Sales Planner

Overall Purpose of the Role

The Sales Planner is responsible for ensuring reliable, transparent, and cross-functionally aligned sales planning. The role involves preparing, maintaining, and analyzing forecasts, planning figures, pricing assumptions, and management reports to support effective decision-making. Working closely with the Head of Sales Planning, the Sales Planner contributes to the company’s continued global growth and strategic development.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

• Prepare, consolidate, present, and analyze short- and long-term sales forecasts in close coordination with the Head of Sales Planning.
• Collect, validate, and follow up on project and pipeline information from internal and external sources.
• Conduct variance analyses, comparing customer demand with vehicle production volumes, market data, and internal planning assumptions.
• Organize, prepare, and support management meetings and account reviews by providing clear planning and performance insights.
• Coordinate and consolidate planning activities across international sites and with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Develop and apply a basic technical understanding of connectors, harnesses, component design, and the competitive landscape. Use technical drawings and databases to research relevant details and assess the feasibility of planning inputs.
• Develop sound sales planning assumptions when information is incomplete, ambiguous, or conflicting, and clearly justify them through data-driven reasoning and discussions with stakeholders.

Additional Responsibilities

• Maintain ERP planning data, ensuring quality, consistency, and full change traceability.
• Share planning updates and deviations with Finance, Production, and Logistics to flag capacity constraints early.
• Develop and enhance weekly and monthly reports, delivering ad hoc analyses for management.
• Consolidate price, volume, and revenue data to enable informed decisions and performance tracking.
• Track business development, nominations, and future opportunities, keeping teams aligned through transparent reporting.
• Calculate and maintain planning prices with Sales and internal teams.
• Assess pricing risks and customer incentives, integrating commercial risks into planning assumptions.
• Keep ERP price-risk tracking and accrual management accurate and up to date.
• Monitor global automotive markets and volume trends, drawing insights from customers, Field Sales, media, and market research.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, a technical field, or a comparable discipline; alternatively, completed commercial vocational training (e.g., Industrial Clerk) combined with relevant professional experience.
• Completed three-year commercial vocational training (e.g., Industrial Clerk), ideally supplemented by approximately one year of additional training or experience in sales planning.
• Sound understanding of business processes; experience in the automotive industry, particularly in Logistics or Controlling, is highly desirable.
• Good understanding of sales processes and customer behavior.
• Ideally, familiarity with the specific requirements, as well as technical and commercial trends, of the automotive industry.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word.
• Good working knowledge of SAP systems, preferably SD, APO, and BW.
• Business-fluent English, both written and spoken, is essential.
• German language skills are an advantage.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in international and cross-functional teams.
• Excellent time-management and self-organization skills.
• Knowledge of internal structures and processes within the automotive industry, particularly in Logistics and Controlling, is highly advantageous.
• A systematic, precise, and detail-oriented working approach, combined with a strong service- and solution-oriented mindset.
• A structured, proactive, and results-oriented working style.
• Strong analytical, creative, and problem-solving skills.
• High integrity and a strong commitment to internal controls and data privacy.
• Ability to identify optimization opportunities and proactively drive improvement initiatives.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize effectively.

Preferred Qualifications / Advantages

• Assertiveness and a clear focus on timely, effective implementation.
• A self-starter mindset, with the ability to work independently and apply sound business judgment.
• A process-driven approach combined with a high degree of flexibility and resilience.

What do we offer :

• Flexible working conditions with remote work possibility (in-person presence is required from time to time), you can have a real work-life balance
• Modern, newly renovated, sustainable office with parking space and bicycle storage area in the heart of Budapest
• Supportive, diverse and highly skilled community
• Ability to really make a difference and build new processes from scratch, you can participate in the formation and shape of the BSC processes
• KOSTAL is a dynamically developing company, an independent, family-run business which provides much flexibility
• You can enjoy our value-oriented work culture: we are down-to-earth, appreciative, inspiring and innovative