Senior Planning Manager EMEA & APAC

The organisation

Though over one hundred years old, Stanley still has an entrepreneurial spirit. The company focuses on its core strengths: innovation and sustainability, with social media as a powerful advertising channel. After all, if a video of a fire destroying an entire car except for the Stanley thermos goes viral, the ad writes itself. As a result, the company has had tremendous success in recent years.

Stanley continues to create new products and connection points with global consumers. For example, its vibrant, colorful products have successfully tapped into a younger consumer segment. People are also increasingly interested in Stanley for its sustainability mission: creating products that last a lifetime, using recycled materials and paper packaging.

Stanley is headquartered in Seattle and is part of HAVI – a global, privately owned company that employs 10,000+ people and serves customers in over a hundred countries. Stanley also has offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Rio de Janeiro, Cariacica, Manaus, and Manila. The EMEA region is served by Stanley’s Amsterdam office, where the team is rapidly expanding. The Senior Planning Manager will be responsible for supply and demand planning across EMEA and APAC.

The position

Stanley, the iconic brand behind the well-known green thermos, has in recent years seen viral social media success. The company, founded in 1913, experienced record-breaking growth with its stylish and durable food and drink containers. The Senior Planning Manager will oversee the demand and supply planning for EMEA and APAC, thus playing a crucial role in facilitating Stanley’s continued growth.

Tasks & responsibilities

The Senior Planning Manager EMEA & APAC leads short- and long-term supply and demand planning for key product lines, in both the EMEA and the APAC market. This is an all-round planning role, as it combines forecasting and buying.

It also contains a managerial component, leading the EMEA planning team in Amsterdam and the APAC planning team in Korea. For APAC, two team members are already in place; for EMEA, the Senior Planning Manager will hire and build the team from scratch. The Senior Planning Manager reports to the Senior Supply Chain Director in Seattle.

Integrated supply and demand planning
The Senior Planning Manager oversees buying and forecasting operations, leading and supporting integrated supply and demand planning activities across the organization. They are responsible for monthly and weekly production plans for factories and distribution or fulfillment partners and for continuous improvement.

The Senior Planning Manager will review, identify, and mitigate any near-term and long-range imbalances of supply and demand and constrained supply requirements within a horizontal supply chain, using quantitative analysis and data-driven decisionmaking to support cost, inventory, and service objectives. They oversee lead times and variability, ensuring the supply availability meets and exceeds service, revenue, and profitability targets.

This role includes the creation, implementation, and monitoring of KPIs to drive business improvements. The Senior Planning Manager will coordinate with Sales, Product Creation, and Supply Chain teams to facilitate new rollouts and discontinuations.

Scale-up mentality
Stanley’s fast growth – forecast numbers have tripled since January 2024 – calls for flexibility, swift adjustments, and a scale-up mentality. For instance, new tools are being implemented and the Senior Planning Manager will oversee the team’s training in their use, while currently used tools are also still in place during this transition phase. This fast growth is expected to continue, so the Senior Planning Manager needs to adjust quickly and motivate the team to stay agile.

“Our fast growth is the biggest challenge for this role, both in terms of the planning responsibilities and the management component. A senior candidate with a solid management track record will bring the experience needed to be successful in this context.” – Thomas Laster, Senior Supply Chain Director

Candidate profile

The right candidate for this role has extensive experience in both supply and demand planning. They possess strong analytical skills and business acumen, and they communicate effectively.

At Stanley, collaboration and teamwork are key. And although initiative and ownership are encouraged, flying solo is not. This makes for a positive working environment, where helping each other is a matter of course. This culture of working together as a community to achieve common objectives is an important driver of employee satisfaction across the company.

In this role, an experienced planning manager will contribute greatly to the success of one of the most exciting lifestyle brands in the world at this time.

Requirements*

• Over 12 years of experience
• In demand and supply planning
• Including 5 years of leadership experience
• Within consumer goods
• Within international organizations
• Flexible mindset

* Research shows that while male candidates feel confident enough to apply when they meet about 60% of the requirements, female candidates only apply when they tick every box. So if this role has your name on it, but you’re not sure about the criteria, we still want to hear from you.

Interested?

You can apply for this position by using the link below. Stanley is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.