Availability Planner - Leeds

Arla Foods; Leeds; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

26 days holiday + BH

Pension contributions up to 6%

Life assurance

Job summary

Arla Foods is seeking an Availability Planner to support Shipper and Co-Packing Process planning at our Leeds HQ. You’ll focus on the S&OE horizon, ensuring high service levels, optimizing inventory across distribution centers, and reducing waste in a global cooperative environment.

You’ll collaborate with Operational Network Planners, Co-Packers, Procurement, Demand Planning and more to drive continuous improvement and meet SLAs/KPIs while engaging stakeholders across the business.

Qualifications

• Relevant bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field.
• Experience in supply chain planning, FMCG, or manufacturing with S&OE and short-term planning.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision making.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Ability to drive improvements and collaborate across functions.

Responsibilities

• Deliver the operational plan for co-packing and shipper processes in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Optimize supply chain performance through root cause analysis and data-driven decisions.
• Monitor KPIs and implement corrective actions to meet targets.
• Conduct scenario planning to mitigate availability risks and reduce waste.
• Escalate imbalances to S&OE forums and key stakeholders as needed.
• Lead proactive dialogue between Supply Chain, Co-packers and Commercial teams.
• Identify and contribute to end-to-end optimization initiatives.

Skills

Analytical skills

Stakeholder engagement

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decisions

Education

Bachelor's or master's degree

Job description

Are you a committed person who is passionate about planning within and End-2-End perspective? Do you want to be part of a collaborative team where day‑to‑day operational decision‑making is seamlessly integrated into the S&OE planning horizon, with stakeholder management and customer centricity going hand in hand? Then this could be the opportunity for you. We are looking for an Availability Planner to support our growing planning needs for Shipper and Co-Packing Process for SC Planning, based at our HQ in Leeds.

In Supply Chain Planning, you will join a highly collaborative team that works together across the organization. We value responsibility, credibility, and openness as the foundation for forming good relationships and effective decision‑making, enabling us to achieve our common goals.

So if you want to become a part of the team that plans the supply of a wide mix of Arla products, produced Globally - and work within a global stakeholder network, external partners and suppliers you could be the candidate we’re looking for.

How You Will Make An Impact

As an Availability Planner – Shipper/Co-Packing, you will focus on the Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) horizon. Your primary responsibility is to ensure high delivery service levels to our customers for all co‑packed products, while utilizing production capacity of co‑packers, optimizing inventory levels across relevant Distribution Centers, and proactively reducing waste.

Your key responsibilities will include

• Delivering the operational plan for co-packing in close cooperation with Operational Network Planners, Category Availability Planners, Co-Packers, Procurement, Demand Planning, and Global Planning.
• Optimizing supply chain performance through root cause analysis and data‑driven decisions.
• Monitoring relevant KPIs and implementing corrective actions to achieve targets.
• Conducting scenario planning to mitigate availability risks, reduce waste, and assess the impact of demand fluctuations on co‑packed finished goods.
• Escalating unresolved short‑term imbalances to global or local S&OE executive forums and key stakeholders.
• Leading proactive dialogue between Supply Chain, Co‑packers and Commercial teams to solve complex issues.
• Identifying and contributing to optimization initiatives from an end‑to‑end perspective.

What Will Make You Successful

You are an ambitious and structured professional with strong analytical skills and the ability to work across multiple functions. You thrive on collaboration and have a natural ability to engage with stakeholders from across the business.

You are motivated by change and actively contribute to the continuous improvement of ways of working and collaboration.

As Availability Planner for Co‑Packing and Shipper Process, you’ll shape our co‑packing operational production and delivery planning while working with various internal and external partners to meet/exceed SLAs and KPIs.

We imagine you

• Hold a relevant bachelor's or master's degree.
• Background in supply chain planning, preferably within FMCG, Co‑packing or manufacturing, with experience operating in S&OE and short‑term planning horizons.
• Communicate clearly and confidently, both with data and people.
• Enjoy driving improvements and challenging existing processes.
• Are curious, proactive and open to learning in a dynamic environment.

What do we offer?

An inclusive corporate culture that creates job satisfaction is important to us, and we prioritize giving our employees good development opportunities. We are looking for you who want to grow with us at Arla Foods!

We’re committed to supporting your growth and development, offering internal and external training opportunities. You’ll enjoy a competitive salary, 26 days of holiday plus Bank Holidays, matched pension contributions up to 6%, and life assurance.

Shape the Future of Dairy

Arla is a global leader in the dairy industry, committed to enabling good food choices that make life better, providing people with nourishment, while taking care at every step to ensure Arla is a choice they can feel good about. If you are looking to shape the future with an ambitious global cooperative that truly cares about your growth, where everyone feels valued and empowered, and collaboration is the core of culture, Arla is a choice you can feel good about.