Planning Team Lead

Job Title: Planning Team Leader

Department: Planning

Reports to: Planning Manager

Job Overview

The Planning Team Leader leads and supervises or directs a team of Planners responsible for material requirements planning, production scheduling, and coordination of material flow through the production cycle. This role combines hands-on planning responsibilities with day-to-day team leadership - assigning or directing workload, mentoring staff, resolving escalations, and driving process improvements - to ensure the team meets on-time delivery (OTD), inventory, and customer commitments. Reports to Planning Manager. Located at the Unigen Headquarters in Newark, CA.

Job Responsibilities and Duties

• Lead, supervise or direct, and mentor a team of Planners, including assigning daily priorities, balancing workload, and providing on-the-job training and guidance.
• Oversee and manage Project Material Requirements Planning (MRP) across the team, ensuring consistent methodology and data integrity.
• Direct the loading and creation of all demand into ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and review team output for accuracy.
• Align, prioritize, and allocate materials to meet actual demand (customer build plan/forecast (FCST), Sales Order (SO), and Plan Order) across the team's accounts.
• Oversee Project Master Production Scheduling (MPS) from Demand to Ship for the team; ensure work orders are maintained and planned to meet OTD objectives.
• Guide the team in performing material What-if-Analysis (WIA) for demand loading and scenario planning.
• Coordinate the efficient movement of material through the production cycle and monitor progress of work against the production schedule.
• Serve as the escalation point for complex material constraints and manufacturing issues; partner with Program Manager (PM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Buyers to resolve them.
• Oversee resolution of material issues for work orders (WO), Rework WO, pilot build, or qualification build; ensure WO and SO aging is maintained to meet MRP notification standards.
• Analyze and communicate demand schedule, material data, and inventory status to Planning Manager and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Monitor team-wide inventory levels to ensure alignment with Unigen's inventory turns goals.
• Drive cost reductions through optimized production flow, resource utilization, and inventory utilization across the team.
• Track and report planner performance metrics (OTD, inventory turns, schedule adherence) and lead corrective actions where needed.
• Identify and implement process improvements and standardized best practices across the planning function.
• Conduct or contribute to performance reviews, onboarding, and skill development planning for planning staff.

Other tasks and responsibilities related to Purchasing and Warehouse/Logistics functions as assigned.

Job Requirements and Qualifications

• BS/BA degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, or Industrial Engineering field.
• Minimum 9 years of work experience in material planning and production scheduling in a fast-paced environment such as Contract Manufacturing (CM) or Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS), including at least 2 years in a lead, supervisory, or senior planner capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and develop a team, including delegating work and resolving escalated issues.
• Be able to work and coordinate with different departments and functional teams, representing the planning team, to achieve the customer's required date.
• Have in-depth understanding of how backend operations work, from sourcing, purchasing, tracking PO, receiving, IQC, warehousing, kitting, SMT, and system integration to close the cycle of work order completion.
• Be able to plan and schedule based on materials availability, work with MPS to schedule work orders, and guide team members in doing the same.
• Strong communication and organizational skills, with the ability to report performance metrics and drive process improvement initiatives.