Master Scheduler

The businesses of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany•Indianapolis, IN

About The Position

Work Your Magic with us! Start your next chapter and join MilliporeSigma. Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us. This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US. Your Role: Accountable for the site Master Production Schedule (MPS) and the S&OP operating rhythm, including Executive S&OP. This leader translates demand into an executable, cGMP-compliant plan by balancing finite capacity across manufacturing, QC testing, and QA disposition. Capacity planning is anchored to batch release timelines to protect customer commitments, stabilize operations, and drive proactive, data-based decisions.

Requirements

5+ years in master scheduling/production planning in regulated manufacturing; pharma/biotech/CDMO strongly preferred.
Expertise in capacity planning using batch release timelines as the primary planning anchor (QA/QC disposition and testing constraints).
Proven experience leading cross-functional planning forums and facilitating executive-level decisions (S&OP or equivalent).
Strong communication and influencing skills; able to translate complexity into clear options, decisions, and actions.
Working knowledge of SAP (production orders, dates, master data, reporting).

Nice To Haves

High-mix / multi-client scheduling experience in a CDMO environment.
Excels with planning analytics (advanced Excel; Power BI, Smartsheet).
Knowledge of cGMP planning drivers: deviations/CAPA, change control, batch record review, QC sampling/testing workflows, release disposition, validation windows.

Responsibilities

Own and maintain the MPS in SAP; create/adjust production orders with accurate start/finish dates, sequencing, and assumptions.
Lead the S&OP cadence (Demand/Supply/Pre-S&OP/Executive); prepare executive-ready materials, decision points, and action tracking.
Build and manage finite capacity plans anchored to batch release constraints (QC testing lead times, QA review/disposition, holds/deviations, documentation readiness).
Plan backward from release/ship targets; manage queue time and appropriate buffers to improve on-time release and schedule adherence.
Align cross-functionally (Manufacturing, Quality, Tech Ops/MSAT, Warehouse, Procurement, Commercial) on priorities, tradeoffs, and recovery plans.
Monitor KPIs (schedule adherence, production attainment, on-time release/ship, plan stability); identify trends and drive continuous improvement.
Identify bottlenecks across bulk, fill/finish, and packaging; recommend mitigation (campaign strategy, resequencing, shift/overtime, escalation).