Operations Planner

As an Operations Planner you will be responsible for developing and maintaining efficient production schedules for work centers supporting core operations. This role ensures optimal resource utilization, cost-effectiveness, and minimal work-in-progress (WIP) inventory. The Operations Planner collaborates cross-functionally and across facilities to refine planning processes, establish clear roles and responsibilities, and implement future-state workflows that enhance operational performance for their assigned area.

Key Responsibilities & Essential Functions

• Analyze demand signals from internal operations and downstream work centers to determine material requirements and timing.
• Develop and maintain operational schedules that align supply capabilities with demand forecasts, ensuring efficient resource utilization.
• Partner with operations leadership to provide forward-looking visibility into labor and space needs for effective capacity planning.
• Coordinate inventory requirements across multiple sites and work centers, identifying opportunities for process improvements in forecasting, capacity planning, and order management.
• Assess supply and demand variability to establish appropriate safety stock levels and mitigate risk.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams—including production planning, warehouse operations, and operations leadership—to implement service and cost improvement initiatives.
• Proactively identify supply and demand constraints, assess potential risks, and implement mitigation strategies to ensure continuity and performance.
• Support quality and safety objectives by participating in investigations and corrective actions as needed, in partnership with the broader operations team.
  
  

Other Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Demonstrates deep knowledge of operational planning best practices and benchmarks.
• Experience with lean, continuous improvement, six sigma and/or similar methodologies, with demonstrated success in using those tools in process improvement.
• Ability to create and maintain collaborative relationships across all levels internally and externally.
• Ability to influence at all levels both within the Supply Chain, in a matrix environment and externally.
• Communicates clearly, making the complex clear and compelling to all levels of the organization in both written & oral forms.
• Strong change management skills.
• The ability to influence without authority.
• 6 years of experience required, 8 years of experience preferred.
• Bachelor's degree required, Master’s degree preferred.
  
  

Pay Range: $65,018 - $108,857

#EH-CA8

About JAX

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution with a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center and nearly 3,000 employees in locations across the United States (Maine, Connecticut, California), Japan and China. Its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.

Founded in 1929, JAX applies over nine decades of expertise in genetics to increase understanding of human disease, advancing treatments and cures for cancer, neurological and immune disorders, diabetes, aging and heart disease. It models and interprets genomic complexity, integrates basic research with clinical application, educates current and future scientists, and provides critical data, tools and services to the global biomedical community. For more information, please visit www.jax.org .

EEO Statement

The Jackson Laboratory provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, gender, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, national origin, veteran status, and other classifications protected by applicable state and local non-discrimination laws.