending on complexity, volume, and planning maturity

Principal Accountabilities

Demand planning & S&OP (Plan)

– Acts as a key business partner to the sales team, collecting and processing market intelligence to support an effective sales forecast process

– Develops effective forecast models in the planning system (currently SAP IBP) based on industry trends and demand patterns, applying statistical, machine-learning and AI-assisted techniques as these capabilities mature

– Owns and manages the baseline forecast on behalf of the business — building toward an operating model in which the statistically and AI-managed forecast is the starting point and commercial teams focus their time on market intelligence and overrides by exception, with Sales retaining ownership of the final forecast commitment

– Closely collaborates with sales to support, drive and constructively challenge the sales forecast submission

– Closely collaborates with customers, when appropriate, to build and validate a collaborative customer forecast plan with full transparency in the related assumptions

– Identifies and actively manages risks and opportunities associated with the latest demand plan, driving mitigation and gap-closing actions and escalating critical cases to be addressed during the Demand Review

– Drives Demand Reviews together with the Sales VP and Sales Directors

– Provides the rationale behind demand evolutions compared to the previous cycle

– Successfully communicates the consensus demand plan after sales leadership sign-off

– Liaises with sites to review forecast changes and assumptions, with the ultimate goal of building trust in the consensus demand plan

– Ensures, in partnership with the Supply Planning CoE, that the consensus demand plan is used as the base plan by sites when defining their production and procurement plans

– Owns forecast dashboards and follow-up action plans, actively presented within the monthly S&OP process

– Provides the demand input to supply planning: a clear, unconstrained consensus demand signal with documented assumptions, delivered on the agreed cadence

– Works on an exception basis: focuses effort on significant forecast deviations, bias patterns and demand risks rather than line-by-line adjustment

– Manages short-term demand within the execution (S&OE) horizon — translating current order intake, consumption and customer signals into near-term demand actions and into insights that inform the longer-term demand plan

Standards adoption & commercial capability (Standardize)

– Drives adoption of common demand planning standards across the Business Units in scope — forecasting methodology, planning calendar, consensus process, and KPI definitions (forecast accuracy, bias, forecast value-add)

– Coaches commercial stakeholders and BU teams on forecast ownership and the consensus process; supports capability assessments and helps close identified gaps

– Builds alignment and buy-in without direct authority — through credibility, coaching and partnership — and escalates constructively where adoption is blocked

– Contributes to the development and rollout of demand planning tools, models and standards, feeding Business Unit learning back into the CoE

– Ensures rigorous and regular product structure and FG portfolio analysis and simplification across the Business Group; develops processes to sustain simplification efforts

– Improves standard demand planning processes (KPI analysis, dashboard review) in order to reduce order book volatility and help drive downstream production, material, delivery and inventory strategies

Data & visibility (Steward)

– Accountable for the accuracy and completeness of demand-side planning master data in scope (product and customer hierarchies, planning attributes, history cleansing and outlier rules, forecast parameters), independent of the source system

– Defines central data requirements for demand planning; escalates and tracks closure of data gaps with the Planning Data Coordinator, BI and IT partners

– Develops and maintains demand visibility and forecast dashboards on trusted, governed data using standard CoE tools, reducing reliance on unmanaged offline files over time

– Ensures demand planning KPIs and reviews are based on actual, trusted data

CoE citizenship

– Works as one planning community with the Supply Planning CoE: shared cadences, shared data foundations, and internal alignment on issues before external communication

– Creates, in partnership with Sales teams and HR, training and development plans for Customer Service and Planning teams; documents standard work and contributes to planner onboarding

– Rigorous use of CI methodology in all activities; ensures engagement with appropriate CI resources

– Strong contributor to planning system implementation and improvement (e.g., SAP IBP and successor tools)

– Promotes the use of common tools (system and process) across the Business Group; links with IT to ensure available tools align with process strategy

Measures of Success

– Forecast quality: forecast accuracy and bias at the agreed lags and hierarchy levels

– Customer forecast alignment and adoption

– Signal stability: order book volatility and demand plan stability for the Business Unit(s) in scope

– Process health: Demand Review adherence, participation and decision quality; consensus plan delivered on cadence

– Finance alignment: the consensus demand plan is consistent with — and increasingly used as — the basis for financial forecasts, rather than separate forecasts being maintained

– Gap closing: identification and execution of gap-closing activities through the S&OP cycle

– Data quality: completeness and accuracy of demand-side planning master data in scope

– Shared outcomes: DIFOT and inventory performance, jointly owned with the Supply Planning CoE

Qualifications / Requirements

Formal qualifications and experience

– Bachelor's or Master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Engineering or similar education

– 5–8+ years of supply chain experience, preferably in an international B2B or FMCG matrix environment

– Previous experience in forecasting and S&OP, leveraging analytics, marketing and sales data

– Experience partnering directly with commercial or sales organizations strongly preferred, given the commercial-facing coaching nature of the role

– Experience partnering and presenting to Director and VP level

Capability profile — aligned to the AFEMEA Planner Capability Framework; the target hiring bar corresponds to the level-3 behavioural anchors:

– Planning excellence — interprets demand signals correctly and challenges noise; anticipates demand risks early; presents scenarios with clear trade-offs

– Execution control — runs the forecast cycle with discipline; protects the agreed consensus and cadence; manages exceptions within defined rules

– Inventory parameter awareness — understands how forecast quality and segmentation drive safety stock, DIO and obsolescence outcomes, and supports parameter design with the Supply Planning CoE

– Analytics & systems — applies statistical forecasting rigorously, complemented by AI/ML and advanced modeling as these capabilities mature; performs structured root-cause analysis of forecast misses; comfortable working across heterogeneous data landscapes; strong analytical toolset skills (e.g., Power BI); SAP IBP or similar planning-tool experience preferred — the ability to plan rigorously where systems are imperfect is essential

– Collaboration & continuous improvement — builds strong working relationships with sales, customer service and supply planning; communicates plans clearly; leads or contributes to improvement initiatives with the CoE

Specific skills and abilities

– Strong ability to analyse data with critical thinking

– Strong communication, facilitation and presentation skills; able to influence and coach without direct authority

– Adaptable, dynamic and capable of working in a fast-paced environment; comfortable working across cultures in an international, multi-site organization

– Sense of urgency to address and resolve issues; structured under pressure

– Advanced knowledge of Excel and good experience in statistical forecasting; strong working knowledge of BI / analytical tools

– Knowledge of SAP IBP or similar supply chain planning tools preferred

– Fluent English and ideally one additional European language (e.g., French, German, Spanish)

Amcor Leadership Framework

Leading Self

Drive Vision & Purpose — Can identify personal meaning in contributing to the vision and strategy of Amcor. Is optimistic and contributes in a supporting way to their business environment.

Strategic Mindset — Contributes in practical planning of work processes. Understands and evaluates consequences of own decisions and actions. Pays attention to trends and issues that may impact own work in the future.

Leading Teams

Engage People & Teams — Provides the team with insights and background behind goals and required actions. Assigns tasks, setting clear, specific performance objectives, standards and accountability across all people.

Respects concerns and encourages the open expression of ideas and opinions. Builds consensus and involves others in decision-making.

Attracts & Develops Talent — Attracts and selects diverse and high-caliber talent. Places a high priority on developing others through coaching, giving feedback, providing exposure within the organization, and identifying stretch assignments. Aligns employee career development goals with organizational objectives.

Leading the Business

Customer Focus — Creates a sense of urgency throughout the organization on the importance of meeting customer needs. Identifies opportunities to modify internal processes, services, and structures to improve the ability to serve the customer. Identifies and tracks emerging customer segments and trends, shifts in suppliers and their offerings, and how they will affect how business is carried out.

Set Priorities & Drives Results — Sets the right priorities and stretching goals on a group, team and individual level. Pushes the organization to achieve results. Eliminates obstacles that affect organizational performance and supports the organization in overcoming setbacks.

Cultivates Innovation — Engages others by making the case for innovation and explaining their role in it. Removes barriers and creates a climate within the organization that encourages innovation; mistakes are accepted, failures are opportunities to learn.

About Amcor

Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home- and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve value chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using a rising amount of recycled content. NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC 

About Amcor Flexibles Europe, Middle East & Africa (AFEMEA)

With more than 61 plants in 22 countries, Amcor Flexibles Europe, Middle East and Africa (AFEMEA), a division of Amcor, is a market leader and the world's largest supplier of flexible packaging. We deliver innovative packaging solutions and provide enhanced quality products for the food, beverage, pharma, personal care, medical and industrial markets. Its award-winning approach towards sustainability makes AFEMEA the preferred partner for customers looking for responsible packaging solutions.