The Senior Manager, Production Planning & Materials provides strategic and operational leadership for production planning, master scheduling, material requirements planning, inventory management, and manufacturing readiness within a complex manufacturing environment. The role connects customer demand, material availability, production capacity, and factory execution to ensure the organization can manufacture the right products, at the right time, with the right materials and resources.

This leader partners closely with Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Logistics, Customer Service, and Commercial teams to identify constraints, resolve shortages, improve schedule performance, optimize inventory, and strengthen planning discipline. The successful candidate brings deep experience operating inside a manufacturing environment and understands how ERP/MRP systems, planning decisions, and material signals translate into day-to-day factory performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end production planning and materials management function for the assigned manufacturing operation, site, business unit, or network.
• Develop and govern production plans and master schedules that balance customer demand, plant capacity, labor, equipment, material availability, and inventory objectives.
• Own or oversee master production scheduling (MPS), material requirements planning (MRP), capacity planning, production scheduling, and short- and mid-range manufacturing plans.
• Ensure raw materials, components, and other production inputs are available to support scheduled manufacturing requirements.
• Identify and resolve material shortages, capacity constraints, schedule conflicts, and other risks that could disrupt production or customer commitments.
• Partner with Operations leadership to translate planning priorities into executable factory schedules and drive schedule adherence.
• Monitor inventory levels and develop strategies to improve inventory turns, reduce excess and obsolete inventory, and protect production continuity.
• Use ERP/MRP systems and planning data to improve material signals, production priorities, inventory accuracy, and decision quality.
• Lead cross-functional responses to changes in demand, supply disruptions, equipment constraints, material shortages, and customer priority shifts.
• Partner with Procurement and supplier-facing teams to align material availability with production requirements and escalation needs.
• Participate in or lead elements of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Integrated Business Planning (IBP), demand/supply alignment, or related planning processes.
• Build planning standards, operating rhythms, escalation processes, and performance management practices that improve manufacturing predictability.
• Lead, coach, and develop planners, schedulers, materials professionals, and/or production control team members.
• Drive continuous improvement across planning, materials flow, inventory, scheduling, and manufacturing execution processes.
• Develop and communicate actionable reporting on production status, material constraints, inventory exposure, service risk, and key planning metrics.
• Partner with business and plant leadership on strategic capacity, materials, and operational planning decisions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Engineering, Business, Manufacturing, Logistics, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 5-7+ years of progressive experience in production planning, production control, materials management, materials planning, manufacturing planning, supply planning, or a closely related function.
• Significant experience working directly within a manufacturing or factory environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of production planning and/or production scheduling within a complex manufacturing operation.
• Strong experience with material requirements planning (MRP), material availability, inventory planning, and production materials management.
• Experience using an enterprise ERP/MRP platform such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Infor, QAD, Epicor, Plex, Microsoft Dynamics, or a comparable manufacturing system.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Manufacturing/Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Logistics, and other business stakeholders.
• Prior leadership experience managing or developing planning, scheduling, production control, materials, inventory, or related teams.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose complex production or material constraints and drive cross-functional resolution.
• Strong analytical, communication, prioritization, and decision-making skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SAP in a manufacturing planning/materials environment.
• Experience in a complex, multi-stage, high-mix, engineered, process, discrete, or material-intensive manufacturing environment.
• Experience supporting multiple production lines, product families, plants, or global operations.
• Experience with S&OP, IBP, demand planning, supply planning, or integrated planning processes.
• APICS/ASCM certification such as CPIM or CSCP, Lean/Six Sigma certification, or related credentials.
• Experience with make-to-order, make-to-stock, configure-to-order, and/or engineer-to-order manufacturing models.
• Experience improving planning processes, ERP discipline, schedule attainment, inventory performance, or material availability.

Manufacturing Backgrounds Considered

• Fiber optics, wire and cable, electronics, electrical equipment, semiconductors, industrial equipment, machinery, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, chemicals, specialty materials, plastics, packaging, metals, building products, consumer products, food, pharmaceutical, paper/pulp, textiles, and other engineered or material-intensive manufacturing environments.

Key Competencies

Factory & Operational Acumen	Understands how planning decisions affect machines, labor, throughput, inventory, cost, and customer service.
Planning Discipline	Creates executable plans and establishes clear operating rhythms, priorities, and escalation paths.
Materials Leadership	Balances availability, continuity of supply, inventory investment, and production requirements.
Systems Thinking	Connects ERP/MRP signals, demand, capacity, materials, and manufacturing execution.
Cross-Functional Influence	Builds alignment across functions and resolves issues without relying solely on authority.
Analytical Problem Solving	Uses data to identify root causes, evaluate tradeoffs, and make timely decisions.
People Leadership	Builds capable teams, raises planning maturity, and develops talent.
Continuous Improvement	Improves processes, metrics, system discipline, and manufacturing predictability.

Measures of Success

• Schedule attainment / schedule adherence
• On-time delivery / OTIF / customer service performance
• Material availability and shortage reduction
• Inventory turns and working capital performance
• Excess and obsolete inventory reduction
• Production lead time, backlog, and constraint management
• Capacity utilization and manufacturing plan stability
• Planning accuracy, ERP/MRP discipline, and data quality
• Team capability and cross-functional planning effectiveness

Candidate Profile

A strong candidate is a senior manufacturing planning and materials leader who has personally operated at the intersection of demand, production, materials, inventory, and factory execution. They can describe how they have built production plans, managed material constraints, used ERP/MRP systems, partnered with plant leadership, improved planning performance, and led teams through changing priorities. They are comfortable moving between strategic planning conversations and the operational realities of the factory floor.

Profiles That Are Less Aligned

• Pure procurement/sourcing leaders without production planning ownership.
• Corporate demand planners or S&OP professionals with limited factory execution experience.
• Logistics, transportation, or warehouse leaders without production/materials planning responsibility.
• ERP implementation consultants without direct manufacturing planning ownership.
• BOM, master data, configuration, or engineering change specialists whose experience does not include broader production planning/materials leadership.
• Production supervisors whose experience is primarily shop-floor people leadership without materials, scheduling, or planning ownership.

Internal Recruiting Notes (Delete Before Posting)

Recruiter shorthand: Find a senior manufacturing leader who has actually run production planning + materials inside a factory. Fiber experience is a plus, not a requirement. Prioritize complex manufacturing, ERP/MRP depth, factory planning ownership, materials management, and leadership.

• Must have: complex manufacturing + production planning/scheduling + materials/MRP + ERP + leadership.
• Preferred: SAP + S&OP/IBP + multi-line/multi-site/global manufacturing.
• Do not over-index on title; equivalent leaders may sit under Plant Supply Chain, Site Supply Chain, Production & Inventory Control, Planning & Inventory Control, Manufacturing Control, or Integrated Planning.
• Suggested experience target: 10+ years; consider 7-9 years only when scope and progression are exceptional.