Purpose & Overall Relevance for the organization

The Manager Distribution Center (DC) Planning serves as the internal expert within the EU SCM organization for an end-to-end overview of the flow of goods, acting as a decisive supply chain planner. This role will maintain and continuously improve the planning process for European DCs, a control system to ensure overall transparency on the utilization of the DC’s capacities (Inbound, Storage and Outbound), in order to ensure SLA compliant deliveries and minimized costs, all on operational and tactical levels.

This function provides valuable insights on the health of the DC network, which is the foundation for decision-making to Senior Leadership teams. Therefore, the position needs to combine broad theoretical and practical knowledge in SCM and strong communication skills.

Key Responsibilities
•    Lead DC Planning: Coordinate the collection of data and information and generate the end-to-end capacity plan in the European DC Network (inbound, storage, outbound). Analyze and work closely with all stakeholders in the process to ensure common understanding.
•    Drive Efficiency: Identify bottlenecks, propose solutions, and ensure timely, cost-effective solutions for DC network constraints. 
•    Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Act as a key liaison between DC Operations, Inbound, Deployment, Product Supply, and other stakeholders. Influence them to work towards a common goal. Be precise, errors have a substantial impact on the organization and the overall Supply Chain in Europe
•    Present to Leadership: Deliver insights and recommendations to senior management.
•    Dedicated Cancellation process: Own the dedicated cancellations to ensure availability. Alignment with affected parties (e.g. 3PL, Finance), create transparency on volumes and statuses and organize transfer of affected volumes to the DC network.
•    Support Strategic Projects: Lead short- and mid-term initiatives to enhance network utilization and resilience.
•    Deliver Insights: Provide data-driven reports and analysis to support decision-making and continuous improvement.

Key Relationships
•    Europe DC Business Intelligence
•    Inbound
•    Deployment
•    Product Supply
•    DC Operations
•    Excess Inventory Management Europe

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
•    Strategic thinking and developing innovative solutions within a complex/changing environment
•    Deep understanding of supply chain mechanics and flow of goods
•    Able to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing (English mandatory)
•    Stakeholder management with conflicting goals/priorities
•    Ability to prioritize, manage and complete activities within a deadline
•    Excellent analytical skills and information synthesis abilities
•    Strong competence and experience in MS Excel (Power Query and Power Pivot are a plus)
•    SAP knowledge is desirable

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications
•    College or university degree with a focus on Logistics, Supply Chain Management or equivalent education
•    5+ years of work experience in international and/or cross-functional teams, preferably in a Supply Chain Management function