Demand Planning Assistant Manager

At Chanel, we are anchored in our brand culture, codes and values with a clear vision and aligned priorities centered around being a human and purposeful employer. We are focused on supporting the needs of Chanel creation, people, and business, whilst bringing positive impact in the world and preparing the organisation for the future. We have a culture of high-performance standards of excellence with people being at their best in an environment where they feel a sense of belonging and purpose.

As Market Demand Planning Assistant Manager, you will be the demand planning lead for your market and the owner of the local demand forecast across relevant channels, product categories and forecast horizons. Your mission is to create the most reliable, unbiased and business-connected view of demand, translating commercial ambition, marketing plans, retail realities, financial expectations and supply constraints into one trusted forecast for the market.

You will play a central role in this transformation by leading the market monthly S&OP process, embedding standard forecasting methodologies and tools such as 4CAST, bringing visibility on risks and opportunities, and enabling better decisions on growth, service, inventory, cash and sustainability.

You will remain close to the market business while operating as part of the SEAA planning community, contributing to one consistent regional demand signal and helping Chanel build best-in-class planning capabilities across SEAA.

WHAT IMPACT YOU CAN CREATE AT CHANEL

You will create impact by leading the market demand planning agenda and enabling better, faster and more balanced business decisions:

- Own the market demand forecast at SKU, channel and monthly level for the relevant planning scope, ensuring that the forecast is complete, unbiased, reasoned and supported by clear assumptions.

- Lead the local monthly S&OP process in partnership with the Market FBP General Manager, Finance, Marketing, Retail, Supply Chain and other relevant functions, ensuring the forum drives decisions, not only reporting.

- Translate market knowledge, sales trends, campaign plans, product lifecycle dynamics, client and channel insights into a robust demand signal that can be used by regional supply planning, global teams and business leaders.

- Drive forecast quality by applying standard forecasting methodology, cleansing demand, reviewing statistical outputs, challenging assumptions, documenting building blocks and explaining changes versus previous cycles.

- Lead the consolidation of market risks and opportunities, partnering with Finance and business teams to connect product forecasts, latest financial outlook, sufficiency gaps and business-building actions.

- Act as the market “agent of truth” on demand, creating healthy tension between business ambition and planning discipline while preserving strong proximity to local commercial realities.

- Ensure disciplined adoption of SHIFT ways of working, including 4CAST usage, standard calendars, KPI definitions, S&OP templates, pre-reads, decision sheets and follow-up action logs.

- Partner with Marketing and commercial teams on campaign forecast reasonability, readiness, launch assumptions, cannibalisation risks, phase-in and phase-out impact, while ensuring clear ownership of forecast recommendations.

- Collaborate with regional supply planning and local supply chain teams to connect demand signals with product availability, allocation priorities, inventory health, service risks and air freight reduction opportunities.

- Build market planning capability by continuously improving forecast analytics, stakeholder engagement, business storytelling and adoption of regional standards.

YOU ARE ENERGISED BY

- Being close to the business and understanding what is happening in the market, while remaining objective and disciplined in the forecast recommendation.

- Turning data, assumptions and business signals into clear insights, scenarios and recommendations that help leaders make decisions.

- Facilitating cross-functional conversations with Marketing, Retail, Finance and Supply Chain, and creating constructive challenge to align the best plan for the market.

- Bringing structure to complexity and connecting commercial ambition, operational reality, financial discipline, service levels, inventory health and sustainability priorities.

- Acting as a trusted business partner and “agent of truth” for the market, ensuring the forecast reflects the reality of demand rather than only aspiration or target.

- Driving change and helping teams adopt new processes, systems and mindsets in line with SHIFT objectives.

- Building consistent planning excellence across markets while preserving the strength of local market knowledge.

- Continuously improving forecasting practices through analytics, root-cause analysis, learning from past cycles and stronger cross-functional collaboration.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING

- 7+ years of experience in Demand Planning, Forecasting, S&OP, Supply Chain Planning, Commercial Planning, Business Planning or related roles, ideally within beauty, luxury, fashion, retail or consumer goods.

- Strong understanding of demand planning principles, including forecast accuracy, forecast bias, reasonability checks, demand cleansing, building-block forecasting, campaign forecasting and product lifecycle impact.

- Experience leading or contributing to S&OP, Integrated Business Planning, financial forecast alignment or cross-functional business reviews.

- Strong analytical capability, with the ability to work with large data sets, identify trends, diagnose performance gaps and translate analysis into business recommendations.

- Excellent stakeholder management and facilitation skills, with the confidence to challenge assumptions constructively and influence senior market stakeholders.

- Ability to balance market proximity with planning objectivity, ensuring the forecast is both business-connected and unbiased.

- Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to simplify complex topics and present clear insights, risks, opportunities and decisions.

- Experience with planning systems, ERP and BI tools; familiarity with advanced Planning systems, Power BI, ERP or similar tools would be an advantage.

- Strong ownership mindset, attention to detail, agility and ability to operate in a matrix and multicultural environment.

- Passion for the Beauty industry and curiosity for client, product, channel and market dynamics.

- Fluent English is required; local market language proficiency is an advantage depending on the market.