Junior Operations Manager | High-Growth Food & Drink Brand | London

Junior Operations Manager | High-Growth Food & Drink Brand | London

The Client

We're partnering with an exciting, high-growth food & drink brand that's continuing to build momentum across both retail and direct-to-consumer channels. With ambitious growth plans and increasing demand, the business is investing further in its Supply Chain function to support the next stage of its journey.

As they continue to scale, they're investing further in their Supply Chain function and are looking for a Junior Operations Manager who can help strengthen forecasting processes, improve visibility across the supply chain and support increasingly sophisticated planning as the business continues to grow.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a collaborative, entrepreneurial business where you'll have genuine ownership, work cross-functionally with teams across the organisation and play a key role in developing the company's planning capability.

The Role

Reporting into the Head of Supply Chain, you'll take ownership of demand planning across the business while helping to shape how forecasting is approached as the company continues to grow. You'll work closely with Commercial, Finance and Operations teams to improve forecast accuracy, develop planning processes and ensure the business has the visibility it needs to make informed decisions.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys combining analytical thinking with cross-functional collaboration and is excited by the prospect of improving processes within a fast-growing food & drink business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and continuously refine the demand forecasting process, identifying opportunities to improve accuracy and planning methodologies.
• Develop forecasting tools and reporting that provide greater visibility of demand trends across the business.
• Work closely with Commercial teams to improve the quality of customer forecasts, incorporating promotional activity, seasonal trends and new product launches into demand plans.
• Support the ongoing development of S&OP processes, ensuring demand assumptions are clearly communicated across the business.
• Partner with Supply Planning, Procurement and Operations teams to balance customer demand with production capacity and inventory levels.
• Analyse forecast performance, highlighting trends, risks and opportunities to improve forecast accuracy and service levels.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, reporting and forecasting methodologies, supporting the continued evolution of the Supply Chain function.
• Support wider Supply Chain improvement initiatives as the business continues to scale.

What the client would like to see (essential):

• Experience in a Demand Planning or Supply Chain Planning role, with evidence of improving forecasting processes or introducing new ways of working.
• Previous experience within FMCG, food & drink or another fast-moving manufacturing environment.
• Strong analytical skills with advanced Excel experience and confidence working with large datasets.
• Experience using ERP systems and demand planning tools to build, maintain and analyse forecasts.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across Commercial, Finance, Operations and Manufacturing teams.
• Highly organised, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and adapt within a fast-paced environment.
• A proactive, solutions-focused mindset with a continuous improvement approach.
• Excellent communication skills with the confidence to present data-driven insights and recommendations.

What we would like to see (bonus):

• Experience participating in S&OP or Integrated Business Planning (IBP) processes.
• Experience using ERP or planning systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Unleashed or similar.
• Experience forecasting for major UK retailers, wholesale customers or D2C channels.
• Exposure to new product launches and promotional forecasting.
• A genuine interest in food & drink and working within a high-growth, entrepreneurial business.

Start-date: ASAP

Location: London (Hybrid)

Salary: £35,000–£45,000 + benefits

At Harmonic, we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. We actively welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and assure you that every candidate will be thoughtfully considered for the roles we represent, without regard to race, religion, gender expression, disability, or sexual orientation.