L'Occitane - Senior Associate - Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)

Job description / Role

Inspire | Exhilarate | Delight

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavour to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewellery, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750 experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 14,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up "The Greenhouse," which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners, and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles.

What you'll be doing

You will be reporting to the Manager - Supply Chain and will lead the S&OP process, ensuring optimal stock levels, and balancing supply with demand to support business growth and customer satisfaction. This role will drive demand planning, network optimization, and capacity planning while ensuring cross-functional alignment, including monthly demand plans, consumption models, new product launches, etc.

Key Responsibilities

S&OP Process Management:

• Develop and lead the end-to-end Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, between sales forecasts, supply plans, inventory, and financial plans through facilitating clear communication and data flow.
• Facilitate monthly S&OP meetings, ensuring data-driven decision-making.
• Lead the preparation of the Product Portfolio, Demand Review, Supply Review, and S&OP decks within the planning cycle.

Demand & Supply Planning:

• Continuously improve the quality of demand forecasting by measuring forecast accuracy and bias, delivering root cause analysis, and preparing and executing action plans.
• Improve the efficiency of supply planning and purchasing to minimize excess stock and stockouts by fostering close collaboration between the supply chain, marketing, and commercial teams.
• Analyze fill rates and on-shelf availability rates and develop and execute action plans to minimize sales losses due to stockouts.
• Drive continuous improvement of key supply chain metrics by mastering the supply and demand planning processes and tools and facilitating data-driven decisions.

Inventory & Replenishment Management:

• Optimize inventory levels across stores, warehouses, and e-commerce channels.
• Develop strategies for new product launches, seasonal stock planning, and slow-moving inventory management.
• Work closely with logistics and warehouse teams to improve replenishment efficiency.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication:

• Drive collaboration and transparency across departments such as sales, marketing, supply chain, finance, and retail teams to prioritize and create a consensus-driven demand plan and align business goals.
• Provide insights on sales trends, risks, and opportunities to leadership for strategic decision-making.

Performance Monitoring & Reporting:

• Define and track KPIs such as forecast accuracy, inventory turnover, and service levels.
• Use data analytics and forecasting tools to drive continuous improvement in the S&OP process.
• Present regular reports on supply chain health, demand trends, and inventory optimization.

What you'll need to succeed

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Finance, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in S&OP, demand planning, or supply chain management, preferably in the beauty, fashion, or FMCG industry.
• Strong knowledge of demand forecasting models, ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, or similar), and planning tools.
• Experience working in omnichannel retail (offline & online markets).
• Excellent analytical skills with proficiency in Excel, Power BI, or other data visualization tools.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Knowledge of global supply chain best practices and inventory optimization techniques.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic retail environment.

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities, and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.

We invite all applicants to apply

It takes diversity of thought, culture, background, differing abilities, and perspectives to truly inspire, exhilarate, and delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin, or disability status.

Department

Supply Chain & Logistics

Role

Demand Planner

About the Company

The Chalhoub Group is the leading partner for luxury across the Middle East since 1955. As an expert in retail, distribution and marketing services based in Dubai, the group has become a major player in the fashion, beauty and gift sectors regionally.

By blending its Middle East expertise and intimate knowledge of luxury, Chalhoub Group is building brands in the region, by offering service excellence to all its partners and a unique experience to its customers through its passionate teams.

With a growing workforce of more than 9,000 people, implemented in 14 countries, as well as the operating of over 470 retail outlets, the group's success is attributed to its most valued asset of highly skilled and dedicated teams. Professionalism and passion are what fuel the Chalhoub Group's competitive edge in today's market.

By being committed to implementing sustainable practices into their business, the Chalhoub Group has been awarded in 2013 the CSR Label from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.