Sr. Planning Manager

SUMMARY: The Senior Planning Manager – Systems is a key leadership role within the Custom Hydraulic Systems business unit, responsible for driving operational excellence through proactive planning, team leadership, and cross-functional coordination. This position oversees planning activities across multiple manufacturing sites (both on-site and remote). It ensures seamless execution of order fulfillment, material readiness, and production scheduling in alignment with customer commitments. The role serves as the primary operations liaison for the business unit and plays a critical part in enhancing customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue delivery.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Planning Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and mentor a team of planners across multiple manufacturing locations, fostering a high-performance and accountable culture.
• Establish standard planning processes, performance metrics, and continuous improvement initiatives to drive consistency and scalability.
• Partner with operations, engineering, and sales to align planning strategy with business goals and capacity constraints.

Cross-Functional Project Coordination

• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex project or order issues; ensure rapid and effective resolution.
• Drive cross-functional communication to ensure timely delivery of engineered systems, including maintaining project timelines, production packets, and job traveler documentation.
• Facilitate planning meetings to coordinate schedules, milestones, and material readiness with key stakeholders.

Order Management & Customer Fulfillment

• Oversee order intake, including customer PO review, order acknowledgment, change order management, and invoicing.
• Manage ERP data integrity, ensuring accurate component entries, routing, and BOM alignment.
• Act as the voice of the customer internally—translating commercial requirements into operational action.

Material Planning & Procurement Oversight

• Collaborate with Procurement to ensure availability of required materials; assist with vendor communication to mitigate delays and expedite delivery.
• Monitor and coordinate material staging, job kits, and inventory transactions to support production readiness.
• Support non-conforming material processes, freight claims, and stock replenishment strategies 

Scheduling & Reporting

• Develop and maintain detailed production schedules across multiple sites; adjust proactively to reflect changes in demand or capacity.
• Generate and distribute key planning and production reports to inform leadership and support decision-making.
• Provide data-driven insights on backlog, capacity utilization, and on-time delivery performance.

Customer & Internal Stakeholder Communication

• Ensure transparency of planning status and order progress with internal teams and customers.
• Support quoting and product configuration processes by providing lead time, cost, and availability inputs.
• Lead resolution of customer return issues in collaboration with service and quality teams.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: The requirements listed below are representative of the education, experience, skills and/or abilities required for this role.  

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Business Administration, Engineering, or related field required. Equivalent experience may be considered.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of progressive planning or supply chain experience in a manufacturing or engineered-to-order environment.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing teams and cross-functional initiatives preferred.

Skills & Abilities:

• Advanced knowledge of ERP systems (e.g., JobBOSS, P21); able to troubleshoot, improve processes, and maintain high data accuracy.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills; capable of interpreting project data, schedules, and technical documentation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to collaborate across functions and leadership levels.
• Strong customer orientation and problem-solving mindset in a deadline-driven environment.
• Working knowledge of hydraulic systems or engineered industrial equipment is a plus.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

This position requires the ability to work in an office environment with occasional movement through manufacturing areas. May involve lifting items such as laptops, binders, and parts up to 25 lbs. Some travel may be required to other manufacturing sites or customer locations. Communication via laptop and mobile devices is essential

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The role involves both office and production floor environments with potential exposure to noise, temperature variation, and industrial equipment. Flexibility in work hours may be necessary to support cross-site coordination and customer needs.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the position and is not an exhaustive list of skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with it. 

Evolution Motion Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer