Associate Manager, Supply Chain

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Integrated Supply Chain Manager owns the end-to-end demand-to-delivery cycle for the market, bringing together demand planning/S&OP and logistics/order management into a single point of accountability.

The role supports overall business revenue and profit delivery through rigorous management of demand signals across product and customer channels, and through efficient logistics, fulfilment and order management execution.

The role partners Commercial leadership and works across multi-functional teams — Sales, Marketing, Finance, Logistics and Supply Planning — to assure alignment and sufficiency in the business plans to deliver anticipated demand, while ensuring smooth supply chain operations and best-in-class customer service.

This requires balancing every aspect of the supply chain: managing inventory levels and cost-to-serve, minimizing shortages, and delivering a responsive supply chain through high demand forecast accuracy and OTIF delivery performance, in adherence with global process design and regional/market strategy.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Demand Planning & S&OP

▪ Deliver the Demand Management process: generate a consensus forecast of phased demand at the appropriate planning level on a 12 to 18months horizon, owning enrichment of the forecast to create and publish a consensus.

▪ Execute monthly demand management cycles; co-pilot the commercial leader to drive the Demand Review (DMR) with commercial teams, gain approval of the recommended forecast, and define risks, opportunities and the actions commercial teams will take to drive or influence demand.

▪ Collaborate with statistical modellers on historical data cleansing to ensure data accuracy as a foundation for reliable statistical forecasts, recording all adjustments and assumptions (channel trends, seasonality, promotions).

▪ Analyze multiple variables to shape the demand forecast — shipment/sell-in, POS/sell-out, share, promotional plans, cannibalisation — and collaborate with Sales and Marketing on activity plans and promotional effectiveness.

▪ Own Demand Management KPIs (Mixed Error, Forecast Bias, FVA), leading forecast accuracy improvement plans through root cause analysis and action planning with demand planners, brand and sales teams.

▪ Ensure phased consensus forecast numbers are aligned with financial numbers and proactively communicate demand changes to the regional supply/demand planning organisation, working through service and inventory impacts.

2. Logistics, Fulfilment & Order Management

▪ Formulate, execute and continuously optimise logistics strategy across warehousing, transportation and order fulfilment to ensure On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) delivery.

▪ Oversee day-to-day fulfilment and order management operations — order entry, verification and processing in SAP/ERP — to meet performance, cost-to-serve, warehouse accuracy and inventory turnover targets.

▪ Act as escalation point for customer and sales enquiries on order status, delivery schedules and product availability, partnering with the warehouse and 3PL network to ensure stock availability.

▪ Lead implementation and testing of new order management and logistics systems and process upgrades and maintain SOPs and business continuity/recovery plans.

3. Vendor, Stakeholder & Regional Alignment

▪ Build strong vendor and 3PL partnerships through performance evaluations, service-level negotiations and cost-efficiency initiatives.

▪ Partner with category planners to reconcile brand forecasts with regional plans and collaborate with the regional Demand Planning and Global Supply Chain/Logistics teams to deliver a seamless plan-to-delivery outcome.

▪ Support the market's business planning process in partnership with the local Leadership Team and contribute to product rationalisation and portfolio optimisation.

4. Process & Performance Management

▪ Drive continuous improvement of daily, weekly and monthly routines within the cross-functional operational team (Marketing, Sales, Supply/Demand Planning, Logistics) to optimise end-to-end supply chain performance, service to customer and customer experience.

▪ Drive performance improvement through KPI management — Mixed Error, Forecast Bias, Demand Plan Stability, OTIF, cost-to-serve — challenging local teams and setting targets, supported with clear action plans.

▪ Ensure compliance with the global forecasting calendar, SOX controls, ISO standards and legal/regulatory requirements across order management and logistics operations.

REQUIREMENTS

Domain Knowledge:

▪ Highly skilled in demand planning management and/or logistics/order management (5-7 years+), with strong business acumen and proven managerial skills.

▪ Highly skilled in working with Commercial and Sales teams, with strong business partnering, significant impact & influence.

▪ Experienced in international matrix environments; FMCG or similarly mature inventory-management industry preferred.

▪ Degree or equivalent in Supply Chain Management or related discipline; APICs desirable.

▪ Proficient with SAP/SAP B1 (B1/APO), SCM/ERP and WMS platforms, Logility (or equivalent forecasting tool), PowerBI and advanced Excel.

▪ Familiarity with 3PL operations across Asia is an advantage.

▪ Advanced understanding of demand planning and logistics best practices, including forecast periodicity, statistical models, warehousing, transportation and order fulfillment.

Communication Skills

▪ Data Visualization: ability to present data and forecasting/logistics results clearly through visualizations using tools such as PowerBI.

▪ Reporting Skills: competence in generating insights in clear and concise reports.

▪ Collaboration: ability to work effectively in teams and communicate findings to non-technical stakeholders.

Technical Skills:

▪ Deep expertise in running the Demand Management process through an Integrated Business Planning framework driving S&OP.

▪ Deep understanding of internal and external drivers of demand volatility, forecast errors and bias, and logistics KPIs (fulfillment rates, cycle times, shipping costs).

▪ Ability to build and maintain forecasting models, operational dashboards, and translate large datasets into demand and logistics strategies.

Abilities & Behaviours

▪ Excellent influencing, stakeholder engagement and interpersonal skills; business partnering at the core, with the ability to challenge senior stakeholders and hold tension in S&OP conversations to drive the right outcome.

▪ Sound commercial and financial acumen; can interpret and explain complex statistical information.

▪ Exceptional communication skills, verbal, written, and presentation.

▪ Good understanding of product, brand building, internal process and market/customer environment.

▪ Strong, fact-based decision-making; drives execution, initiates action and follows through to completion.

▪ Continuous improvement mindset – flexible, embraces change, uses various tools and techniques to solve problems.

▪ Thinks and operates in a global context.

▪ Team player and thinker in terms of solutions derived from sound analysis.

▪ Flexible, self-starter with a high degree of independence.

▪ Excellent ability to work and communicate in multi-functional, multi-geography teams with English as the common business language.