Demand Planner

About Ella’s Kitchen

Part of the Hain Celestial Group family of brands, Ella's Kitchen’s mission is to help little ones grow up happy, healthy, and never hungry. Set up in 2006 by Ella's Dad Paul Lindley, the company prioritises health and nutritional value, but never at the expense of taste or convenience. Ella’s Kitchen strives to be good in every sense, offering healthy, handy, and fun food that doesn’t cost the earth. In 2016, Ella’s Kitchen certified as a B Corporation, a global movement of pioneering companies that are using their business as a force for good. By certifying as a B Corp, it reinforces that the business is meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. 

We are looking for someone brilliant who believes in our mission and can live and breathe our values of winning together, owning it, fostering inclusion and being curious.

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are guided by our values; they set the tone of our culture and we look out for newbies who will be a natural fit to our values and complement and contribute to our business.

About The Hain Celestial Group

Hain Celestial Group is a leading health and wellness company whose purpose is to inspire healthier living for people, communities and the planet through better-for-you brands. For more than 30 years, our portfolio of beloved brands has intentionally focused on delivering nutrition and well-being that positively impacts today and tomorrow. Headquartered in Hoboken, N.J., Hain Celestial’s products across snacks, baby/kids, beverages, meal preparation, and personal care, are marketed and sold in over 75 countries around the world. Our leading brands include Garden Veggie snacks, Terra chips, Garden of Eatin’ snacks, Earth’s Best and Ella’s Kitchen baby and kids foods, Celestial Seasonings teas, Joya and Natumi plant-based beverages, Greek Gods yogurt, Cully & Sully, Imagine and New Covent Garden soups, Yves and Linda McCartney’s (under license) meat-free, and Alba Botanica natural sun care, among others.

Our Commitment To Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are committed to promoting and enabling a positive culture where everyone can be themselves and diversity of thought is welcomed.

We give a full and fair consideration to all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

If you need reasonable adjustments made to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can support you in the right way.

Location:                    

Near Henley-on-Thames – you’ll be able to work flexibly between home and our lovely Barns (minimum of 2 days per week).

Reports to:           

Demand Manager (Makes Demand Plans)

Contract:                   

Permanent, Full time,  Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

Purpose of role

• To join the Demand Planning function (within Strategy + Planning) at Ella’s
• Become an expert user of our Exceedra Demand Planning system and user of SAP to manage the customer-SKU portfolio
• Lead conversations on future volume and sales forecasts for your accounts, making sure the number is always an accurate representation of our plans.
• Assist in business-level conversations on our demand plan, flagging when we are off track from our targets.
• Help guide the sales team through our monthly, quarterly and annual planning cycles.

Role activities / responsibilities

Demand Planning (80%)

For your accounts (High Street, Around the World + Ireland, provisionally):

• Own the baseline forecast in Exceedra, ensuring a rolling horizon of 18-months is maintained.
• Hold monthly forecasting surgeries with National Account Managers (NAMs) to validate and jointly agree each customer forecasts, ensuring they are accurate with the latest information and insights.
• Create and issue monthly forecast variance and accuracy reporting to NAMs and offer root cause commentary
• Supporting NAMs with promotional planning for their accounts.
• Represent your accounts in monthly Demand Review meetings.
• Understand the underlying market-wide, and account specific trends that affect your customers.

More generally:

• Work closely with our Operations (Clockwork) and Sales (Deals) teams and the Demand Manager to drive improvement in forecasting activities
• Maintain relationships with retail partners and distributors where relevant
• Manage New Product Development (NPD) forecasts collaboratively with the Deals team. Ensure regular communication with the Clockwork team
• Manage the demand plan on a regular basis, communicating any changes, observations or issues to the Demand Manager and Clockwork team as required
• Manage and drive the product overstock/low life process with the Clockwork team

Systems Management (10%)

• Become an Exceedra systems expert and escalate issues that require support from the Exceedra client team.
• Management of Customer Master Data in SAP (product specific data is managed by Clockwork). This includes the day to day administration of SAP from a Deals perspective

Other Tasks / People (10%)

• Provide regular updates at the weekly ‘Making Plans’ team meeting
• Be an active member of the Making Plans team, helping to create a happy, fun and engaged team
• Demonstrate internally that you know your stuff – the numbers, the customer and the market
• Be a vital team member – don’t sit back! Get involved and share all the great stuff you know to help us all improve and grow
• Never be afraid to ask for help or to be curious about how we can do things better
• Embrace, embody + exude all that is special and unique about Ella’s Kitchen, including our values.

You will need:

• Excellent numeracy skills
• Be able to present complex data in a way that takes people with you on the journey
• Have awesome relationship building skills
• Proactive ‘do-er’, keen to be involved in the success of the team
• Ability to thrive in an entrepreneurial, fast paced environment
• A results focussed mindset with the ability to “never ever give up” and find solutions to challenges
• Strong project management skills and the tenacity to see projects through to the end
• Excellent MS office skills
• Passionate about systems with the ability to utilise technology for continuous improvement
• Demonstrable ability to live and breathe our values: Be Curious, Own It, Foster Inclusion, Win Together and Be Childlike.

Experience of the following would be advantageous:

• Working in a demand planning role
• Exceedra (or another Demand planning tool)
• Retailer relationships

And What You’ll Get In Return:

• Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway
• A competitive salary
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
• A really awesome place to come to work… our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, and the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend