Planning Manager

Chaberton Professionals is one of the recruiting divisions of Chaberton Partners. From our HQ in Lugano, we support client companies in the search and selection of middle and top management profiles. Our goal is to create success stories and enrich the talent pipeline within our client companies.

For a leading multinational manufacturing group with a strong multi-site industrial footprint, we are currently seeking a Planning Manager with full responsibility for production planning across multiple manufacturing sites.

The Planning Manager plays a pivotal role in ensuring the overall effectiveness and reliability of the production planning process within a complex, multi-site manufacturing environment. Reporting directly to the Supply Chain Director and leading a team of four Planners, this position acts as a critical interface between demand, production capacity and operational execution.

The role is both strategic and operational by nature : on one hand, it contributes to the definition and continuous improvement of planning processes, capacity strategies and performance governance; on the other hand, it ensures the day-to-day feasibility, stability and responsiveness of production plans , guaranteeing service level targets and operational continuity.

A key priority of the role is the proactive identification and management of production constraints and bottlenecks , through a structured analysis of loads, capacities and material availability. The Planning Manager is therefore expected to drive strong cross-functional alignment across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Purchasing and Logistics, enabling fast and effective decision-making in a highly dynamic context.

Ultimately, the position has a direct impact on service level performance, operational efficiency and industrial scalability , supporting the company’s growth through robust planning governance, strong team leadership and a continuous improvement mindset.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and govern medium- and short-term Production Planning & Scheduling activities across multiple manufacturing sites.
• Coordinate, develop and manage the team of Planners , ensuring consistent planning methodologies, clear priorities and continuous team growth.
• Translate commercial demand and forecasts into feasible production plans, in line with capacity constraints, technical limitations and service level requirements.
• Monitor and optimize production loading , proactively identifying and managing capacity constraints and bottlenecks .
• Ensure continuous alignment between Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchasing and Logistics .
• Track and analyze planning and service KPIs (OTIF, plan adherence, capacity utilization, forecast accuracy).
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives on planning processes, including the evolution of digital tools and ERP/MRP systems .
• Support short-term production prioritization and rescheduling in response to demand variability or supply issues.
• Actively contribute to S&OP / S&OE processes in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Support mid-term capacity planning strategies and manufacturing footprint optimization.

Professional Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Management Engineering, Economics or related fields.
• Solid experience (minimum 5–8 years) in Production Planning / Supply Planning roles within structured manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience in people management .
• Strong knowledge of planning, capacity management, production flows and MRP logic .
• Excellent command of ERP systems (SAP, Oracle or similar).
• Experience in multi-site and high-complexity operations .
• Strong analytical mindset, problem-solving skills and results orientation.
• Fluent Italian and good command of English.

Key Competencies

• Operational leadership
• End-to-end process vision (Demand → Production → Delivery)
• Bottleneck and constraint management
• KPI analysis and performance control
• Cross-functional communication
• Planning in highly variable environments
• Structured continuous improvement approach

Soft Skills

• Strong sense of ownership
• High resilience under pressure
• Sound decision-making in complex scenarios
• Change-oriented mindset
• Teamworking attitude