MEA S&OP Manager

Job Purpose/Overview

To govern high level business planning and decision making across the business through the S&OP+ process. This role is also responsible to sustain and drive strategic delivery of business results and continuous improvement to the S&OP+ process. This role manages, facilitates, and integrates the signature S&OP+ process under the Mars Operating System (MOS), across the 5 steps of S&OP+: PMR (Portfolio Management Review); DMR (Demand Management Review); SMR (Supply Management Review); IR (Integrated Reconciliation); and MBR (Management Business Review).

Whilst doing so, this role needs to influence senior stakeholders to drive an efficient and effective S&OP+ process that enables the delivery of our annual execution plan, identifies gaps, and develops mitigation actions, for both the short term and long term (up to 2 years in advance).

Key Responsibilities

The most important and relevant responsibilities include:

1. To govern Strategy Deployment and Operations Planning processes, practices and tools supporting seamless execution of the business strategy and delivery of results in line with targets. To ensure that management of the business is carried out in accordance with agreed processes, rules, principles, and values.

· Visibly lead by example across the organization, role modelling the S&OP+ principles and behaviors.

· Mediates and resolves conflicts when principles, processes, rules, and values are violated. Makes these incidents visible to the business in a constructive manner.

· Integrates diverse, operational planning capabilities, ranging from Portfolio Management, Demand Management, Supply Chain Management, Talent Demand Planning (Organization Effectiveness) and Financial Integration, pointing out where changes in one area of business planning impact others.

2. To engage and constructively challenge associates to continuously improve S&OP+ processes and continuously speed the business’ ability to identify and react to changes in planned performance and in the competitive environment.

· Maintain a focus on the process.

· Conduct annual S&OP+ audits for all 5 Steps, and report results, insights, and action plans to GEM

· Constructively challenge S&OP+ Teams to maintain and continuously review implementation of plans that improve KPI performance.

3. To ensure appropriate planning control and management of the business through S&OP+.

· Encourage use of the 5-step change to decision process, ensuring that decision quality is increased as a result of considering multiple scenarios by promoting its use within the Integrated Reconciliation and all S&OP+ teams.

· Ensure the transparency of key changes addressed, gaps identified, decisions taken and KPI performance in S&OP+ by communicating them actively throughout the business and within the S&OP+ process itself.

· Promote throughout the business the submission of associate plans for addressing business performance gaps and channel those ideas to the appropriate S&OP+ teams.

· Champion the use of high-quality project management techniques, including clear identification of project leaders, project plans, resource requirements, etc.

4. To build and lead the matrix team of process managers that facilitates and drives the running and development of S&OP+.

· Engage in continuous communication necessary to capture key changes in business plans and understand their impact across the business.

· Meet once per period formally with the team and develop/review plans for the continuous improvement of the S&OP+ process.

· Contribute to upgrading the skill set of team members both on skills required in common (i.e., facilitation skills) or on skills specific to team members respective areas of process management (portfolio, demand, supply chain, organization effectiveness (talent demand), integrated reconciliation planning, etc.).

5. To build the business’ capacity to increasingly manage through systems and processes. This includes responsibility to develop and introduce to the business new concepts of managing through systems and processes.

· Stay abreast of Mars Inc. developments on the Mars Operating System and introduce key components to the business as appropriate.

6. Identify opportunities for this role to add value through by better managing the growing complexity of the business.

Context and Scope

• Possess a broad understanding across the entire business to enable input into all major decisions and will often be required to work under tight deadlines and in pressure situations.
• Requires change management skills focused on building a culture where the need for individuals and divisions to work mutually with counterparts to overcome systemic challenges and barriers to improving performance is appreciated.
• Can challenge all aspects of the business in delivering improved performance whilst maintaining strong working relationships.
• Engage key stakeholders through integrity and trust and demonstrate effective conflict management capability, as well as strong listening skills and customer focus.

Job Specifications/Qualifications

Education & Professional Qualifications

• A Bachelors or Masters' Degree in any field, with minimum 8 years' experience in a Blue-Chip FMCG, and strong S&OP+ experience.

Knowledge / Experience

• Excellent knowledge of S&OP+ / Integrated Business Planning processes.
• Experience in planning role (business planning or financial planning) is a pre-requisite.
• Excellent English language skills are critical.
• Good facilitation and interpersonal skills.