Demand Planner

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A Little Bit About Lindt

We are a premium chocolate manufacturer established in 1845 operating in over 86 countries around the World. Guided by our Global purpose to Enchant the World with Chocolate and UK vision of Creating Moments to Make Everyone Feel Special, we have around 400 team members in the UK across our Head Office, Retail, and Field Sales divisions. We are a Top 20 Great Place to Work and are proud of our incredible people, our unique values‑led culture and our iconic market‑leading brands such as LINDOR & GOLD BUNNY.

We’re also proud of being one of the few ‘bean‑to‑bar’ chocolate makers in the world, where we control every step of our chocolate production.

Where you’ll be based

This role is based in our Head Office in Richmond Upon Thames.

In this role you will play a pivotal role in shaping, developing, and reporting the demand plan developed through cross‑functional consensus between Supply Chain, Sales, and Marketing. This high‑visibility position serves as the primary liaison between the market and the supply chain function, ensuring timely and complete delivery of goods. The role is accountable for the effective use of demand planning tools and involves daily collaboration with cross‑functional teams—including Supply Chain, Sales, Retail, Marketing, and Finance—as well as direct engagement with retailer supply chain teams to support collaborative planning and execution.

The objective is to meet business benchmarks through accurate, customer‑ and brand‑level rolling forecasts. Key responsibilities include leading and preparing monthly demand reviews (as part of the IBP process) for assigned accounts, co‑owning customer forecasts in partnership with the Sales team, and providing critical forecasting insights through analysis of historical, current, and projected purchasing trends. A strong commercial mindset is essential to interpret market dynamics and translate them into actionable demand plans that support business growth and service excellence.

Additionally, the Demand Planner will collaborate closely with Marketing and/or Retail teams to deliver long‑term forecasts at the brand and division levels, facilitating monthly alignment meetings with relevant stakeholders to support strategic planning.

• Within the IBP process, prepare and drive the monthly demand and IBP reviews, leveraging demand forecasting tools to deliver an accurate consensus forecast at SKU and customer level. Accurate documentation and timely follow‑up on meeting outcomes are essential.
• Generate insights through data analysis, using available tools to validate and explain forecast outputs and variances.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Customer Services, Demand Control and Logistics to align on forecast assumptions and demand execution.
• Develop and maintain a weekly base forecast, taking full ownership of its creation using historical data, market intelligence, and system inputs. This forecast will be aligned and validated in close collaboration with the Sales team to ensure accuracy and consensus across functions.
• Continuously evaluate and improve demand planning processes, proactively identifying and proposing enhancements to increase forecast accuracy and efficiency.
• Monitor forecast accuracy and bias, and assess the impact of forecast performance on service levels, inventory health, and supply chain efficiency.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Product & Activity teams to manage new product introductions and the phase‑in/phase‑out of SKUs, ensuring accurate forecasting throughout the product lifecycle.
• Work closely with Demand Control and Supply Planning teams to ensure future demand is visible and supply constraints are addressed in a timely manner.
• Build strong relationships with customer planning counterparts, fostering open data exchange and influencing volume and phasing decisions.
• Ensure customer demand signals—particularly for promotional and seasonal activity—are accurately captured and reflected in the forecast to support service level…