Sales & Operations Planner (S&OP)

Lucas James Talent Partners•Naperville, IL

About The Position

The Sales & Operations Planner (S&OP) is responsible for leading the company's monthly S&OP process to align demand, supply, inventory, capacity, and financial objectives. This role serves as the primary link between Sales, Operations, Procurement, Customer Service, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure the organization achieves service, inventory, productivity, and profitability goals. The S&OP Planner develops and maintains an integrated demand and supply plan, identifies risks and opportunities, facilitates executive decision-making, and drives continuous improvement in forecasting accuracy, inventory management, and operational performance.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, or related field.
5-7+ years of supply chain planning experience.
3+ years leading S&OP, SIOP, demand planning, supply planning, or production planning processes.
Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Plex, or similar platforms.

Nice To Haves

APICS/ASCM certification (CPIM, CSCP, or IBF certification) preferred.
Food manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, or frozen food experience strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the monthly S&OP cycle including Demand Review, Supply Review, Pre-S&OP, and Executive S&OP meetings.
Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service to develop accurate demand forecasts.
Analyze historical sales, promotions, seasonality, customer trends, and market intelligence.
Coordinate new product launches, customer transitions, and promotional events within the demand plan.
Develop capacity plans for manufacturing, packaging, labor, and key suppliers.
Identify capacity constraints and recommend solutions to meet customer demand.
Collaborate with Operations to optimize production schedules and asset utilization.
Ensure long-term capacity requirements are visible and actionable.
Establish inventory targets and safety stock strategies.
Monitor raw materials, packaging materials, WIP, and finished goods inventory levels.
Balance inventory investment against service level objectives.
Drive inventory reduction initiatives while maintaining customer service performance.
Partner with Procurement to ensure continuity of supply for ingredients and packaging materials.
Identify supply risks and develop mitigation plans.
Support strategic sourcing decisions with demand and inventory insights.
Track and report key performance indicators including OTIF (On-Time In-Full).
Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for performance gaps.
Improve planning processes, tools, and reporting capabilities.
Support the evolution from S&OP to Integrated Business Planning (IBP).
Develop and maintain a rolling 18-24 month demand and supply plan.
Facilitate cross-functional decision-making to balance customer demand, production capacity, inventory, and financial objectives.