Planning Manager

About the role

Reporting to the Operations Director, the Planning Manager will lead the Planning function, providing the rhythm, visibility and control needed to align customer requirements, S&OP outputs, capacity, material availability and production execution. You will lead, support and develop the Master Scheduling and Production Planning teams, ensuring the plan is understood, owned and delivered across the business. You will act as the planning focal point for the site, providing clear priorities, visibility and direction across functions. Working closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Services, Engineering, Quality, Finance and Programme teams, you will ensure business-wide alignment between demand, supply, capacity, inventory and delivery performance. Key to success in this role is the ability to combine strong planning expertise with practical leadership, cross-functional influence and a continuous improvement mindset. You will be an enabler across the organisation, identifying opportunities, challenging where needed, and improving our planning processes, tools and ways of working. In this role, you will: Lead, support and develop the Planning team, including Master Scheduling and Production Planning. Act as the planning focal point for the business, providing clear priorities, visibility and direction across functions. Ensure customer requirements are aligned to master schedules, production plans, capacity and material availability. Drive the agreed plan through Operations, ensuring production execution is aligned to schedule. Monitor, measure and improve conformance to plan, ensuring risks, constraints and deviations are identified and acted upon. Collaborate closely with the S&OP process to ensure demand, supply, capacity and inventory plans are aligned and executable. Engage cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Services, Engineering, Quality, Finance and Programme teams to ensure business-wide alignment. Work closely with Operations to support schedule adherence, recovery planning, capacity planning and delivery performance. Use planning data and operational insight to support clear, practical and timely decision-making. Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, tools, visibility and ways of working. Promote a culture of ownership, accountability, continuous improvement and delivery focus across the Planning team and wider business. About You At Ontic, our culture is key to how we deliver success. We're looking for someone who brings strong planning capability alongside confident leadership, operational understanding and the ability to influence across a complex, fast-paced environment. To be successful in this role, you will bring: A strong background in planning, master scheduling, production planning or supply chain within a manufacturing environment. Experience leading and developing teams. A strong understanding of ERP/MRP systems, capacity planning, material availability, production schedule adherence and conformance to plan. The ability to translate customer demand into clear, executable plans. Experience working cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Services, Engineering, Quality, Finance and Programme teams. Strong analytical capability, with the ability to use planning data and operational insight to support decision-making. A structured, detail-oriented approach, combined with pragmatic problem-solving skills. The confidence to challenge, influence and engage stakeholders across the business. The ability to operate effectively in a complex, fast-paced and regulated environment. You will also ideally have: Experience within aerospace, defence or another heavily regulated manufacturing environment. A relevant qualification in supply chain, planning, operations, engineering or business management. APICS/CPIM, Lean, Six Sigma or equivalent continuous improvement qualifications. Experience supporting S&OP or similar business planning processes. Experience improving planning processes, tools, visibility and ways of working. What Success Looks Like Success in this role will be measured