Demand Planner – Licenced Sportswear in Altrincham

Zelus is Nike Inc.’s exclusive global licensee for teamwear apparel and equipment, serving athletes and teams from grassroots to elite level across football, rugby, basketball, athletics, hockey, and more. Based in Hilversum, we bring together creative, passionate people to deliver high‑quality product for teams around the world — with a Swoosh on every kit.

The role involves being a commercially minded and analytically strong Demand Planner within the Planning function of the Finance team. This is a high-impact role responsible for owning and continually improving the end-to-end demand planning process across our Licenced category. The position is based in our Altrincham office, with a hybrid working pattern of three days in the office (Monday to Wednesday) and two days working remotely (Thursday and Friday). Occasional travel to our Netherlands office will be required (around 1-2 trips per quarter).

What you’ll do

• Demand Planning & Forecasting: Owning rolling plans across multiple seasons simultaneously for long, mid and short range forecasts. Forecasting demand at the SKU level, collaborating with Commercial, Financial and Product teams. Ensuring accuracy through the forecasting process then feeding this into making buying decisions considering factory minimums. Partnering with various teams to incorporate qualitative inputs into quantitative forecasting models, embedding frameworks to incorporate market trend analysis and market-specific considerations into forecasting models.
• Orderbook Reviews: Driving increased sales through proactive analysis of orderbooks, ensuring production surcharges are mitigated through MOQ management. Completion of analysis versus short range forecast and historic trends to propose orderbook growth improvements. Managing regular cross-functional committees to ensure alignment of expectations ahead of every Order Entry Window (OEW) and reviewing performance post-OEW closure.
• Licensed Stock Initiatives Management: Managing free-to-selling Licensed stock to ensure sales are maximized by selling through most profitable avenues and periods in the season. Providing visibility and tracking of Licensed stock movements across warehouses and post embellishment facilities, including ownership of quarterly stock clearance plans with Commercial and management of relevant licensed projects from forecast to fulfilment.
• Key Business Partnering: Being the key point of contact to the various commercial facing teams. Collaborating with supply chain to brief forecasts and understand MOQs and factory processes.

What you’ll bring

• Advanced Excel and data analysis capability.
• Minimum of 2 years experience in demand planning or sports merchandising.
• Experience within apparel, desired but not critical.
• Experience in a fast-paced and dynamic business environment.
• Strong commercial understanding with ability to communicate analytical insights to various levels of stakeholders.
• A data-driven mindset with an eye for quality – able to identify errors at source, maintain data hygiene standards, and present insights with rigour and clarity.

Why join Zelus?

At Zelus, you’ll have the opportunity to lead with impact, work closely with a globally recognised sports brand partner, and help shape how teamwear product comes to life for athletes worldwide. We offer a collaborative, inclusive culture, strong benefits, and real opportunities for professional growth. Zelus is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and celebrate diversity in all its forms. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will be happy to support you.