Senior Manager, Sales Operations & Demand Planning
Job Title: Senior Manager, Sales Operations & Demand Planning
Company: Sportlux
Location: Dubai, UAE
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
Team: Individual contributor at start, with scope to build a team as the business grows
Job Purpose
This role exists to turn the order book into shipped, invoiced revenue as fast as possible. You sit between the commercial team and the operational teams (Buying & Production, Inbound Logistics, Warehousing & Distribution, Inventory), with Finance as the checkpoint on credit, terms and release.
You own the flow of every order from booking to dispatch. You see where orders get stuck, raise it early, and push until it is fixed. You also own demand planning, so that what Sales promises customers and what Buying commits to suppliers come from the same numbers.
Key Responsibilities
1. Order Book & Conversion
- Own the wholesale order book end to end: entry, validation, allocation, release and shipment.
- Upload and maintain orders in the ERP accurately and on time, including amendments, cancellations and re-bookings.
- Track conversion of the order book daily by customer, season and delivery window, and flag gaps against plan.
- Allocate available stock to open orders based on delivery dates, customer priority and margin.
- Work with Finance to clear credit holds, prepayments and release, so approved orders ship without delay.
2. Stock Availability
- Monitor free and available-to-sell stock across warehouses and in transit.
- Reconcile stock positions between the ERP, warehouses and inbound shipments, and close discrepancies with Inventory and Logistics.
- Identify unallocated or slow stock early and agree next steps with Sales: reallocation, re-offer or alternative channels.
3. Cross-Functional Integration
- Be the single point of contact between Sales, Finance and Operations on anything order-related.
- Run the weekly order book review: what ships this week, what is stuck, why, and who owns the fix.
- Raise risks to delivery dates, customer commitments or revenue before they land, with a proposed solution.
- Set and enforce order-entry rules, cut-offs and handover standards between departments.
4. Demand Planning
- Build and own the seasonal demand plan, combining the pre-order book, sales forecasts, sell-through history and replenishment needs.
- Turn demand into buy recommendations for the Buying & Production team.
- Run a monthly demand and supply review linking customer demand with production and inbound timelines.
- Track forecast accuracy and adjust the plan as the order book matures.
5. Reporting, Process & Systems
- Own Sales Ops reporting: order book, conversion, shipments vs plan, backorders, cancellations and ageing of open orders.
- Map current processes, remove manual steps and write the SOPs.
- Act as business owner for order management in the ERP, working with IT on improvements and new tools.
- Build the foundation for a Sales Ops & Demand Planning team as volumes grow.
What Success Looks Like in Year One
- One order book view that Sales, Finance and Operations all trust and use.
- A measurable reduction in the time from order booking to shipment.
- The weekly order book review and monthly demand and supply review running as fixed routines.
- A seasonal demand plan in place and driving buy decisions.
- Documented rules for order entry, release and allocation, followed across teams.
Qualifications & Experience
- 8+ years in Sales Operations, Order Management, Demand Planning or Supply Chain, ideally in fashion, apparel, footwear or luxury goods.
- At least 3 years in a lead or manager role.
- Solid wholesale B2B background: seasonal pre-orders, delivery windows, allocation, cancellations and re-bookings.
- Hands-on demand planning or S&OP experience.
- Good working knowledge of the finance side of order release: credit limits, payment terms, prepayments and invoicing.
- ERP experience (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP or similar).
- Advanced Excel. Power BI or a similar BI tool is a plus.
- Experience in a multi-entity, multi-country business is an advantage.
- Fluent English.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain or a related field.
- Based in Dubai or ready to relocate.
Key Competencies
- Ownership. An order stuck in the system is your problem until it ships.
- Speaks three languages. Comfortable with Sales, Finance and Operations, and able to translate between them.
- Pushes for answers. Follows up with senior colleagues and gets decisions made.
- Strong with numbers. Spots the issue in a report before anyone asks.
- Builder mindset. Comfortable in a growing company where processes are still being put in place.
- Steady under pressure. Stays organised through season peaks and month-end.
