New Product and Seasonal Sales Forecaster UK&I in Poole

Diversity matters. We are building a brand that represents the people of the world. It’s what you do that counts, and we are always looking to expand perspectives and voices to shape our future.

Who we are: You might know us as the inventors of the bath bomb, but there’s more to this great-smelling, partly employee-owned, family-run company than pioneering cosmetics. We believe our business should put more back into the world than it takes and demonstrate that capitalism can be a force for good. The Living Wage Foundation’s statement 'a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay' is one that we are proud to commit to in the UK. As an accredited Living Wage employer, we put our people first and fight cruel practices like animal testing, promote regeneration, and show that it is what’s inside that counts – whether that’s an ingredient in a product, or the minerals in a smartphone.

Role overview: The New Product and Seasonal Sales Forecaster plays a critical role in driving the accuracy and efficiency of new product sales and purchase forecasts in the UK&I. The core function of this role is to ensure that product forecasts support market goals, including achieving sales targets, maintaining optimal stock availability whilst minimising waste, and ultimately maximising customer satisfaction. This is achieved through the creation of robust demand forecasts for new and seasonal products, rigorous in-depth variance analysis, and collaboration with stakeholders. The role sits within the Central Forecasting Team as part of Lush Limited Support and reports to the Product Operations Lead. You will also collaborate closely with Manufacturing, Retail and Finance teams in the UK.

Location: Remote UK&I. Contract: Fixed term for 12 months working full time (40 hours per week). Travel: Regular travel to Poole is required.

Key Responsibilities:

• Line by Line Product Sales Forecasting for UK&I: Generate new and seasonal product sales forecasts for UK Retail to review, using historic and future demand trends.
• Support the translation of sales to purchases with provision of initial allocation, waste and tolerance assumptions as well as suggested phasing.
• Work with the UK&I Retail team to review and produce realistic forecasts, helping them to understand the impact of final forecasting positions.
• Highlight possible impact to all year round (AYR) product sales where relevant.
• Working with UK&I Finance Business Partner and wider finance teams, ensuring alignment with financial forecasts, and highlighting potential variances for discussion with stakeholders.
• Collaborate with UK&I Retail and Brand Teams, alongside the Commercial Analyst, to analyse and interpret market trends, ensuring that demand signals and upcoming strategies are accurately reflected in product forecasts.
• Continuously work on process improvements to increase forecast accuracy and optimise launch timelines.
• Maintain understanding of current retail operations, visual merchandising standards and shop product quality to enhance product forecasts and understand sales and ordering trends.
• Track, adjust and report on each forecast by arranging and facilitating regular review meetings, ensuring all relevant parts of the business are represented and accountable.
• Provide stakeholders with a summary of each review, including changes to forecast, financial impact and ongoing strategy.
• Maintain organised and accurate records of all new and seasonal product forecasts contained within the Central Forecasting Team drive.

Forecasting Support:

• Create pack size recommendations for UK manufacturing based on the forecast that is suitably sized to allow flexibility to all shops within the UK and Croatia supply chain.
• Collaborate with the Product Operations Lead and UK&I Retail in areas where your role, experience and skills directly support team and company goals.
• Create and maintain seasonal archives for new ranges, to be utilised by the wider forecasting network.
• Provide feedback and product insights to a network of global forecasters through new product samples and from information gathered via product launch channels and operational meetings, to assist global forecasts.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise:

• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of spreadsheet-based applications, including Excel and Google Sheets.
• Strong financial understanding, excellent commercial awareness and exceptional product knowledge.
• Pride in the presentation and clarity of your work, ensuring that every chart and summary is accessible and actionable for stakeholders.
• Naturally curious and want to uncover the 'why' behind the trends and anomalies.

Benefits:

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• 6 months of full pay for parental leave (primary caregiver must qualify for SMP).
• Enhanced paternity leave.
• Bonus scheme.
• Day off for weekday birthdays.
• Holiday purchase scheme.
• 50% discount on Lush products and spa treatments.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Discounted rail and bus season tickets.
• Employee assistance programme.
• Wellbeing & mindfulness sessions.
• Access to employee-led Community Networks, including Disability and Chronic Illness, Family Support, Global Majority (Race and Ethnicity), LGBTQIA+, Menopause and Neurodiversity communities.
• Tailored gender affirming care.

We actively welcome conversations about what working flexibly could mean and look like for you. We’re 10% Employee Owned – all colleagues play a role in protecting our ethics, our independence, contributing ideas for the future and share in the rewards of success when the company is doing well.