Planning Manager

About the role

West Pharmaceutical Services is looking for a Planning Manager in Waterford, Ireland. The role leads the site planning organisation and integrates customer planning, production planning, materials planning and master scheduling across short-, medium- and long-term horizons. It is a hybrid position with a minimum of 3 days per week onsite, and no relocation is provided.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the integrated planning process and provide governance, direction and escalation management for planning processes that support customer service, production stability, material readiness and inventory strategy.
• Ensure alignment across horizons, including current-week execution, near-term production planning, month 4 to month 24 master scheduling and longer-range reviews.
• Define planning decision rights, meeting cadence, controls, escalation routes and communication expectations, and own planning KPIs such as OTIF, schedule adherence and inventory strategy.
• Lead planning forums such as monthly production plan reviews, cross-functional planning reviews and planning board governance, and coordinate with Operations, Quality, Warehouse, Procurement, Maintenance and Global Supply Chain.
• Manage the planning team: performance reviews, recruitment, training and development, and team performance.
• Prepare planning updates, risks and performance trends for senior leadership and support the site's strategic plan, budget and planning processes.
• Use SAP, SAP BI, Power BI, planning boards and Excel, and comply with environmental, health and safety regulations and the corporate Code of Conduct.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, Operations or a related discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in supply chain, production planning, materials planning or integrated planning leadership, preferably in a manufacturing GMP environment.
• Experience leading teams, coordinating cross-functional planning, and leading planning governance across multiple horizons.
• Experience in pharmaceutical, medical device or other regulated manufacturing environments.

Required skills

• SAP, SAP BI and Power BI, and planning transactions and reporting tools.
• Planning boards, KPI reviews, escalation forums and structured planning controls.
• Customer planning, production planning, materials planning, inventory strategy and master scheduling.
• Preferred: strong Excel, ERP/MRP planning, schedule adherence, revision control, capacity balancing and scenario planning; APICS CPIM or CSCP certification is an advantage.

What we offer

• Training programs, tuition assistance, leadership development and skill-certification initiatives.
• Performance-based bonuses, service recognition and employee appreciation.
• Volunteerism through the West without Borders initiative and other charitable programs.
• International career opportunities across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.