About the role

S&OP Group Planning Manager

Reports To: Supply Chain Group Planning Lead

Role Overview

The S&OP Group Planning Manager is a critical role within the India Supply Chain organization, responsible for elevating the company’s Sales & Operations Planning capabilities across a complex, multi-vendor technology portfolio.

Operating in a high-SKU, fast-moving distribution environment, this role blends statistical planning, inventory optimization, and category performance analytics with structured S&OP process governance. The incumbent ensures demand, supply, inventory, and financial plans are fully integrated — enabling improved service levels, working capital efficiency, and executive decision-making.

This position supports a global business managing thousands of SKUs across multiple OEM partners, lifecycle stages, and regional markets.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise S&OP Governance

Ensure standardization of the monthly S&OP cycle in India as per global standards
Ensure alignment between Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Category Management, Finance, and Sales
Drive meeting readiness, executive reporting, and structured decision support
Maintain KPI governance including forecast accuracy, bias, service level, inventory turns, and working capital
Identify process gaps and lead continuous improvement initiatives to mature S&OP toward Integrated Business Planning (IBP)

2. Demand Planning & Demand Segmentation

Drive end to end demand planning cycle culminating with final consensus plan
Develop and enhance statistical baseline forecasting models across high-SKU portfolios
Segment SKUs by demand pattern (smooth, intermittent, erratic, lifecycle) to apply differentiated planning strategies
Improve forecast accuracy at SKU, vendor, and category levels
Conduct forecast error and bias root cause analysis
Automate performance dashboards and exception reporting
Support parameter optimization and model tuning in planning systems

3. Inventory Optimization & Working Capital Strategy

Define stocking policy including inventory positioning across distribution centers and regions
Drive multi-echelon inventory analysis and safety stock optimization
Develop segmentation frameworks across thousands of SKUs
Drive long-tail SKU strategies (low/no-touch planning, rationalization, order frequency optimization)
Monitor excess & obsolete exposure, lifecycle risk, and vendor transition impacts
Quantify working capital impact of planning decisions and provide executive-level insights

4. Category & Vendor Portfolio Analytics

Partner with Category Management and Vendor Management teams to assess portfolio performance
Build vendor and subcategory scorecards integrating revenue, margin, inventory, and service metrics
Support SKU rationalization and vendor mix optimization initiatives
Conduct lifecycle analytics (new product introduction, refresh cycles, end-of-life risk)
Model assortment and allocation scenarios across regions

5. Advanced Analytics & Decision Support

Build scalable data models to support forecasting, inventory analytics, and KPI reporting
Develop and maintain executive dashboards using BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, or similar)
Automate recurring reporting through SQL-driven data pipelines
Conduct scenario modeling and what-if analysis to evaluate demand shocks, supply constraints, and margin impact
Partner with IT and data engineering teams to enhance planning data architecture and governance
Improve master data accuracy and standardize KPI definitions across regions

6. Systems & Data Governance

Partner with IT and system owners to enhance ERP and advanced planning tools
Improve data integrity and master data governance
Support system enhancements, reporting automation, and KPI standardization
Drive scalable analytics solutions across global regions

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, Statistics, or Business
7–10 years of experience in S&OP, demand planning, supply planning, or supply chain analytics within a distribution or technology environment
Experience managing large SKU portfolios (10,000+ SKUs preferred)
Strong knowledge of statistical forecasting methods and inventory optimization principles
Advanced Excel skills; experience with BI platforms (Power BI, Tableau, etc.)
Strong hands-on SQL capability (data extraction, joins, aggregations, performance optimization)
Experience with ERP and planning systems (Blue Yonder, SAP, Oracle, Kinaxis, Anaplan, or similar)
Strong quantitative modeling and financial acumen
Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders in a matrixed global organization

S&OP - Group GM

About the role