Product Planning Assistant / Specialist

📦 We're Hiring: Product Planning Assistant / Specialist📍 Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote) 🕒 Employment Type: Full-Time 💼 Experience Level: Entry-Level to Mid-Level 🌐 Work Arrangement: Fully RemoteAbout UsWe are a product-focused organization committed to developing and managing competitive product portfolios through data-driven planning, customer insight, demand analysis, commercial discipline, and cross-functional collaboration.Our distributed teams collaborate across Product Management, Merchandising, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, Operations, Design, E-commerce, and Executive Leadership to ensure products are planned, launched, managed, and optimized effectively throughout their lifecycle.The RoleWe are seeking a detail-oriented Product Planning Assistant / Specialist to support product planning, assortment development, demand analysis, sales forecasting, inventory planning, product launches, pricing analysis, and portfolio performance management.The ideal candidate will combine strong analytical and organizational skills with commercial awareness, attention to detail, and an interest in products, customers, markets, and business performance.Key ResponsibilitiesSupport the development and execution of product-planning strategies aligned with commercial and business objectives.Assist Product Managers, Merchandising teams, and Commercial teams with product-planning activities.Maintain accurate product plans, assortment calendars, launch schedules, and product-development trackers.Support product lifecycle planning from concept and launch through growth, maturity, and discontinuation.Maintain comprehensive product databases, product master data, specifications, attributes, pricing, and lifecycle information.Ensure product information is accurate and updated across relevant systems and platforms.Support product assortment planning based on customer demand, market trends, sales performance, profitability, and inventory availability.Analyze historical sales data to identify demand patterns, seasonal trends, product performance, and opportunities.Prepare sales and demand forecasts for existing and new products.Assist with forecasting assumptions and compare forecast performance against actual results.Monitor forecast accuracy and identify significant variances.Work with Supply Chain and Procurement teams to align product plans with inventory and supply availability.Monitor inventory levels, stock coverage, reorder requirements, lead times, and potential stockout risks.Identify excess, slow-moving, obsolete, or underperforming products.Support inventory optimization initiatives to improve availability while minimizing excess stock.Coordinate with Procurement and suppliers regarding product availability, lead times, minimum order quantities, production schedules, and delivery requirements.Track purchase orders and product availability where relevant.Support product launch planning and ensure all required activities are completed before launch.Maintain launch calendars covering product readiness, inventory, pricing, content, marketing, sales training, distribution, and system setup.Coordinate with Marketing, Sales, E-commerce, Operations, and Supply Chain teams to ensure launch readiness.Track launch milestones, dependencies, risks, and outstanding actions.Support post-launch performance reviews and identify opportunities for improvement.Analyze product sales, revenue, margin, market share, conversion, and customer performance.Prepare regular product-performance reports and dashboards.Identify high-performing and underperforming products and provide recommendations.Assist with product portfolio reviews and assortment rationalization.Evaluate product profitability and contribution margins.Support pricing analysis, promotional planning, markdown analysis, and commercial optimization.Monitor competitor products, pricing, assortment, promotions, launches, and market positioning.Conduct market and customer research to identify emerging product trends and opportunities.Support product-category reviews and competitive benchmarking.Prepare presentations, analysis, business cases, and recommendations for Product and Commercial leadership.Assist with new-product opportunity assessments.Analyze potential product opportunities based on market demand, customer needs, competitive landscape, expected sales, costs, and profitability.Support product development by coordinating inputs from Product, Design, Engineering, Procurement, Quality, Operations, and Commercial teams.Track product-development milestones and ensure key deliverables are completed on schedule.Maintain product-development and launch documentation.Assist with product specifications, packaging requirements, product descriptions, technical information, and other product documentation.Coordinate product samples, prototypes, testing requirements, approvals, and readiness activities where applicable.Support product quality and compliance teams by ensuring relevant product documentation is available.Monitor product-related regulatory, labeling, certification, and compliance requirements where applicable.Coordinate with Finance to ensure product cost, pricing, margin, and financial assumptions are accurately reflected in planning models.Support annual and seasonal product-budget planning.Assist with revenue and margin forecasts by product, category, market, or channel.Track actual performance against product plans and budgets.Identify key variances and prepare explanations for management review.Develop and maintain product-planning spreadsheets, dashboards, trackers, and reporting tools.Use Excel and analytical tools to organize and analyze large product and sales datasets.Support automation of recurring product reports and planning processes.Maintain data integrity across product-management, ERP, CRM, inventory, and e-commerce systems.Identify data inconsistencies and coordinate corrections with relevant teams.Support product master-data governance and standardization.Coordinate cross-functional product-planning meetings and maintain meeting notes and action trackers.Follow up with stakeholders to ensure product-planning activities remain on schedule.Escalate delays, supply constraints, inventory risks, product issues, and other material concerns.Maintain product-planning calendars and ensure key deadlines are communicated to stakeholders.Support continuous improvement of product-planning processes, tools, and reporting.Identify opportunities to improve planning accuracy, product availability, inventory efficiency, and commercial performance.Maintain confidentiality of product, pricing, supplier, customer, and commercially sensitive information.Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)Performance will be measured through a combination of product, commercial, inventory, forecasting, and operational KPIs, including:Forecast accuracyProduct availabilityStockout rateInventory turnoverInventory daysExcess inventorySlow-moving inventoryProduct sell-through rateProduct launch performanceLaunch schedule adherenceNew-product revenueProduct revenue growthGross-margin performanceProduct profitabilityAssortment productivityProduct conversion rateMarket-share performancePromotional performanceProduct lifecycle performanceData accuracyProduct-plan completionPlanning-cycle efficiencyCandidate ProfileThe successful candidate should have experience in product planning, merchandising, demand planning, supply chain, sales operations, category management, business analysis, or a closely related discipline.This position is suitable for an analytical and commercially minded professional who wants to develop broad experience across product management, merchandising, forecasting, inventory, commercial planning, and market analysis.What You'll BringPrevious experience in product planning, merchandising, demand planning, supply chain, category management, sales operations, or a related role.Strong analytical and organizational skills.Good understanding of product lifecycles and commercial planning.Strong Excel and spreadsheet capabilities.Ability to analyze sales, inventory, pricing, and product-performance data.Basic understanding of demand forecasting and inventory planning.Strong attention to detail and data accuracy.Experience with ERP, product-management, inventory, CRM, or e-commerce systems is advantageous.Familiarity with Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, or other analytical tools is advantageous.Strong understanding of customer behavior, market trends, and competitive analysis.Good commercial awareness and understanding of revenue, margin, costs, and profitability.Strong communication and cross-functional coordination skills.Ability to manage multiple products, projects, deadlines, and stakeholders.Strong problem-solving and follow-up skills.Proactive, organized, analytical, and results-oriented.Ability to work independently and effectively within a fully remote environment.Relevant degree or diploma in Business, Marketing, Supply Chain, Merchandising, Economics, Finance, Product Management, or a related discipline.Professional certifications in product management, supply chain, analytics, or merchandising are advantageous.Experience working with UAE or wider GCC markets is highly desirable.