Sales & Operations Planner

We are looking to recruit an experienced Sales & Operations Planner to join our clients team. The successful candidate will play a key role in balancing customer demand, production capacity, inventory levels, and raw material availability across a diverse portfolio of specialist material/products.

Working closely with Sales, Production, Procurement, Technical, and Finance, you will coordinate the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, develop demand forecasts, manage production schedules, monitor inventory, and identify supply chain risks and opportunities.

This is an excellentechnically complex manufacturing environmentt opportunity for a planning professional who enjoys working in a and wants to make a direct contribution to customer service, operational efficiency, and the reliable supply of specialist materials to an international customer base.

• Coordinate and facilitate the monthly S&OP process across Commercial, Operations, Procurement, and Finance.
• Consolidate demand forecasts and translate customer requirements into achievable production plans.
• Balance customer demand against manufacturing capacity, resources, and operational constraints.
• Identify risks and opportunities within the supply plan and recommend appropriate mitigation actions.
• Provide accurate planning information, analysis, and performance reporting to support business and senior management decision-making.

• Develop and maintain rolling demand forecasts across all product groups.
• Analyse historical sales trends, customer forecasts, market intelligence, and commercial pipeline data.
• Work closely with Account Managers to understand changes in customer demand, project requirements, and timelines.
• Monitor forecast accuracy and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify demand volatility and support contingency planning.

• Create and maintain production schedules aligned with customer requirements and manufacturing capabilities.
• Coordinate planning activities across multiple manufacturing processes.
• Develop production plans that optimise resource utilisation, throughput, and delivery performance.
• Monitor production progress and adjust plans in response to changing priorities and constraints.

• Monitor raw material, work-in-progress, and finished goods inventory levels.
• Support inventory optimisation while maintaining required customer service levels.
• Work closely with Procurement to ensure critical raw materials and alloying elements are available to meet production requirements.
• Identify potential material shortages and develop mitigation strategies.
• Support initiatives to reduce excess inventory and improve inventory turns.

• Act as the key planning interface between Commercial, Procurement, Production, Technical, and Finance teams.
• Facilitate clear communication around customer priorities, production constraints, material availability, and delivery requirements.
• Support new product introductions and customer qualification projects through effective planning and coordination.
• Ensure alignment between business objectives and operational execution.

Develop and maintain planning dashboards, KPIs, and performance reports covering areas including:

• Forecast accuracy
• On-time delivery
• Schedule adherence
• Capacity utilisation
• Inventory levels
• Customer service performance

Analyse planning performance, identify areas for improvement, and support continuous improvement initiatives across supply chain and manufacturing operations.

• Assess supply chain risks relating to critical raw materials, changing customer demand, and production…