Manufacturing Planner

About the role

Responsible for developing and maintaining production plans that support the successful manufacture and delivery of Complex Systems products. The role provides detailed short-term schedules, six-week capacity forecasts, and SAP-based planning to ensure effective utilisation of labour, machinery, materials, and specialist skills. Working closely with Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Programme teams, the Production Planner drives delivery performance, resource planning, and project readiness across multiple programmes.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain production schedules, identifying and escalating risks and constraints.
• Produce six-week capacity plans covering labour, machine availability, and specialist skills.
• Collaborate with Production and Engineering teams to optimise resource utilisation and throughput.
• Coordinate production plans with machine maintenance activities.
• Interpret Integrated Master Schedules (IMS) to align manufacturing capability with programme requirements.
• Lead Line of Balance (LOB) reviews and engage cross-functional stakeholders to drive delivery performance.
• Ensure production plans support customer requirements, contractual milestones, and programme priorities.
• Support daily and weekly planning reviews, monitoring performance against plan.
• Manage SAP demand and production planning activities throughout the project lifecycle.
• Maintain material readiness to support on-time delivery.
• Provide planning and capacity input for bids, forecasts, and Basis of Estimate (BOE) development.

Required skills, qualifications and experience

• Experience in production planning, scheduling, or manufacturing planning within a complex manufacturing environment.
• Strong SAP Production Planning and Material Control knowledge.
• Proven capability in capacity planning and resource management.
• Experience interpreting Integrated Master Schedules (IMS).
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Advanced MS Excel skills.
• Excellent analytical, organisational, and problem-solving abilities.

Desired Skills

• Experience within aerospace, defence, engineering, or other regulated manufacturing sectors.
• Knowledge of subcontract order management.
• Experience with Microsoft Project.
• Understanding of manufacturing engineering and production operations.
• Experience supporting bids and BOE development