Strategic & Capacity Planning Lead

Posted:
7/6/2026, 8:13:27 PM

Location(s):
Greater London, England, United Kingdom ⋅ England, United Kingdom

Experience Level(s):
Senior

Field(s):
Business & Strategy ⋅ Operations & Logistics ⋅ Sales & Account Management

Workplace Type:
On-site

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact


Click “Apply” to get started.

Why join our team ? 

 

Working closely with Supply Planning, Factory Operational Teams, Commercialisation, Finance and Marketing teams, our Strategic S&OP team collaborates cross functionally to convert business ambitions to strategic capacity planning insight in order to future-proof our Supply Chain operation in the long term. 

 

What will this role achieve?  

 

This role requires the role-holder to build and maintain the long-term supply plan, converting sophisticated data to simple insights into our 1 to 5-year UK&I capacity position.  The role is also required to influence and build positive relationships with a broad range of colleagues on opportunities and risks, supporting building plans for our future growth 

 

Responsibilities and accountabilities within the role 

  • Lead the bi-annual Supply Chain volume and working capital budgets, through: 

  • Conversion of demand inputs from commercial finance into a phased supply volume plan for all UK manufacturing sites as well as bought in products 

  • Identify & challenge anomalies in growth/decline areas  

  • Align supply plans with manufacturing availability 

  • Summarise findings and share with key stakeholders  

  • Maintenance & develop the UK&I capacity modelling toolkit, Rough Cut Capacity Plan (RCCP) tool to show visibility of the medium to long-term capacity horizon  

  • Identify and track hot and cold spots, reviewing monthly 

  • Support the creation and delivery of strategic plans to unlock capacity 

  • Monitor and report sales performance against budget, to provide insight into variances, trends and emerging risks for key sub brands. 

  • Maintain monthly strategic forecast in OMP and support Supply Planners through monthly MTP queries 

  • Lead the monthly Medium Term planning opportunities & risks process (MTPOR) and support the delivery of key messages at the monthly S&OP board 

  • Provide capacity assessments and scenario modelling to support strategic opex, capex and growth & innovation projects, feeding directly into the Innovation, Capex, ROL and global SDR processes. 

  • Ensure capacity modelling is aligned between the long-term strategic plans and the medium term RCCP modelling methodologies.  

  • Support the management of stock builds and cutovers plans for major launches or projects, and populate OMP dummy codes to facilitate medium term planning in early stages of project delivery  

  • Handover projects to supply planners at Gate 3 with assumptions clearly detailed, using fortnightly Supply Planning NPD meeting for alignment 

  • Collaborate with Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance and Sales & Manufacturing teams to ensure alignment of demand, supply and capacity plans and support effective decision making. 

 

 

What do you need for this role  

 

Crucial 

  • Experience in an analytical role in supply chain or similar environment 

  • Proven knowledge of Excel, with a strong ability to turn sophisticated data sets into clear and impactful insights and communicate recommendations in a clear and positive manner 

  • Effective collaboration and relationship building to encourage alignment 

  • Be able to effectively connect with partners and simplify sophisticated messages 

  • Ability to challenge and influence stakeholders  

  • A self-starter with ability to work independently and manage own workload 

  • Clear communication skills 

 

Desired 

  • Experience working in FMCG organisation with knowledge of manufacturing environment an advantage 

  • Experience working on projects over a long-term horizon and scenario planning interdependencies 

  • Understanding of the Sales & Operational Planning Processes and factory production processes and capabilities 

  • OMP, SAP & Excel skills 

 

Our winning traits and behaviours  

  • Purpose-Led - Energised by our promise to deliver happiness to the world with every bite 

  • Agile - Ever evolving, never satisfied and never standing still 

  • Collaborative - Willing to work for mutual success 

  • Resilient - Quick to adapt to change, fast learner and persistent in the face of setbacks 

  • Positive - Self-motivated, optimistic, adventurous, and inspiring 

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.