Group Planning Manager

SF Recruitment are working with a market leading manufacturer within their field to recruit a group materials manager.

In this senior position, you will shape and deliver the organisation’s supply chain, planning and inventory strategies, ensuring material availability, efficiency, and OTIF performance. You will guide and develop teams spread across multiple sites and be accountable for the governance, processes, and systems that underpin operational output.

This role suits a hands-on leader who balances strategic thinking with day-to-day involvement and who can champion continuous improvement in a fast-paced production setting.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor planners, material coordinators and warehouse supervisors, cultivating strong performance and a culture of ongoing improvement.

• Direct warehouse operations to uphold efficient stock handling, accuracy, and movement control.

• Maintain and enhance digital systems (including MRP and reporting tools), ensuring they are reliable, insightful and fully utilised; identify opportunities to simplify or standardise processes.

• Oversee material purchasing in line with production schedules, maintaining accurate forecasts and adjusting stock parameters to prevent shortages.

• Act as the escalation point for material supply issues, ensuring on-time delivery across all sites and safeguarding continuity of production.

• Uphold material quality standards through disciplined stock management and warehouse controls.

• Safeguard inventory integrity by designing and enforcing effective stock-taking routines and best-practice warehouse methodologies.

• Drive improvements in stock efficiency, including optimising inventory levels and turnover metrics.

• Contribute to the evolution of business-wide systems, procedures, and operational standards.

• Ensure all materials, warehousing, and planning activities adhere to health, safety, and compliance requirements.

Skills & Experience

• Demonstrated leadership experience with the ability to develop teams and embed positive change.

• Background in materials management, inventory control and supplier coordination, ideally gained in a multi-site or high-volume manufacturing environment.

• A strategic thinker capable of reshaping processes and delivering improved planning, warehousing, and supply performance.

• Strong understanding of MRP and associated planning tools.

• Analytical mindset with experience applying data-driven improvements.

• Highly organised, able to oversee operational performance across several locations.

• Committed to promoting excellence in quality, safety, and compliance.

• Confident communicator, capable of influencing across all levels and building strong working relationships.

• Resilient, proactive leader who thrives in a demanding and fast-moving production setting.