Senior Demand Planner

Koala

Koala

Software Engineering
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Posted 6+ months ago

At Koala, our mission is to deliver better furniture experiences, designed with the World in mind. Combining customer-centric products, a world-class technology and fulfillment platform, incredible customer service and social good; we are changing the way people buy and enjoy furniture to create happier, healthier habitats.

Why we have this role @ Koala

This newly created senior position reporting to the Director of Planning offers a dynamic opportunity for an experienced demand planner to play a pivotal role in shaping Koala's demand planning strategy while contributing to the overall success of the organisation.

Koala is currently undergoing transformation in the demand planning and replenishment space, recently undertaking the implementation of a demand planning platform driven by machine learning. This role holds significant importance in driving optimal results from this platform, ensuring outputs fit within Koala’s business rules & configurations.

We are looking for an experienced demand planner who is comfortable collaborating across functions to ensure our global demand plans are reflective of the businesses sales and marketing goals.

What key responsibilities does this role have @ Koala?

  • Take charge of the demand planning function at Koala, focusing on enhancing the accuracy of our bottom-up machine learning forecast and demand plan
  • Collaborate with internal marketing and growth teams to align the demand plan with Koala’s sales and marketing objectives, ensuring a cohesive approach
  • Manage demand related exceptions within our planning platform (significant deviation in sales v forecast, MAPE exceeds threshold, bias swings etc)
  • Work closely with internal product and marketing teams on new product introductions and terminations, ensuring demand planning platform is reflective of any expected cannbilisation, halo, replacement or reference product impacts
  • Assist with commercial endorsements of new products and ranges, providing transparent views on inventory investment while providing feedback on launch timings and plans from an operational perspective
  • Lead promotional planning cycles with broader business units, ensuring operational demand plan is finalised for replenishment within lead times
  • Maintain all master data that relates to forecasting within the planning platform
  • Provide visibility on excess inventory (actuals v risk) & slow moving lines to be actioned by wider team
  • Work with other senior members of the team to reinvent the current Koala ways of reporting in relation to inventory and demand outlooks
  • Attend and provide insights across various Koala forums in relation to demand constraints, drivers, risks and levers
  • Assist with projects to achieve greater efficiencies within planning and across the supply chain