Role Type: Contract
Initial Term: 12 Months
Anticipated Extension: Up to 3 Years
Location: Remote
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced Planning Solution Lead to drive the business-led deployment of advanced planning solutions across our global manufacturing network. This role will lead the rollout and adoption of planning tools supporting both manufacturing production and laboratory operations, ensuring solutions meet operational needs and deliver measurable improvements in planning performance, service levels, and operational efficiency.
The Planning Solution Lead will act as the primary business owner and champion for planning capabilities, working closely with site planning teams, supply chain leadership, IT, and external vendors to ensure successful implementation and adoption of planning systems.
This individual will bring deep experience in manufacturing planning processes, strong leadership and communication skills, and a proven track record supporting or leading multi-site planning system deployments within regulated manufacturing environments.
Key Responsibilities
Planning Solution Deployment & Leadership
Lead the global deployment of advanced planning tools across manufacturing and laboratory environments, ensuring alignment with operational requirements and business objectives.
Drive the business-side implementation of planning capabilities including production scheduling, capacity planning, and laboratory planning processes.
Provide leadership and guidance to site planning teams during implementation, ensuring consistent adoption of standardized planning processes and best practices.
Business Ownership of Planning Processes
Serve as the business lead and subject matter expert for manufacturing and lab planning processes across the network.
Translate operational requirements into solution capabilities and ensure planning tools effectively support real-world manufacturing constraints and business priorities.
Champion continuous improvement in planning practices, leveraging new capabilities provided by planning technologies.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Act as the primary interface between site planning teams, supply chain leadership, IT, and external solution vendors.
Ensure strong alignment between business needs and technical implementation during solution deployment.
Support change management efforts to ensure smooth adoption of new planning systems and processes across sites.
Deployment Program Support
Support planning solution rollout activities including business requirements definition, testing, site readiness preparation, training, and hypercare support.
Provide leadership during deployment phases to resolve business process challenges and ensure solutions deliver expected operational value.
Share lessons learned and best practices across implementation waves.
Planning Capability Development
Help define and evolve the global planning capability roadmap for manufacturing and laboratory planning.
Contribute to the design of future-state planning processes that improve responsiveness, resource utilization, and operational transparency.
Required Qualifications & Experience
The ideal candidate will bring strong manufacturing planning experience combined with exposure to planning system implementations in complex manufacturing environments.
Must Have
Education
Bachelor s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations, or a related field.
Industry Experience
10 15 years of experience working in manufacturing planning, production scheduling, or supply chain planning within a regulated manufacturing environment (Pharmaceutical, Biotech, or similar).
Planning Expertise
Deep understanding of manufacturing planning processes including:
- Production planning and scheduling
- Capacity planning
- Supply-demand balancing
- Planning within regulated manufacturing environments
- Laboratory planning coordination with manufacturing operations
Deployment Experience
Experience supporting or leading planning system implementations or deployments across multiple manufacturing sites.
Communication & Leadership
Strong leadership and stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to communicate effectively across operational teams, senior leadership, IT partners, and external vendors.
Strongly Preferred
Planning Solutions Experience
Experience working with advanced planning systems such as:
- OMP
- SAP planning tools
- Kinaxis
- o9
- Other advanced supply chain planning platforms
Exposure to multiple planning solutions and experience comparing or implementing different platforms is highly desirable.
Global Manufacturing Network Experience
Experience working across multiple manufacturing sites and global operations, supporting cross-site planning standardization and capability development.
Change Leadership
Demonstrated ability to drive adoption of new tools and processes within operational teams.
Role Impact
This is a high-impact role focused on strengthening planning capabilities across the manufacturing network. The successful candidate will help ensure that planning systems are effectively deployed, adopted, and leveraged to improve operational performance and support the organization s broader digital transformation agenda.
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