Inventory & Demand Planner

Position summary

The Inventory & Demand Planner supports LSO Media Group's consumer goods procurement division by making demand and stock decisions easier to understand. Reporting to the Strategic Sourcing Manager, you will build forecasts for approved product categories, review stock availability and recommend replenishment actions. Your work will distinguish firm orders from estimates and show how uncertainty affects purchasing, cash requirements and delivery commitments.

This position connects commercial expectations with the practical limits of supply. You will work with sourcing, fulfillment and Finance to maintain useful planning data, identify slow-moving inventory and resolve discrepancies before they affect customers. Early assignments may involve building the planning process and baseline data as the division develops its activities; forecasts should reflect the available evidence and be revised as actual demand becomes clearer.

Responsibilities

• Compile demand inputs from confirmed orders, customer discussions, commercial plans and available sales history.
• Maintain rolling forecasts that separate committed demand from assumptions and show significant changes between planning cycles.
• Recommend replenishment quantities using lead times, order constraints, inventory position and approved service objectives.
• Review exceptions such as shortages, excess stock, delayed purchase orders and changes in expected customer demand.
• Reconcile planning records with fulfillment and purchasing information, investigating discrepancies in quantities or status.
• Assess inventory aging and propose actions for slow-moving or obsolete goods within approved commercial policies.
• Prepare working-capital and supply scenarios with Finance and sourcing colleagues before major purchase decisions.
• Track forecast accuracy and bias and improve the assumptions that repeatedly produce avoidable planning errors.

Required qualifications

• Experience in demand planning, inventory analysis, purchasing analysis or a comparable supply-chain role, typically three or more years.
• Strong spreadsheet skills and the ability to check data for missing records, inconsistent units and duplicate transactions.
• Understanding of replenishment, lead times, inventory aging and the relationship between stock and working capital.
• Ability to explain forecast assumptions and uncertainty clearly to commercial and operational colleagues.
• Organized follow-through and a relevant degree or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience planning consumer goods or a varied product assortment.
• Familiarity with inventory or enterprise resource planning systems.
• Experience building planning routines where historical demand data is limited.

Measures of success

• Purchasing recommendations use current demand, inventory and lead-time information.
• Shortage and excess-stock risks are visible early enough for useful action.
• Forecast reviews explain error and improve subsequent planning decisions.

First 90 days

Review available demand and stock records, document data gaps and agree the initial planning cadence with sourcing and fulfillment colleagues. Establish a baseline forecast and inventory exception report for approved categories. Test replenishment assumptions against supplier constraints, present a working-capital scenario with Finance, and agree a practical method for measuring forecast quality as actual orders become available.

Compensation

Proposed annual base salary of $70,000–$95,000 USD. The final offer will reflect relevant experience, qualifications and the agreed scope of the position, subject to approval. This range covers base pay only; any incentive compensation or benefits would be specified separately in an employment offer.

What to include in your application

Describe a planning problem you resolved using demand and inventory data. Explain your assumptions, the recommendation and what changed after it was implemented.