Forecasting Analytics Lead

Contract type: Permanent

Location: Hatfield (Hybrid working – 3 days in the office)

Working hours per week: 40 hours

Level: Lead

About Us

Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service, and reassuringly good value.

We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S, and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket, ocado.com. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind Zoom by Ocado, our same-day grocery delivery service.

About The Team And The Role

The Forecasting Team operates at the critical intersection of strategic planning, financial budgeting, commercial execution, and operational delivery across Ocado Retail. Our work directly underpins multi-million-pound investment decisions (Network Development), logistics planning, labour management, and financial performance.

Due to the introduction of S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning), S&OE (Sales and Execution) processes we want to invest in advanced tooling, technology, and automation. We are looking for a Forecasting Lead to unlock critical strategic headroom, enhance predictive accuracy, and ensure all business areas have the necessary insight to deliver the overarching sales budget.

This role is essential for establishing the strategic direction, managing senior stakeholder relationships, and ensuring strategic accountability:

• Stakeholder Management: Drive a step change in aligning our forecast with the expectations of the Leadership team. Face into and proactively manage any difference in opinion or forecast performance Vs business targets. Manage the performance of Ocado Logistics and their ability to deliver capacity against our forecast targets. Manage frequent meetings with the Senior Leadership Team and the new Sales Team to discuss target adherence and growth levers.
• Business Alignment & Loop Closure: This role is critical for managing the relationship with all business owners to close the loop on the impact of their strategic and commercial decisions (e.g., the level of vouchering) on sales and, crucially, overall profitability.
• Strategic & Technical Guidance: Provides hands-on technical expertise and leadership to ensure robust, best-in-class forecasting models.
• Accountable for S&OP / S&OE: Ensure high-touch Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and Sales and Execution (S&OE) workstreams are resourced and equipped to deliver value. Ensure high forecast accuracy and support the team in identifying opportunities to drive improvements to the process.
  
  

What You’ll Do

The Forecasting Lead will be accountable for the following five core responsibilities:

• Insight Generation and Financial Translation: Serve as the primary point of contact for Senior Leadership and Finance, translating volume forecasts into clear strategic narratives, identifying growth levers, and providing actionable insights that support ambitious financial growth targets and maximise profitability.
• Cross-Functional KPI Governance: Lead strategic alignment across all Ocado Retail departments, establishing holistic KPI agreements, setting stretching but market-reflective sales targets, and proactively identifying and proposing appropriate areas for business stretch or targeted revenue management campaigns.
• Develop a Clear Capability Roadmap: Forecasting should be a living product suite that continuously evolves based on user feedback and technical best practices. This roadmap will define the project phases, technical architecture, and implementation schedule for the new tools.
• Team Leadership and Development: Provide line management, mentorship, and performance oversight for the 6-member Forecasting Team, fostering a culture of high performance, accountability, and analytical rigour to ensure continuous skill development and team stability.
• Strategic Investment & Capital Planning: be accountable for the Long-Term (1-10 Year) and Budget Planning (1-2 Year) forecasts, ensuring they provide the robust foundation for high-stakes strategic infrastructure decisions, including Network Development, property investment (CFCs, Spokes), Fleet expansion, and the allocation of significant capital expenditure.
• Operational Excellence & Resource Management: Drive the accuracy and granularity of Short-Term (1-2 Week) and Medium-Term (1-3 Month) forecasts to enable critical operational decisions, including Roster Planning, proactive recruitment, daily capacity matching, and securing labour flexibility (overtime/shedding) for Ocado Logistics.
  
  

Who You Are

Essential:

• Experience managing very high-performing Forecasting teams and Analytical teams
• Experience in developing forecasting tools, technology, and automation
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills and experience collaborating with and influencing a Senior Leadership team
• Ability to drive programs forward and deliver whilst prioritising short-term urgent activity against longer-term high-value projects
• Proven experience in data mining using SQL
• Experience in presenting analytics-driven output to wide-ranging audiences
  
  

Preferred:

• Experience in a retail, e-commerce or FMCG consumer-facing business
• Experience with data visualisation software such as Tableau
• Familiarity with Google’s wider data ecosystem (e.g. Google Cloud Storage, AutoML)
• Experience of R or Python
• Willingness to learn and innovate, and take advantage of new technologies
• Product management experience
• Numerate or Technical Degree (2:1 and above)
• Mathematics A Level (or equivalent) Grade A or above
  
  

What’s In It For You

By joining Ocado Retail, you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day, and grow your skills and career in online retail.

If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:

Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market-leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance, and more.

Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast every day in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme, and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.

Never miss the moments that matter: Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities.

Our Hiring Process

Lucky for us, we receive a high volume of applications and genuinely appreciate the time and effort invested by every candidate. To ensure a fair and thorough process, every application is reviewed by a member of our team. If your skills and experience are a strong match, a Talent Partner will contact you to discuss the role and guide you through the next steps of our hiring process.

Your Application and AI

In the spirit of innovation, we welcome you to use AI tools in your application, just as we use them in our own business at Ocado Retail. However, as you leverage this technology, please don't lose sight of the most important element: your unique self. Your experiences, passions, and personality are what truly set you apart. Ensure that your application still authentically conveys who you are and why you're a great fit for us.

Everyone’s welcome

We’re an equal opportunities employer, which means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. We want to ensure everyone has a fair chance to apply; if you need this job description in an alternative format (e.g., larger print, different document type, etc.), please reach out to us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to assist you, and if you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.