More than 20 years ago, zooplus was one of the first to bring the pet category into the world of eCommerce. Today, we stand strong as Europe’s leading online pet platform, delivering moments of happiness to more than 9 million pet parents each year.
We're on a mission to create joy for pets and their parents, driven by our core values of Care, Courage, Openness, and Simplicity. At the heart of everything we do, they inspire us to grow, raise the bar for our customers and fuel a pet-first business.
The Lead Forecasting Manager plays a critical role in forecasting customer demand and collaborating with cross-functional teams to continuously improve forecast accuracy. This includes:
- Running the cross-functional forecasting process
- Identifying and eliminating root causes for deviations
- Addressing opportunities and initiating optimizations of forecasting models and tools
- Contributing forecast intelligence to our S&OP/E processes and Weekly Business Reviews.
- Take full ownership of the SKU/article forecasting process across all horizons and domains, ensuring accuracy, robustness, and scalability while driving continuous improvement.
- Act as the central interface between Demand & Inventory, Product/Tech and business teams—translating business needs into forecasting solutions and enabling data-driven decisions in S&OP/E.
- Establish and steer KPI-driven performance management, proactively identifying root causes for deviations and initiating impactful corrective actions.
- Develop, maintain and present regular and ad-hoc reports on SKU/article forecasting performance KPI and pro-actively uncover root causes for critical deviations.
- Lead strategic initiatives to standardize, simplify and enhance SKU/article forecasting processes, tools and data flows across the organization.
- Deliver clear, relevant and actionable forecasting insights that directly influence business decisions, risks and opportunities.
- University degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or Business Administration or Supply Chain Management with clear focus on quantitative analytics
- 5+ years of relevant experience gained in a forecasting role (e.g. sales/demand/SKU/inbound/outbound forecasting, data analytics, business intelligence)
- Proven experience in applying and advancing statistical forecasting models at SKU/article level, within a fast-paced environment (e.g. CPG/FMCG/e-commerce)
- Ability to read and query data with SQL at least on intermediate level; Advanced MS Excel and MS PowerPoint user; Experience with MS Power BI and Tableau is a big plus
- Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills to optimize processes and to drive informed decision-making
- Being precise and pragmatic at the same time – flexibly applying methods required in the respective situation
- Open-minded team player with an ability to present complex ideas in a simple but meaningful way
With more than 1,000 passionate professionals located across 6 European offices, we believe our success comes from working together and leveraging our international strengths. Expect a hybrid work setup: 60% in-office, 40% remote, collaborating with colleagues across locations.
Our benefits:
🐾 20% discount in our zooplus shop
📖 Internal and external training
🎈 Team events
#LI-Hybrid
✈️ 28 vacation days and days off on 24th and 31st of December
🏋️ Wellhub membership for gyms, online training, mindfulness and beyond
📱 Company mobile phone for work and personal use
Skills Required
- University degree in STEM, Business Administration, or Supply Chain Management (quantitative focus)
- 5+ years of relevant forecasting experience (sales/demand/SKU/inbound/outbound forecasting, analytics, BI)
- Proven experience applying and advancing statistical forecasting models at SKU/article level
- Intermediate-level ability to read and query data with SQL
- Advanced MS Excel skills
- Advanced MS PowerPoint skills
- Experience with MS Power BI and/or Tableau
- Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills
- Experience in fast-paced CPG/FMCG or e-commerce environment
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills; ability to present complex ideas simply
What We Do
We are zooplus. With over 25 years of exclusive focus on online retail in pet supplies, we are a trailblazer in the industry. Every day, we go the extra mile to meet the unique needs of pets, delivering exceptional value to our customers with an ever-expanding range of nutritional and lifestyle products, proprietary premium food and accessory brands, expert advice, convenient services, and loyalty programs. Our commitment to innovation drives us as a team to lead the industry and set new standards for personalized, convenient shopping, consistently exceeding our customers' expectations. This dedication has made us the number one choice for over 12 million customers in 30 countries across Europe. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, zooplus employs over 1,200 people across Europe.
