Lead Forecasting Manager (All Genders)

Job Description

The Lead Forecasting Manager plays a critical role in forecasting customer demand and collaborating with cross-functional teams to continuously improve forecast accuracy. This includes:

• Running the cross-functional forecasting process
• Identifying and eliminating root causes for deviations
• Addressing opportunities and initiating optimizations of forecasting models and tools
• Contributing forecast intelligence to our S&OP/E processes and Weekly Business Reviews.
• Take full ownership of the SKU/article forecasting process across all horizons and domains, ensuring accuracy, robustness, and scalability while driving continuous improvement.
• Act as the central interface between Demand & Inventory, Product/Tech and business teams—translating business needs into forecasting solutions and enabling data-driven decisions in S&OP/E.
• Establish and steer KPI-driven performance management, proactively identifying root causes for deviations and initiating impactful corrective actions.
• Develop, maintain and present regular and ad-hoc reports on SKU/article forecasting performance KPI and pro-actively uncover root causes for critical deviations.
• Lead strategic initiatives to standardize, simplify and enhance SKU/article forecasting processes, tools and data flows across the organization.
• Deliver clear, relevant and actionable forecasting insights that directly influence business decisions, risks and opportunities.

Qualifications

• University degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or Business Administration or Supply Chain Management with clear focus on quantitative analytics
• 5+ years of relevant experience gained in a forecasting role (e.g. sales/demand/SKU/inbound/outbound forecasting, data analytics, business intelligence)
• Proven experience in applying and advancing statistical forecasting models at SKU/article level, within a fast-paced environment (e.g. CPG/FMCG/e-commerce)
• Ability to read and query data with SQL at least on intermediate level; Advanced MS Excel and MS PowerPoint user; Experience with MS Power BI and Tableau is a big plus
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills to optimize processes and to drive informed decision-making
• Being precise and pragmatic at the same time – flexibly applying methods required in the respective situation
• Open-minded team player with an ability to present complex ideas in a simple but meaningful way

Additional Information

Headquartered in Munich, with offices across Madrid, Krakow, Wroclaw, London and Vienna, we collaborate because we genuinely love working together - so you’ll be at the heart of an incredible, multinational team. We trust each other to get the job done, which means you’ll benefit from hybrid working, spending 60% of your time in the office and 40% at home. There’s an option to work for 20 days abroad in approved countries too.

Add to that development opportunities that help you to shape your own career path, excellent training and support, wellbeing offers, subsidised transport or bike leasing, plus 20% discount across all our products, and you’ll begin to get a sense of what sets us apart. Find out more about the specific benefits at your local office in our blog posts.

At zooplus, we believe in equal opportunity and support everyone to fulfil their potential. We recognise the power of listening and learning from each other and embrace diversity and inclusion of all.

#LI-Hybrid

✈️ 28 Annual Vacation Days
🩺 Private Medical Health Insurance
⏰ Hybrid working model (up to 40%Home Office per month)