Country Planning Manager

Lead the Future of Planning Across Glacier's Italian Manufacturing Network

At Glacier, we create ice cream experiences enjoyed by millions of consumers across Europe. As one of Europe's leading private label ice cream manufacturers, we combine operational excellence, innovation, and customer focus to deliver high-quality products to some of the continent's largest retailers.

We are looking for an experienced and hands‑on Supply Planning Manager Italy to lead planning activities across our three Italian manufacturing sites. This is a highly visible leadership role with the opportunity to shape planning processes, strengthen S&OP capabilities, and drive service excellence during an exciting phase of transformation and growth.

If you thrive in a fast‑paced manufacturing environment, enjoy solving complex supply chain challenges, and have a passion for leading teams and improving performance, we'd love to hear from you.

The Role

As Supply Planning Manager Italy, you will be responsible for end‑to‑end supply planning across our Italian operations. You will lead the local planning function, ensuring production plans are aligned with customer demand, manufacturing capacity, material availability, and business priorities.

Working closely with Operations, Procurement, Commercial teams, and senior leadership, you will balance service, inventory, and efficiency while helping to build a best‑in‑class planning organisation.

This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact across multiple sites while contributing to the further development of Glacier's integrated S&OP process.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the Planning Function

• Lead and support the planning teams across our three Italian manufacturing sites.
• Establish clear priorities, accountability, and consistent planning standards.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, ownership, continuous improvement, and data‑driven decision‑making.
• Act as a key member of the Supply Chain leadership team, providing insights on capacity, risk, and operational constraints.

Drive Supply Planning Excellence

• Translate customer demand into achievable and efficient production plans.
• Ensure production schedules optimise capacity utilisation, labour efficiency, and manufacturing performance.
• Coordinate material and packaging availability through effective planning and supplier collaboration.
• Balance customer service, inventory levels, and operational efficiency through proactive planning and scenario analysis.

Strengthen S&OP and Cross‑Functional Alignment

• Support and further develop Glacier's Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
• Lead weekly and monthly planning reviews, capacity discussions, and service performance meetings.
• Collaborate closely with Commercial, Operations, Procurement, Quality, and Engineering teams to align priorities and improve decision‑making.
• Identify, escalate, and resolve supply risks, service challenges, and operational bottlenecks.

Support Growth and Innovation

• Partner with cross‑functional teams to ensure successful new product introductions and customer launches.
• Validate manufacturing capacity, material readiness, and supply chain requirements for upcoming projects.
• Contribute to strategic planning discussions and long‑term capacity planning initiatives.

Deliver Continuous Improvement

• Improve planning accuracy, service levels, inventory health, and operational performance.
• Develop and enhance planning tools, dashboards, reporting, and KPI management.
• Lead root‑cause analysis and corrective action initiatives to address service or supply issues.
• Standardise planning processes and best practices across sites and countries where appropriate.

What Success Looks Like

During Your First 12 Months, You Will

• Stabilise and strengthen planning performance across all Italian manufacturing sites.
• Improve service levels, planning accuracy, and inventory management.
• Enhance visibility of capacity, supply risks, and operational constraints.
• Build strong relationships across Operations, Commercial, and Procurement teams.
• Play a key role in the evolution of Glacier's S&OP processes and planning capabilities.

What We're Looking ForEssential

• Significant experience in Supply Chain Planning, Supply Planning, Production Planning, or S&OP within a manufacturing environment.
• Proven experience managing planning activities across complex operations or multiple sites.
• Strong understanding of supply planning, production planning, MRP, inventory management, and capacity planning.
• Experience working within FMCG, food production, consumer goods, or similar manufacturing en