Operations Planner - Manufacturing

Planner – Manufacturing / Production

Location: Peterborough
Salary: £45,000 per annum
Hours: Monday to Friday
Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Office based

The Role

This is a planning role for someone who likes making sure all the moving parts actually move in the right order.

You’ll take customer sales orders and turn them into a practical, realistic plan — making sure the materials are available, production is scheduled, fit-out is organised, logistics are lined up and everything comes together when it needs to.

Simple in theory.

In reality, there are suppliers, lead times, production capacity, changing priorities, customer expectations, stock levels and the occasional curveball thrown in for good measure.

That’s where you come in.

You’ll sit right in the middle of the operation, working across Sales, Procurement, Production, Operations and Logistics to make sure customer demand can actually be delivered.

This role needs someone who understands manufacturing and knows that planning is not just putting dates into a system.

It’s about understanding what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, what could stop it happening and getting ahead of problems before they become expensive ones.

What You'll Be Doing

• Reviewing incoming sales orders and translating them into detailed production and delivery plans
• Planning material requirements against customer demand
• Ensuring the correct materials are available at the right time to support production
• Liaising with suppliers and procurement teams around availability, lead times and potential shortages
• Raising or supporting purchase requirements where necessary
• Planning production schedules around capacity, materials, labour and customer deadlines
• Coordinating fit-out activity and making sure it is sequenced correctly within the wider production plan
• Planning logistics and delivery requirements to ensure finished products reach customers on time
• Monitoring live orders from initial order through to completion and dispatch
• Keeping a close eye on lead times and flagging potential delays early
• Reviewing production capacity and adjusting schedules when priorities change
• Working with Production Managers to understand what is realistically achievable
• Liaising with Sales teams to manage customer expectations and provide accurate delivery information
• Identifying bottlenecks before they cause bigger problems
• Replanning quickly when materials are delayed, customer orders change or production priorities shift
• Maintaining accurate planning and scheduling information within internal systems
• Monitoring stock levels and material availability
• Helping balance customer demand against production capability
• Supporting procurement activity and supplier communication where required
• Coordinating across multiple departments so everyone is working from the same plan
• Producing planning reports and highlighting risks, shortages or capacity issues
• Supporting continuous improvement around planning, scheduling and operational efficiency

What You’ll Need

This is the non-negotiable bit:

You MUST have previous experience working within a manufacturing or production environment.

You need to understand how production actually works.

That means understanding lead times, materials, capacity, priorities, production schedules and the knock‑on effect when one thing changes.

We’re ideally looking for someone with experience in:

• Manufacturing or production planning
• Production scheduling
• Material planning
• Demand planning
• Sales order planning
• Capacity planning
• Coordinating production against customer deadlines
• Working closely with Procurement, Production and Logistics teams
• Managing changing priorities in a fast‑moving environment
• Using ERP / MRP systems
• Communicating with suppliers and internal teams
• Identifying shortages, delays and potential planning issues
• Working with production lead times and customer delivery dates

Procurement experience would definitely be beneficial.

If you’ve had responsibility for ordering materials, dealing with suppliers, monitoring lead times or managing shortages, even better.

What Will Make You Good At This

You’ll need to be organised.

Properly organised.

Not “I have a nice notebook and three different coloured highlighters” organised.

You need to be able to look at multiple live orders, competing priorities, material availability and production capacity and still know what needs attention first.

Strong communication skills are also a must.

You’ll be speaking to Sales, Production, Procurement, Logistics, suppliers and management — and quite often you’ll be the person joining all those conversations together.

You’ll need to be confident enough to ask questions, chase information and push back when timelines are unrealistic.

You’ll also need to stay calm when the plan changes.

Because it will.

What You Might Not Like

If you need every day to go exactly as planned, this role may test your patience.

Manufacturing has a habit of throwing things at you.

A supplier misses a delivery.

A customer changes an order.

Production capacity suddenly changes.

Something needs to be expedited.

Someone wants an answer immediately.

And apparently everything was needed yesterday.

You’ll need to be comfortable juggling priorities without losing sight of the bigger picture.

This is also an office-based role in Peterborough , so it won’t suit someone looking for fully remote or heavily hybrid working.

You’ll be close to the operation, close to the teams and close to the detail.

That’s exactly how the business wants it.

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