Job Description:
The Network Planning Manager is a critical role responsible for ensuring that our products are available in the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantity.
In the MEA region, this role is uniquely challenging and exciting. You are the "conductor" of the supply chain, synchronizing production schedules with sales requirements to deliver world-class service levels.
Key Responsibilities:
· Supply Orchestration: Convert demand forecasts into robust supply plans. Coordinate with MEA factories to ensure sufficient stock coverage across all Non-MEA markets.
· S&OP+ Leadership: Lead the Step 3 (Supply Review) of the Mars S&OP+ process. Highlight potential supply gaps, labor constraints, or material shortages and propose actionable solutions to the leadership team.
· Inventory Management: Balance the "Golden Triangle": maintaining high service levels (Case Fill Rate) while minimizing inventory holding costs and reducing "Write-Offs" (SLOBs) due to expiry—a critical task in the MEA heat.
· Production & Capacity Planning: Partner with Site Planners to optimize production runs. Ensure the regional network is prepared for seasonal peaks, such as the high-demand periods for Ramadan or Diwali.
· Continuous Improvement: Drive the "Efficiency" principle by identifying ways to reduce lead times and improve agility within the supply chain.
· Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the primary point of contact between Demand Planning, Sales, and Logistics to resolve supply-demand imbalances.
· Pipeline Visibility: Drive end-to-end visibility of the "pipeline" for affiliates. This involves communicating clear ETAs for shipments, managing "vessel tracking" expectations, and proactively alerting local teams to potential "Out of Stock" (OOS) risks.
· Standardization of Planning Horizons: Ensure all MEA affiliates adhere to the global Mars S&OP+ calendar. You will coach local supply planners on best practices, ensuring that their 24-month demand signals are accurate enough to drive long-term factory capacity decisions.
· New Activity Management: Partner with Affiliate Marketing and Sales for Innovation & Quitting (I&Q). You will manage the supply side of new product launches (NPI) and old product phase-outs to ensure zero waste and 100% on-time availability for launch dates in each local market.
· KPI Alignment: Hold regular performance check-ins with affiliate supply teams to track CFR (Case Fill Rate) and Inventory Health at a market level, identifying root causes for deviations and driving corrective action plans.
The jobholder will work closely with:
- Dispatch Planner
- Logistics & Clearance
- Commercial Buyers (Raws and Logistics)
- ATLAS inbound FE
- Activity coordinator
- Third party warehouse manager and supervisors
- Production Team
- Q&FS Team
- Finance Team
Mars Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mars and has not been reviewed or approved by Mars.
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Healthcare Strength — The benefits package is positioned as comprehensive, with broad medical coverage and additional protections like life insurance and short- and long-term disability. Mental health support is emphasized, including free mental health services and wellbeing programming under initiatives such as Mars Be Well.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is highlighted as market-leading in the U.S., with an example of 18 weeks fully paid for both parents. Additional family-related leave types such as sick time for caregiving and bereavement leave are also described as part of the overall package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are described as strong, including 401(k) matching (with a 6% match cited) and pension plans in some cases. The broader package also references retirement savings options and contributions aligned to local market practice, supporting long-term financial security.
Mars Insights
What We Do
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world’s pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™. We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.
