Senior Production Planner

This client is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Production Planner to lead all production planning and scheduling activities at our Middletown, DE site. This hands-on leadership role is critical to ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction, supply reliability, and operational efficiency in a GMP-regulated manufacturing environment.

The Senior Production Planner will be responsible for developing and maintaining the Master Production Schedule (MPS), driving the site supply plan, and ensuring alignment with customer demand, capacity constraints, and material availability. This role plays a key function in the S&OP process, contributes to site-level strategic planning, and leads continuous improvement initiatives within the planning and scheduling domain.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, maintain, and execute a site-wide Master Production Schedule to ensure On-Time Delivery (OTD) performance for all products and customers.
• Lead the site supply planning process, utilizing forecast inputs, historical data, and modeling tools to build optimized supply plans and planning parameters.
• Manage all tactical scheduling activities based on MRP output, including work order release, prioritization, and tracking through production.
• Monitor material availability and coordinate with procurement and inventory teams to eliminate shortages and ensure schedule adherence.
• Serve as the primary planning point of contact for internal stakeholders and commercial teams to monitor forecast accuracy, adjust plans, and communicate potential supply risks.
• Support new product introduction (NPI) and customer sample planning, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams including Quality, Engineering, and Operations.
• Develop and maintain capacity models, simulate volume scenarios, and lead planning for scalability and long-term resource needs.
• Track and report performance metrics such as OTD, schedule adherence, capacity utilization, and inventory accuracy; prepare reports for senior leadership.
• Lead or contribute to cross-functional initiatives aimed at improving productivity, reducing downtime, and optimizing resource alignment.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop Materials Planners, providing direction, coaching, and support in daily activities.
• Act as the escalation point for planning-related issues, including delays, resource bottlenecks, and materials constraints.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations Management, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in production planning, supply chain, or operations within a regulated GMP manufacturing environment.
• Expert-level proficiency in MRP/ERP systems, with for SAP S4 HANA.
• Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects with diverse stakeholders under tight timelines.
• Strong leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Preferred:

• Certification in APICS, CPIM, or related supply chain discipline (or willingness to obtain within 2 years).
• Experience in Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing environments.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Experience developing and managing high-performing planning teams.

TOP 5 MUST HAVE SKILLS

• Required Years: 7 years in production planning/supply chain in GMP-regulated manufacturing
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations Management, or related field
• Technology: Expert-level proficiency in SAP S/4HANA or similar ERP/MRP systems
• Skills: Master Production Scheduling (MPS), supply planning, capacity modeling
• Skills: Leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous improvement experience

Pay Range: $100-115K/yr