Market Planning Assistant Manager (Customer Service, Logistics & Planning (CSLP))

HEINEKEN Asia Pacific Beverages (HAPBev) develops and delivers beverage solutions and services across Asia Pacific, including the trading of HEINEKEN-owned brands, incubation of innovations, and supply services for HEINEKEN operating companies and strategic partners.

The Market Business Partner is the primary business interface between assigned markets, HEINEKEN operating companies, Joint Venture partners, sourcing breweries, customers, and internal functions. The role puts the customer at the centre by developing a deep understanding of customer needs, pain points, growth ambitions, commercial realities, route-to-market constraints, competitive landscape, and product fulfilment requirements.

Acting as the voice of the customer internally, the Market Business Partner translates market and customer insights into concrete improvements across HAPBev’s organization, processes, and ways of working. The role proactively identifies opportunities to enhance customer experience, strengthen service reliability, improve forecast discipline, enable better product availability, and support commercial execution, while balancing customer needs with HAPBev’s business priorities, sourcing capabilities, cost-to-serve considerations, and operational realities.

The role partners with customers and internal stakeholders to co-develop growth opportunities that better serve market demand and drive sales. By connecting customer needs with HAPBev’s portfolio, sourcing network, logistics capabilities, and digital solutions, the Market Business Partner helps shape a more responsive, commercially relevant, and customer-backed export model.

The role leads the end-to-end planning partnership for assigned markets, strengthening Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), supporting innovation and commercialization, and driving improvements in service, cost-to-serve, working capital, customer experience, product fulfilment across the export value chain.

Major Roles & Responsibilities

1. Market Partnership & Demand Planning

• Act as the strategic supply chain partner for assigned markets, translating commercial priorities and market insights into executable end-to-end plans.
• Partner with customers to review sell-out trends, inventory positions, safety-stock policies, promotional activity, innovation plans, and market assumptions to maintain a rolling 78-week demand forecast.
• Constructively challenge assumptions, identify risks and opportunities early, and facilitate decisions that improve forecast quality, service, and business outcomes.

2. S&OP & Supply Integration

• Lead a disciplined, data-driven S&OP drumbeat for assigned markets, integrating demand, supply, inventory, capacity, and financial perspectives into one aligned plan.
• Connect market requirements with sourcing breweries and production sites to strengthen visibility, secure supply continuity, and support effective allocation decisions.
• Escalate material gaps with clear scenarios, trade-offs, recommendations, and agreed recovery actions.

3. Performance, Financial & Working Capital Management

• Own and drive improvement in relevant KPIs, including forecast accuracy and bias, service level, inventory health, product freshness, write-offs, supply reliability, and planning adherence.
• Partner with Finance to translate the demand plan into volume, mix, revenue, margin, inventory, capacity, and cost implications for timely business decisions.
• Identify and implement initiatives that optimize inventory, reduce write-offs, improve cash conversion, and lower total cost-to-serve without compromising customer outcomes.

4. Commercial & Cluster Management

• Develop market and cluster strategies that strengthen portfolio performance, supply feasibility, and profitable growth.
• Develop market pricing recommendations and ensure adherence to approved pricing principles, governance, and commercial agreements.
• Contribute data-driven insights and recommendations to customer and business reviews.

5. Logistics & Network Optimization

• Review upstream logistics flows and optimize sourcing parameters, freight lanes, shipment frequency, container utilization, and loading configurations.
• Partner with Global Network Planning and sourcing breweries to evaluate sourcing options and improve network resilience, lead time, and landed cost.

6. Customer Experience & Issue Resolution

• Partner with Customer Service, Quality, and sourcing breweries to resolve customer complaints and service issues promptly and transparently.
• Ensure root causes, corrective actions, owners, and timelines are clearly established, with learning embedded to prevent recurrence.
• Champion initiatives that simplify customer touchpoints and create a more consistent, seamless customer experience.

7. Innovation, Change & Digital Enablement

• Coordinate with the HAPBev NPI team, customers, and sourcing breweries to deliver innovation launches on time while minimizing obsolescence, write-offs, and service disruption.
• Coordinate timely communication and implementation of product, pack, specification, price, and portfolio changes.
• Champion standardized, harmonized, and digitally enabled ways of working that improve data quality, transparency, and productivity across export operations.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business Administration, Logistics, Operations Management, or a related discipline. Equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in demand planning, supply planning, S&OP/IBP, customer supply chain, or a related function, preferably within FMCG, food and beverage, consumer goods, or manufacturing.
• Proven experience managing complex cross-functional stakeholders across Commercial, Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Logistics, and Operations.
• Demonstrated track record of improving forecast quality, service, inventory, or end-to-end planning performance.
• Experience in a regional, export, multi-market, or international supply environment is advantageous.

Preferred (good to have) Job-Related Knowledge & Skills

• Strong knowledge of end-to-end planning, demand forecasting, inventory management, S&OP/IBP, and supply performance management.
• Commercial and financial acumen, with the ability to connect operational decisions to customer outcomes, margin, working capital, and cost-to-serve.
• Understanding of alcohol market dynamics, portfolio management, consumer trends, and route-to-market considerations.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including scenario development and decision-oriented storytelling.
• Effective customer management, negotiation, facilitation, and influencing skills across functions and cultures.
• Proficiency in Excel, Power BI, and ERP or planning platforms such as SAP, JDE, SAP IBP, APO, or equivalent systems.
• Experience in process improvement, standardization, automation, or digital transformation is advantageous.