Location
London - Shell Centre

Hours
Full Time - Regular

Salary
Negotiable

About the Role
Join one of the UK’s most diverse and ambitious retail businesses. This role is particularly well suited to FMCG professionals who excel in using data and planning insights to optimise forecasting, replenishment, and business performance. Shell UK Mobility & Convenience operates one of the UK's largest company-owned retail networks, where the convenience shop proposition plays a critical role in customer experience, non-fuel sales, margin delivery, waste control, and network profitability. As the Inventory Planning Manager, you will be accountable for managing product forecast exceptions to improve convenience retail product availability, inventory health, and order proposal replenishment performance across the Shell UK convenience retail network. You will lead the optimisation of forecasting and replenishment capability through the RELEX platform, ensuring the right products are available at the right time while balancing sales growth, waste, working capital, and operational efficiency. This is a business-outcome focused role, expected to own performance, shape planning governance, influence cross-functional priorities, and translate data, system recommendations, and operational insight into practical action that improves customer experience and strengthens profitability.

Success in this role will be measured through improved on-shelf availability and reduced lost sales across priority customer missions and categories; improved inventory productivity through stronger stock cover, replenishment parameters, and working capital discipline; reduced waste, markdown exposure, and stock obsolescence, particularly in fresh, chilled, frozen, food-to-go and other high-volatility categories; improved forecast accuracy and replenishment effectiveness through high-quality data, clear governance, and robust planning routines; stronger delivery of commercial plans including promotions, seasonal events, range changes, new product launches and delists; increased adoption and maturity of Relex as a core business planning capability across Convenience Retail & Services; reduced manual intervention over time by resolving recurring exceptions at source and simplifying planning processes; and improved supplier, wholesaler, and distribution performance through clear issue resolution, escalation, and service improvement routines.

Key Responsibilities
- Own availability and replenishment performance across the network, identifying risks to customer availability, lost sales, and commercial delivery and prioritising action where intervention creates the greatest business value.
- Balance availability with stock cover, waste, and working capital by maintaining effective replenishment parameters, reviewing inventory productivity, and challenging overstock or understock positions.
- Lead the business use, governance, and continuous improvement of Relex forecasting and replenishment processes, ensuring system recommendations are reviewed, challenged, and translated into effective business action.
- Establish and lead daily and weekly exception-management routines focusing on the highest-value issues across demand, supply, stock, data, supplier service, and site execution.
- Partner with Category Management, Supply Chain, and Operations to ensure range changes, promotions, seasonal events, new product launches, and delists are supported by robust planning assumptions and stock execution routines.
- Shape and embed the planning operating model, including parameter governance, escalation routes, standard routines, playbooks, and performance reviews.
- Identify recurring root causes and drive sustainable fixes that reduce manual workarounds, improve forecast quality, and increase confidence in automated replenishment.
- Influence internal teams, suppliers, wholesalers, and distribution partners to resolve service issues, improve supply reliability, and align replenishment activity with business priorities.

Experience
Experience in supply planning, demand forecasting, replenishment, inventory management, or supply chain operations, ideally within food retail, FMCG, convenience, or multi-site environments. Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, diagnose issues, and translate insight into clear business action. Experience working with forecasting, replenishment, or supply chain planning systems. RELEX experience is advantageous but experience with similar planning solutions is also valuable. Good understanding of availability, forecast accuracy, stock cover, waste, supplier service, and inventory optimisation measures. Ability to work cross-functionally with commercial, category, operations, supply chain, IT, and external partner teams.

About you
Confidence to shape new processes, challenge existing ways of working, and lead through ambiguity during the implementation of a new planning capability. Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex planning issues in a practical, simple, and business-focused way. High attention to detail, strong numeracy, and good competence in Excel, reporting tools, and data visualisation platforms. A proactive continuous improvement mindset with curiosity, resilience, and the ability to prioritise in a fast-paced operational environment.

Behaviours and Ways of Working
- Business ownership: Takes accountability for outcomes and understands the link between availability, customer experience, sales, waste, and profitability.
- Data-led judgement: Uses evidence to make balanced decisions and understands when to intervene, escalate, or allow the system to operate.
- Operational leadership: Brings stakeholders together around clear actions, follows through on issues, and drives resolution at pace.
- Collaboration: Builds trusted relationships across Category Management, Supply Chain, Operations, IT, suppliers, and distribution partners.
- Continuous improvement: Challenges manual workarounds, simplifies processes, and looks for sustainable fixes that improve the operating model over time.