Production Planner

Job Title: Production Planner

Industry: Defense Manufacturing / Advanced Materials Manufacturing

On-site Location: Petersburg, Virginia (90% On-Site-WFH Fridays)

Relocation Provided: Yes

Salary Range: $75,000 - $90,000

Job Overview:

Seeking an energetic, highly driven  Production Planner  to join a trusted manufacturer supporting military, defense, and high-speed rail industries. This position plays a critical role in ensuring customer commitments are met through accurate production planning, inventory control, forecasting, and supply chain coordination.

Minimum Requirements:

• 5+ years of production planning, materials planning, manufacturing scheduling, or supply chain planning experience
• Must have experience working in a highly regulated environment such as aerospace/defense, automotive, or similar
• Experience in a manufacturing environment with complex production schedules
• Knowledge of demand planning and long-range forecasting methodologies
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables, data analysis, and reporting
• Experience working within ERP/MRP systems
• Experience managing supplier performance and material shortages
• Experience leading inventory audits and inventory accuracy improvement initiatives
• Experience supporting production planning horizons of 6–12 months or greater
• Strong understanding of inventory management, forecasting, production scheduling, and capacity planning
• Proven ability to coordinate cross-functionally with production, procurement, operations, and supply chain teams
• U.S. Person status required due to ITAR and defense-related business requirements
• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, or related field; equivalent experience considered

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience with ITAR-regulated products and processes
• APICS/ASCM certification (CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent)
• Experience with ERP- Infor

This role is far more than scheduling production. The Production Planner will serve as the central link between production, procurement, inventory, suppliers, and customer demand to ensure materials are available, production schedules are achievable, and customer commitments are met. The organization is looking for someone with a strong sense of urgency and exceptional customer focus when it comes to solving problems and driving results.

A key objective of this position is to improve delivery performance and planning accuracy by developing reliable production schedules and forecasts extending up to 12 months into the future. The successful candidate will proactively manage inventory levels, material shortages, supplier performance, and production constraints while maintaining accurate ERP data and supporting inventory audit activities.

Working closely with operations, procurement, supply chain leadership, and supplier partners, this individual will help ensure nothing is out of stock, lead times are maintained, customer response times are best-in-class, and production plans align with both customer demand and available cash resources. Success will be measured by improved forecast accuracy, stronger supplier coordination, enhanced inventory accuracy, and the ability to confidently support a rolling 12-month production plan.

This is an excellent opportunity for a planner who enjoys fast-paced manufacturing environments, thrives under pressure, and wants to make a visible impact within an organization where leadership is highly invested in the success of this role.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain daily, weekly, monthly, and long-range production schedules to meet customer demand, inventory targets, and manufacturing capacity requirements.
• Build and manage a rolling 12-month production forecast and planning process, monitoring customer forecasts, order trends, and demand fluctuations to proactively adjust production plans.
• Analyze material requirements and ensure inventory levels support production schedules while minimizing stockouts, excess inventory, and production disruptions.
• Monitor supplier performance, material shortages, lead-time adherence, and quality concerns, partnering with suppliers and procurement teams to proactively resolve issues that could impact customer deliveries.
• Coordinate closely with production, operations, procurement, quality, and supply chain teams to ensure material availability, schedule attainment, and on-time delivery performance.
• Manage ERP/MRP planning parameters and maintain accurate planning data to support forecasting, scheduling, inventory control, and operational decision-making.
• Track production progress and adjust schedules to address changing priorities, customer requirements, manufacturing constraints, and supply chain challenges.
• Lead inventory accuracy initiatives, including cycle counts, audits, reconciliations, and system maintenance, ensuring inventory records accurately reflect material availability and on-hand quantities.
• Identify risks to customer delivery commitments and implement corrective action plans to improve delivery performance and customer satisfaction.
• Monitor and report on key performance indicators including delivery performance, inventory levels, forecast accuracy, schedule attainment, supplier performance, and inventory accuracy.
• Support Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes and long-range capacity planning activities to align production requirements with business objectives.
• Generate reports, planning analyses, and operational metrics for leadership to support strategic and tactical decision-making.
• Develop a thorough understanding of manufacturing processes, products, materials, and operational constraints to improve planning effectiveness and responsiveness.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on planning efficiency, inventory optimization, supply chain reliability, customer responsiveness, and overall operational performance.
• Provide exceptional customer-focused support through proactive communication, urgency, problem-solving, and a commitment to delivering best-in-class customer response times.