Lead Production Planning - SIOP Demand Planner

Job Title: Lead, SIOP Demand Planner

Job Code: 46194 

Job Location: Huntsville HQ

Job Schedule: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off

Job Description

We are seeking a Lead, SIOP Demand Planner to support Demand Planning and Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning (SIOP) activities within the business. This position is based at our Headquarters facility in Huntsville, AL. The role resides within the Scheduling & Material Planning (SMP) Center of Excellence and reports directly to the Senior Manager of Production Planning (Schedule Integration).

The SIOP Demand Planner is responsible for developing, maintaining, and improving the demand planning process to ensure alignment between customer demand, business forecasts, inventory strategy, and operational execution plans. This role supports the monthly SIOP cycle by translating market and program demand signals into actionable forecasts and planning assumptions that enable effective decision‑making across Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Program Management, and Commercial teams.

The preferred candidate will be comfortable working with limited instruction, managing multiple priorities, and collaborating with diverse internal stakeholders to gather input and drive solutions.

Essential Functions:

• Lead demand forecasting and planning activities by developing and maintaining short-, mid-, and long-range demand plans using historical trends, bookings, backlog, customer signals, market intelligence, and cross‑functional business assumptions. Translate demand inputs into actionable planning outputs that support the SIOP process and operational decision‑making.
• Support and facilitate the monthly SIOP cycle by preparing demand review inputs, coordinating cross‑functional alignment, documenting assumptions, and helping reconcile demand plans with supply, inventory, capacity, and financial objectives. Identify and communicate risks, gaps, and opportunities requiring management attention.
• Partner with Sales, Program Management, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Finance to develop consensus forecasts and delivery assumptions. Ensure demand inputs align with business strategy, contractual commitments, and operational capabilities. Support onboarding of new programs, products, or demand streams into planning systems and processes.
• Identify risks and opportunities, and support balanced decisions related to capacity, inventory, and customer commitments.
• Analyze forecast performance, support scenario planning, and facilitate actions needed to improve forecast accuracy and execution alignment, including loading and maintaining forecasted demand within the ERP system.
• Perform root-cause analysis on forecast variances and recommend corrective actions to improve planning effectiveness.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives related to demand planning methods, tools, data quality, business processes, and system utilization. Contribute to scenario planning, recovery planning, process documentation, and other ad‑hoc projects as assigned.

Ability to obtain and maintain an U.S. security clearance

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business Administration, Finance, Engineering, or a related field. A graduate degree and a minimum of 7 years of related experience is acceptable. In lieu of a degree, a minimum of 13 years of prior related experience is required.

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Experience with ERP/MRP systems (Oracle preferred) and demand planning tools
• Experience supporting SIOP/S&OP processes in a manufacturing environment
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel
• Experience with Power BI or other analytics/reporting tools
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and cross‑functional coordination skills
• Experience with scenario planning, inventory analysis, and executive reporting
• APICS/ASCM certification such as CPIM or CSCP
• Experience in aerospace, defense, or complex manufacturing environments
• Production planning experience
• Strong analytical thinking and problem‑solving capabilities
• Ability to operate effectively within a fast‑paced team setting
• Experience or interest in Operations, Procurement, Scheduling, and Engineering value streams
• Willingness to learn MRP, MES, Delmia, ASCP, Oracle EBS, and Microsoft Office tools
• Ability to take initiative and operate both tactically in day‑to‑day planning and strategically in long‑range planning and process improvement efforts

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