Demand Planner

Contract: Maternity Cover (9-12 Months) Location: Preston

Why Join Baxi?

Baxi is a trusted name in heating and hot water solutions, with a proud heritage and ambitious plans for the future. As part of BDR Thermea Group, we're helping drive the transition to more sustainable energy solutions and leading the conversation around how homes and businesses use energy.

Our portfolio includes some of the UK's most recognised brands, including Baxi, Main, Megaflo, Remeha, Andrews Water Heaters, Potterton Commercial, Heatrae Sadia and Packaged Plant Solutions.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a collaborative and forward-thinking supply chain team where you'll play a key role in shaping demand planning processes and influencing business performance.

The Role

As a Demand Planner, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining accurate demand forecasts that support customer requirements, business objectives and operational efficiency. Working closely with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Production teams, you'll ensure demand signals are translated into robust plans that drive service excellence and inventory optimisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain demand plans, forecasts and statistical models aligned to sales objectives, market trends and operational capacity.

• Collaborate with Sales teams and customers to capture accurate demand signals and improve forecast visibility.

• Support new product introductions, promotional activity and product lifecycle management through effective forecasting.

• Analyse historical sales data, market intelligence and demand trends to identify risks and opportunities.

• Produce regular insights and reporting to support business decision-making.

• Play a key role in the development and execution of the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process.

• Support the business journey towards achieving 95% OTIF performance through improved demand planning and cross-functional alignment.

• Provide forecasting input to support production planning and inventory strategy.

• Monitor inventory levels and work with Supply Chain teams to maintain optimal stock availability while minimising excess inventory.

• Track and report key demand planning KPIs, including forecast accuracy, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

• Utilise demand planning systems and tools to improve forecast reliability and planning efficiency.

What You'll Be Doing

Demand Planning

• Manage SKU-level forecasting within IBP Demand Planning.

• Maintain forecast families and product lifecycle plans.

• Review and align statistical forecasts.

• Apply informed manual forecast adjustments where required.

• Ensure forecast accuracy and continuous improvement.

Working with Sales Teams

• Reconcile customer demand data and project pipelines.

• Review and align forecasts across the commercial organisation.

• Submit approved forecasts into M3.

• Monitor forecast performance against live customer orders.

Working with Supply Chain

• Provide analysis and resolution of SKU-specific forecast queries.

• Support stock planning and replenishment decisions.

• Collaborate on inventory optimisation initiatives.

Business & Stakeholder Engagement

• Present forecasts and demand trends to internal management teams and wider Group functions.

• Contribute to new product development (NPD) reviews and product discontinuation decisions.

• Participate in S&OP meetings and business planning forums.

• Deliver ad hoc analysis and presentations to key stakeholders across the business.

What We're Looking For

Essential Skills & Experience

• Degree in Business, Supply Chain, Logistics or a related field, or equivalent experience in a commercially focused, multi-site and multi-channel environment.

• Proven experience in demand planning, forecasting or supply chain planning within a complex business environment.

• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with the ability to interpret data and generate actionable insights.

• Advanced Excel skills and experience using demand planning tools and systems.

• Experience working with ERP systems, ideally SAP and/or M3.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels.

• Strong presentation and facilitation skills.

• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills.

• Strong problem-solving and decision-making capability.

What We Offer

Our reward package includes a competitive salary and performance-related incentive, alongside a range of excellent benefits, including:

• Up to 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays

• Option to buy additional holiday

• Contributory pension scheme

• Income protection cover

• Enhanced maternity, paternity and sick pay schemes

• Employee discounts

• And much more

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At BDR Thermea Group, we believe that diversity, equity and inclusion are critical to our success. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply.

In BDR Thermea Group, crediamo che la diversità, l'equità e l'inclusione (DE&I) siano fondamentali per il nostro successo. Ci impegniamo a creare un luogo di lavoro in cui ogni potenziale futuro dipendente si senta apprezzato, rispettato e autorizzato a realizzare se stesso al lavoro. È possibile trovare la nostra politica DE & I sul nostro sito web per saperne di più.