Associate Manager, Supply Planning

This role acts as subject matter expert for supply planning and Inventory process, policies and best practices. This role is responsible for driving analytical excellence, process governance, and continuous improvement across Supply Planning, Inventory Management, and MRP processes to improve cash flow.
The position supports regional and global teams by providing data-driven insights, standardized processes, and strong MRP governance, enabling reliable planning outcomes, optimized inventory, and improved service performance.

What you will do:

Acts as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Supply Planning and Inventory Planning processes, policies, and best practices.

• Provides expert guidance to regional and country planning teams on planning methodologies, trade-offs, and decision frameworks.
• Supports planners in balancing service (OTIF) and inventory targets, ensuring alignment with business priorities and financial objectives.
• Serves as the first escalation point for complex supply, inventory, and MRP-related issues requiring analytical and process expertise.
• Executes regional inventory planning in strategic, operational, and executional processes - Provide inventory analytics and mid/long term projections at regional, franchise, and country levels, and provide input on region specific inventory related decisions
• Responsible for creation of regional strategic allocation plans and shares the allocation planning outputs with country commercial stakeholders across the region
• Acts as a central point of contact for the markets/regions, when additional inventory should be deployed from the central stock pool, so satisfy local market & regional inventory requests
• Partners with IPM central team in deploying strategic inventory planning and management capabilities (inventory policies, segmentation, inventory targets, etc.) at a regional level
• Leads inter-regional stock transfer orders to optimal inventory and evaluates cost / benefit analysis
• Provides input into regional E&O projections, reduction plans and strategies; also facilitates E&O disposition plans
• Presents inventory scenarios, constraints, and business implications in IBP forum as needed

What you need:

• Master's Degree level in Business / Engineering / Supply Chain Management with 7 to 10 years of Sales / Planning / Supply Chain experience, preferably in the medical devices industry or other highly regulated environment
• APICS accredited or professional supply chain accreditation highly preferred
• S&OP/IBP formally accredited [e.g. Oliver Wight] highly preferred
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in managing and deploying organizational capabilities
• Demonstrated experience leveraging industry standard equations for inventory management, quantitative and analytical abilities
• Ability to see the big picture, distill strategic objectives into a concrete plan for execution, influence others to build consensus behind shared goals, challenge the status quo, initiate tough conversations, and promote a culture of innovation
• Demonstrated knowledge of commercial businesses, portfolio management, supply, and Integrated Business Planning processes