Demand Analytics Planner

Job Description

Title: Demand Analytics Planner

Background & Purpose of the Job

At Unilever, you’ll be part of a bold, digitally empowered Supply Chain revolution — where advanced analytics, AI driven forecasting, and human ingenuity come together to shape the future of how we plan, produce, and deliver. Joining our Demand Analytics team means stepping into a high impact role at the heart of digital innovation, where your ideas fuel smarter decisions, your expertise strengthens global performance, and your work drives meaningful transformation across markets.

As a Demand Analytics Planner, you’ll play a pivotal role at the intersection of business and data science, translating real world challenges into digital solutions that elevate forecast quality and unlock value across our markets. This is a digitally empowered, AI forward role: you’ll work hands on with machine learning forecasting, exception based planning, and emerging agentic tools as we accelerate our journey toward autonomous, no touch planning — setting the pace globally as Unilever’s integrated forecasting lighthouse.
You’ll drive forecast accuracy improvements at a Distribution Center level, troubleshoot issues with speed and curiosity, and collaborate across a wide network including:
• Business Facing Category SMEs (Market Collaboration Planners & Demand Fulfillment Managers)
• Machine Learning Operations & Data Science teams
• Global Forecast Engine Utility Design & Support partners (PACE, UniOps, I&A)
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🔎 What You’ll Do
• Shape the baseline forecast that fuels our monthly S&OP cycle, ensuring teams begin with a strong and data grounded starting point.
• Interrogate and strengthen forecasting models using input stress tests, model diagnostics, and structured root cause analysis.
• Continuously elevate item and site level forecast accuracy through daily, weekly, and monthly Demand Analytics routines.
• Partner with Planning Excellence & Insights, One Forecast, and Analytics & Insights teams to guide model improvements and champion enhancements.
• Monitor forecast performance in real time, identifying early signals of quality decline and taking proactive action.
• Lead continuous improvement workstreams that address cross category patterns and systematically reduce forecast error.
• Apply innovation mindset to strengthen forecasting performance through mastering current technologies and pioneering new ones
• Plan by exception with digital tools, using Power BI dashboards and Kinaxis Rapid Response to surface anomalies, droppages, net negatives, and forecast value add — focusing your energy where it moves the needle most.
• Pioneer next generation forecasting capabilities alongside our Data Science partners — helping test and adopt advances such as TimeGPT/Prophet, hierarchical forecasting, and other breakthrough capabilities to continue driving better forecast accuracy and growth.
• Bring AI to life in everyday planning by piloting Copilot and emerging agentic tools that automate routine analytics, accelerate root cause analysis, and free you to focus on high value, strategic decisions.
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💡 What You’ll Bring
• A Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Supply Chain, or equivalent experience
• 1-3 years of experience in Supply Chain, Planning, Manufacturing, or related fields
• A growth mindset rooted in empowerment, experimentation, and collaboration
• Strong stakeholder management and team leadership skills—across functions and levels
• A track record of accountability, coaching others, breakthrough problem solving, and end to end Supply Chain thinking
• The ability to influence, inspire, and drive strategic conversations that shape performance
• Digital curiosity and data fluency — comfort working with Power BI or other platforms to interrogate large datasets and turn them into insight
• Data driven decision making — strong root cause analysis, statistical thinking, and the storytelling skills to translate numbers into clear, actionable recommendations
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🧰 The Digital Toolkit You’ll Master
• Forecast Engine Utility (FEU) & the Lego ML pipeline — our machine learning forecasting engine and modular best practice model
• Kinaxis Rapid Response & Anaplan — for exception based planning, selected forecast management, and S&OP
• Power BI & Databricks (SQL/Python) — to build dashboards, run analytics, and drive root cause investigations
• SKY customer ML — collaborative, customer specific forecasting for partners such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon
• Copilot, agentic AI & TimeGPT/Nixtla — next gen capabilities you’ll help pilot on the roadmap to autonomous operations
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🚀 Why You’ll Love It Here
You’ll sit at the leading edge of how Unilever plans its business — where your analytics directly shape forecast accuracy, service, and growth across some of the world’s most loved brands. You’ll grow your digital craft through world class learning journeys, build fluency in AI and advanced analytics, and see the real world impact of your work every single cycle. Best of all, you’ll do it alongside a curious, collaborative team that celebrates experimentation, champions continuous improvement, and is genuinely fun to be part of.

Pay: The pay range for this position is $71,400 to $107,200. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs. 

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible. 

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents. 

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At Unilever, inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. We welcome applicants from all walks of life and are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive/succeed. All applicants will receive fair and respectful consideration, and we actively support the growth and development of every employee.

Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities.

For more information on your federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal

Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at NA.Accommodations@unilever.com. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.