Sales Inventory and Operations Planning Specialist

About the role

The Sales and Operations Planning Lead is accountable for translating demand into an executable supply and manufacturing plan across Syracuse and Monterrey. This role ensures demand, production capacity, material availability, and procurement plans are aligned through a disciplined S&OP cadence that drives decisions, resolves constraints, and prevents past due orders. The role serves as the single point of orchestration between Demand Planning, Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Plant Leadership. While demand signals are well understood, this position exists to ensure the organization can deliver against that demand through capacity balancing, material readiness, and corrective action execution at each plant. The core purpose is to ensure the right product is built, at the right plant, at the right time, with the right materials and to surface, escalate, and resolve gaps when that is not possible.

Responsibilities

• Lead the monthly S&OP process, translating demand into a constrained and executable supply plan
• Facilitate cross‑functional decision making when demand exceeds capacity or material availability
• Document decisions, tradeoffs, and commitments and ensure follow‑through across functions
• Partner with plant leadership to validate assumptions and surface bottlenecks early
• Prevent local or siloed planning by enforcing enterprise‑level priorities
• Align procurement plans to the approved S&OP supply plan and demand priorities
• Identify supplier and material risks and lead mitigation actions before they impact production
• Ensure material constraints are visible and addressed as part of S&OP, not as reactive expedites
• Own corrective actions for past due orders, schedule misses, and material shortages
• Identify root causes, assign ownership, and track actions to closure
• Embed learnings into future planning cycles to prevent repeat issues
• Establish a consistent S&OP operating rhythm and standard planning assumptions at both plants (Syracuse and Monterrey)
• Drive collaboration between manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement at the site level
• Ensure both plants are executing against the same plan, priorities, and metrics
• Own S&OP KPIs including past due, schedule adherence, capacity utilization, and plan vs. actual variance
• Provide clear visibility to leadership on risks, gaps, and required decisions
• Strengthen S&OP maturity, standardization, and discipline over time

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or APICS / IBF certification preferred
• Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in S&OP, manufacturing planning, supply chain, or operations
• Proven experience balancing demand with manufacturing and material supply in a multi‑plant environment
• Deep understanding of finite capacity planning, manufacturing constraints, supplier lead times and material risk
• Strong facilitation skills with the ability to drive alignment and make tradeoffs
• Ability to influence without direct authority and challenge senior stakeholders when plans are not executable
• Experience leading corrective actions and driving operational accountability
• Languages: English mandatory; other language skills are helpful

Core Competencies

• Sales and Operations Planning Leadership
• Supply Chain Strategy and Network Optimization
• Capacity Planning and Production Location Analysis
• Cross Functional Collaboration and Influence
• Forecasting and Demand Planning Support
• New Program and Product Launch Execution
• Performance Metrics and KPI Management
• Cost to Serve Analysis
• Process Improvement and Optimization
• End to End Project and Process Management
• Strategic Thinking and Business Acumen
• Problem Solving Across Multiple Functions
• Communication with Senior Leadership and Stakeholders
• Coaching, Delegation, and Team Development
• Independent Decision Making and Accountability