Head of Demand Planning

About Us

At Olsam, we are on a mission to grow brands and develop products that customers love, trust, and value.  We specialize in acquiring and scaling category-leading brands, unlocking their full potential by expanding them across international marketplaces and channels, streamlining operations, and driving product innovation.  

With a fantastic team across four continents and 15 nationalities, we bring together over 50 years of e-commerce expertise. We’re not just building brands, we’re shaping the future of global consumer goods. We are looking for ambitious, driven individuals to be part of it. Ready to make an impact? Let’s talk. 

Your Role at a Glance

We are looking for an exceptional Head of Demand Planning to own the end-to-end demand planning, inventory, supply, and sourcing strategy across our multi-brand, global omni-channel business.  You will lead the Planning & Procurement teams, spanning demand planning, inventory management, purchasing, and supplier management, working closely with Product and Commercial teams to enable growth. 

This role is responsible for ensuring we have the right products, in the right place, at the right time and cost, while optimising working capital, supplier performance, and operational efficiency. This is a hands-on role that encompasses strategy, process optimisation, and day-to-day execution. 

Success in this role means: 

• Delivering high availability across all channels while optimising inventory turn and minimising excess and obsolescence   

• Owning and optimising working capital deployment, ensuring inventory investment drives a strong return on capital   

• Building a scalable, resilient sourcing and supplier model that supports growth, flexibility, and risk management   

• Driving structural improvements in cost of goods, supplier performance, and operational efficiency   

• Enabling Commercial and Product teams to execute growth plans with confidence through best-in-class supply planning and execution   

Key Responsibilities 

Inventory Planning & Supply Ownership 

• Own inventory strategy and cash flow, optimising availability, ROI, risk, and working capital deployment  

• Lead demand and supply planning processes, for example 

• Translating commercial forecasts into purchasing and inventory decisions 

• Defining stock targets, safety stock, and reorder logic 

• Optimise availability while balancing working capital investment 

• Own overall inventory health across our 3PLs and other locations (e.g., Amazon FBA), including aged, slow-moving or seasonal stock 

• Deliver Executive-level reporting and insights on inventory performance, highlighting forward-looking risks, opportunities, and recommendations to senior stakeholders 

Procurement & Supplier Strategy 

• Define and execute supplier sourcing and performance strategies across the supplier base (e.g. onboarding, production planning, quality, cost, delivery) 

• Implement robust risk management and contingency planning frameworks (e.g. capacity and geopolitical risks)  

• Lead supplier negotiations across costs, MOQs, lead times, and payment terms 

• Ensure consistent product quality through supplier standards & compliance, quality control and post-production testing processes 

• Own cost-of-goods across the portfolio, identifying opportunities to improve margin through cost optimisation and partner with Finance and Commercial teams to ensure procurement and inventory decisions align with pricing and margin strategy 

• Oversee end-to-end procurement coordination, including purchase order placement, date management and tracking  

Cross-Functional Alignment 

Partner closely with internal teams to deliver best-in-class execution. This includes: 

• Product: Align on product roadmap, specifications and lifecycle decisions, ensuring supply readiness. Collaborate for key supplier governance and engagement (e.g. QBRs, ABRs), presenting a consolidated view of production plans, priorities and opportunities to ensure required product specifications and standards are achieved (NB Product team own product strategy, product-level compliance, labelling, safety standards and regulatory approvals) 

• Commercial: Work with channel owners to translate demand signals, promotions, and trading plans into inventory and purchasing decisions. Ensure supply readiness for product launches, promotions and key commercial moments  

• Logistics: Inbound planning and inventory flow, supporting E2E supply chain efficiency and risk management. Incorporate freight, duty and tariff assumptions into “landed” cost-of-goods calculations 

• Finance: Input to Group-level budgeting, cashflow planning and working capital management providing regular updates on inventory investment outlook 

• Technology: work with the technology team to ensure we have the appropriate scalable systems in place and to ensure data accuracy and transparency   

• M&A: Support diligence and integration planning from a supply perspective 

Team Leadership 

• Lead and develop the Demand Planning & Procurement team, defining team structure, roles and ways of working to support current and future scale 

• Hire, develop, and retain high-performing talent 

• Maintain a culture of ownership, accountability, and high performance 

About You

• Extensive experience leading supply chain, planning, and procurement within omni-channel retail environments 

• Proven track record managing inventory, forecasting, and supplier relationships at scale 

• Strong strategic and commercial mindset, with the ability to balance growth, efficiency, working capital allocation 

• Highly analytical, with the ability to translate data into clear planning and purchasing decisions 

• Strong negotiation and supplier management experience 

• Experience building and leading high-performing, cross-functional teams 

• Structured, pragmatic, and execution-oriented, with a bias for action 

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with evolving priorities 

• Comfortable working cross-functionally across Product, Commercial, and Operations 

• Strong executive presence, with experience influencing senior stakeholders and driving alignment 

Perks & Benefits

• 30 days holiday: + 8 UK bank holidays 

• Pension contribution Scheme: 5% from you, 3% from us. 

• Private Medical Insurance: Includes travel, vision & dental (through Vitality) 

• Work from Abroad: One month per year, anywhere in the world* 

• Bonus Scheme: Discretionary bonus, based on individual and company performance 

• Mental Health Support: Free, confidential therapy via Spill 

• Opportunity for International Travel: Our team members have been to New York, Vegas, Amsterdam… and Birmingham! 

• Flexi-Fridays: Finish early one Friday per month 

• Olstar Events: Quarterly meetups, celebrations & socials 

• Vibrant Office: Runway East, Bloomsbury 

Olsam is proud to be a disability-committed employer registered in the UK. If you identify as having a disability and meet all of the criteria set out in the job description, we would like to support you through the interview stage. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive work environment where all employees and applicants can flourish.

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