Regional Upstream Planner

TA note: For a high-potential profile, I'd keep upstream planning experience as preferred rather than mandatory. That gives you room to consider strong Material Planners, Supply Planners, Buyers/Planners, NPI planners, or similar candidates who have the fundamentals and digital mindset but may not yet have the full upstream scope.

Responsibilities:

• Support the execution of regional upstream supply chain initiatives, working with plants, Procurement, and other supply chain stakeholders.
• Coordinate with different plants across the region to monitor upstream inventory performance and support continuous improvement initiatives such as Opti Flow and planning parameter optimization.
• Support supplier capacity assessments across regional plants and follow up on actions to anticipate business growth and potential supply risks.
• Work with plants and relevant stakeholders to identify opportunities to improve PO2 performance and reduce potential upstream supply disruptions.
• Monitor key upstream planning topics across the region, consolidate inputs from plants, and highlight risks or opportunities that may require further action.
• Support the implementation of the Global Planning Playbook and help ensure consistency of planning practices across the assigned plants.
• Gather and translate business requirements from regional stakeholders to identify opportunities for simplification, automation, and reduced manual intervention.
• Collaborate with digital and development teams on planning dashboards, visibility tools, automation, and AI-enabled solutions.
• Share best practices and improvement opportunities across plants and support the implementation of successful solutions at the regional level.
• Participate in regional supply chain projects and gradually take ownership of improvement initiatives based on experience and capability.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Statistics, Business, or a related field.
• 2–8 years of relevant experience in supply chain, planning, materials management, procurement, or related functions. Experience in upstream planning is an advantage.
• Good understanding of supply chain and planning fundamentals, with an interest in developing broader end-to-end supply chain expertise.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.
• Digital mindset and interest in automation, data analytics, AI, and digital supply chain solutions.
• Good English communication skills, both spoken and written.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to influence and collaborate across different functions.
• Proactive and willing to challenge existing ways of working while remaining collaborative, logical, and solution-oriented.
• Demonstrates strong learning agility, ownership, and potential to take on increasing responsibilities.