Senior Planning Leader
hace 4 días
Gloucester
Job Title: Materials Planner\n Rate: £54 per hour via Umbrella (Inside IR35)\n Location: Gloucester\n Contract Length: 12 Months\n Role purpose \n We are seeking a Materials Planning Leader who will be responsible for leading the planning function to ensure optimal alignment of demand, capacity, materials, and resources in Dowty business. This role develops and executes planning strategies, drives cross-functional coordination, and delivers reliable plans that support business goals for safety, quality, delivery, and cost. In this role you partner closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Commercial teams, provide clear data-driven insights to leadership, and drives continuous improvement in planning processes, tools, and capabilities. The ideal candidate combines strong analytical skills, planning expertise, and proven leadership experience in complex, fast-paced environments.\n\nKey Responsibilities\n\nStrategic Planning & Governance\nDevelop and own the end-to-end planning strategy (demand, supply, capacity, inventory) aligned with business objectives.\nEstablish and maintain planning policies, calendars, and standard work across sites/teams.\nIdentify planning process gaps and lead improvement projects to enhance accuracy, speed, and reliability. \n\nOperational Planning & Execution\nConsolidate and challenge demand forecasts with Commercial, Finance, and Program teams, drive forecast accuracy.\nBalance demand with capacity and material availability; develop mid- and long-range capacity plans and scenarios.\nMonitor adherence to plan (schedule adherence, on-time start/finish, OTD) and drive corrective actions when deviations occur.\nMaintain accurate planning master data in ERP/MRP systems (lead times, lot sizes, safety stocks, routings, BOMs, planning strategies).\nOversee creation and maintenance of master production / project schedules to meet customer requirements.\nRun "what-if" analyses and risk assessments to support decision-making on constraints, delays, and changes. \n\nInventory & Data Management\nOptimize inventory (raw, WIP, finished goods) to meet service levels and working capital targets.\nMonitor inventory health (excess, obsolete, slow-moving items) and lead recovery and disposition strategies.\nDrive data integrity and discipline for item masters, BOMs, routings, and planning attributes.\nDevelop and maintain planning KPIs and dashboards, providing clear visibility to leadership and driving accountability.\nConfiguration Control Analyze and execute on configuration control changes made by the Engineering department and plan effectivity dates to optimize inventory strategies \n\nContinuous Improvement\nIdentify and implement process improvements in planning, scheduling, and materials management using lean and standard problem-solving tools.\nStandardize planning processes and standard work, ensuring consistent execution across the team.\nSupport digital and analytics initiatives to improve forecast accuracy, planning stability, and visibility.\nTrain and coach cross-functional teams on planning processes, roles, and expectations. \n\nRequired Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in supply chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or related field; master's preferred for some roles.\nMin 3 years in planning, supply chain, operations, or project management, including leadership responsibility.\nStrong experience with ERP/MRP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, etc.); proficiency with Excel and analytics/BI tools.\nKnowledge of planning best practices, S&OP/IBP, lean/continuous improvement; APICS/CPIM/CSCP a plus. \n\nKey Skills & Competencies\nAbility to structure complex plans, manage multiple horizons (short/mid/long-term), and prioritize effectively.\nStrong quantitative and problem-solving skills; ability to interpret data and create actionable insights.\nProven ability to lead teams, influence without authority, and drive cross-functional alignment.\nClear, concise written and verbal communication tailored to both operational teams and senior leadership.\nComfortable making informed trade-off decisions (cost, capacity, inventory, delivery) under time pressure.\nSkilled at building relationships and managing expectations with internal and external stakeholders.\nTrack record of improving processes, implementing new tools, and sustaining change. \n\nIf you receive suspicious outreach claiming to be from us, please contact us via the ManpowerGroup website