Job Description:

Planning Manager- £55,000, Rotherham

We are working with a well-established and internationally recognised manufacturing business in Rotherham to recruit a Planning Manager. This is a key role within the business, responsible for leading the planning function and ensuring customer demand, manufacturing capability, material availability and inventory strategy are effectively aligned.
Reporting into the Operations Manager, you will lead a team of three across planning, materials planning and planning administration, whilst working closely with Operations, Customer Service, Procurement, Sales and Finance. The role will suit an experienced manufacturing planning professional who combines strong leadership skills with a hands-on, analytical and commercially focused approach.

Package & Benefits:

• Circa £55,000 salary, dependent on experience
• Contractual bonus
• Flexible working around core hours
• Core working hours of approximately 8:30am – 5:30pm
• Flexitime available, with core availability between 10am – 3pm
• Opportunity to join a well-established international manufacturing organisation
• Significant responsibility within a key business function
• Opportunities to contribute to wider UK and group supply chain initiatives

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop the site's planning function and a team of three
• Own the end-to-end production planning and scheduling process
• Develop and execute the master production schedule
• Translate customer demand into achievable manufacturing plans
• Ensure production schedules align with labour, machinery and material availability
• Monitor schedule adherence and identify opportunities for improvement
• Manage changes in customer demand and adjust plans to maintain customer commitments
• Lead and support the site's Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process
• Facilitate regular demand and supply reviews with key stakeholders
• Balance customer demand with manufacturing capacity
• Identify production bottlenecks and resource constraints and develop mitigation plans
• Conduct short, medium and long-term capacity planning
• Work closely with Operations to maximise throughput and operational effectiveness
• Ensure material availability to support production schedules
• Work closely with Procurement to resolve supply risks and shortages
• Support inventory review activity
• Drive customer On-Time Delivery (OTD) performance
• Manage critical customer priorities and expedite requirements where necessary
• Coordinate recovery plans where delivery performance is at risk
• Own planning master data within the ERP system
• Maintain planning parameters, routings, lead times and capacity data
• Develop and improve planning dashboards, metrics and reports
• Drive data accuracy and integrity across planning systems
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives across planning and supply chain processes
• Support digitalisation and automation projects
• Build strong working relationships across Operations, Production, Customer Service, Sales, Procurement, Quality, Engineering, Finance and HR
• Support wider UK and group supply chain initiatives where required

About You:

We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Planning Manager with a strong background within a manufacturing environment. You'll be comfortable leading a planning function while remaining close to the operational detail, using data and analysis to make informed decisions and improve performance.

You'll ideally have:

• Previous experience within a manufacturing planning environment
• At least 5 years' experience across production planning, scheduling or supply chain
• Previous experience leading planning, scheduling or supply chain activities
• Strong knowledge of production planning, capacity planning and inventory management
• Good understanding of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)
• Experience working with MRP/ERP systems
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations
• Previous people management or team leadership experience
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent planning and organisational abilities
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• The ability to influence decision-making at all levels
• Strong numerical and data interpretation capabilities
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• A continuous improvement mindset
• The ability to work under pressure and manage competing priorities
• A degree in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, Engineering or a related discipline would be advantageous, although equivalent relevant industry experience will be considered.
• Experience with SAP, APICS/ASCM qualifications such as CPIM or CSCP, or experience within aerospace, engineering or advanced manufacturing would also be beneficial.

If you are interested in finding out more about this Planning Manager opportunity, please click 'apply now'.
Chase & Holland acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and an employment business for the supply of temporary workers. We specialise in finance, supply chain, HR, IT and office support recruitment and comfortably service Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire.