Senior Supply Planner

A typical week often involves MRP review, supplier coordination, exception handling, and the steady cadence of cross-functional engagement — running senior-level supply analyses, working with strategic suppliers on critical commitments, sitting with engineering and operations on supply exceptions, supporting newer planners. You're often the senior operational owner of supply continuity. Supplier on-time delivery, inventory turns, and stockout avoidance anchor the operating view.

Friction tends to come from the cross-pressure of supplier capacity and demand volatility — suppliers want predictable orders, demand wants flexibility, and the senior planner negotiates the middle. Variance across employers is sharp: at major manufacturers senior supply planning has mature ERP support; at smaller firms the relationships are more personal and the systems lighter.

It fits people who are operationally fluent, supplier-relationship-savvy, and steady under supply-disruption pressure. APICS CPIM and CSCP credentials anchor advancement. The trade-off is the after-hours availability when supply disruptions threaten production continuity.