Head of Planning

About the Role

Vickerstock is collaborating with a top food production company to fill a pivotal leadership role within their supply chain division. The Head of Planning will be entrusted with overseeing the planning function in a dynamic, complex manufacturing setting. This position is central to harmonizing customer demands, production capabilities, and corporate goals to ensure superior service delivery while optimizing capacity, inventory, expenses, and operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the comprehensive planning function to align demand, supply, and production with customer needs, manufacturing capabilities, and business targets.
• Manage and promote the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, encouraging collaboration among Commercial, Operations, Procurement, Agriculture, Logistics, Finance, Technical, and Engineering teams to create a unified operational plan.
• Convert demand forecasts and commercial plans into realistic production and capacity schedules balancing service, inventory, cost, waste, and operational restrictions.
• Provide leadership, mentoring, and development for the planning team, fostering a culture of high performance, ownership, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
• Create and maintain short, medium, and long-term production and supply plans that maximize capacity usage while supporting customer service goals.
• Track planning effectiveness and compliance, proactively spotting risks, constraints, and opportunities, and coordinate corrective measures with key stakeholders.
• Conduct scenario planning and decision support related to demand fluctuations, capacity changes, raw material availability, promotions, and new product launches.
• Develop and present key planning KPIs, capacity metrics, and performance data to aid sound decision-making and ongoing improvement across the supply chain.
• Collaborate with Commercial, Operations, and NPD teams to support new product rollouts, product range modifications, and strategic initiatives.
• Drive enhancements in planning procedures, systems, and governance by implementing best practices and uniform standards.
• Contribute significantly to supply chain strategy, long-term capacity planning, and growth initiatives ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Maintain strict planning governance, data accuracy, and adherence to company, client, quality, and regulatory standards.

Required Experience and Skills

• Demonstrable experience in supply chain, production planning, or FMCG manufacturing sectors.
• Proven leadership in managing and developing planning teams including senior planners and managers.
• Strong expertise in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and practical application skills.
• Experience within complex manufacturing environments coping with diverse constraints and varying customer requirements.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and strong analytical capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Food Science, Business, or a related area.
• Professional qualifications in supply chain or operations management desirable.
• Familiarity with ERP and planning software such as SAP, IBP, APO or similar platforms.

Key Competencies

• Extensive knowledge of supply chain planning, forecasting, production scheduling in FMCG contexts.
• Strong analytical aptitude with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
• Excellent communicator with persuasive stakeholder management skills.
• Organisational proficiency with the ability to prioritize in a high-speed environment.
• Inspirational leader adept at developing high-performing teams and increasing organisational capability.