EMEA Materials Planning Director: SAP & Transformation

Advocate Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Advocate Group is partnering with a global drinks leader to recruit a Materials Planning Director. You will lead a 17-person team across the UK and South Africa, owning end-to-end Raw Materials planning for EMEA with real P&L impact, driving transformation of SAP MRP and analytics and supporting NPD timelines to sustain an innovation pipeline.

The role demands senior leadership, strategic influence, and the ability to manage complex supply chains at scale within FMCG.

Qualifications

• Proven materials planning leadership experience, ideally within EMEA.
• Deep expertise in SAP, MRP and PO lifecycle processes.
• A track record of leading and developing senior managers, not just planners.
• Strong commercial and analytical instincts, comfortable operating and influencing at a strategic level.
• Someone who can bring structure to complexity without losing pace.
• Resilient, hands on and genuinely energised by solving problems at scale.

Responsibilities

• Owning EMEA Raw Materials planning end to end, driving a 98% casefill target and a step change in On Time In Full performance.
• Partnering with Procurement on Supplier Relationship Management, SLAs and supplier performance across a wide network of raw material suppliers, co-packers and contract fillers.
• Leading the transformation of SAP MRP and Materials Planning analytics, with dotted line oversight of the SAP MM analyst.
• Setting inventory targets and minimising obsolescence through smart, proactive management of ageing stock.
• Representing the team through the Integrated Business Planning cycle and co-leading S&OP governance.
• Coaching, developing and performance managing a team of senior managers and planners, building genuine bench strength.
• Acting as the escalation point for Materials matters across the business.

Skills

Materials Planning Leadership

SAP

MRP

P&L impact

Team Leadership

Analytics

Tools

SAP MM

SAP MRP

Job description

Advocate Group is partnering with a global drinks leader to recruit a Materials Planning Director. You will lead a 17-person team across the UK and South Africa, owning end-to-end Raw Materials planning for EMEA with real P&L impact, driving transformation of SAP MRP and analytics and supporting NPD timelines to sustain an innovation pipeline.

The role demands senior leadership, strategic influence, and the ability to manage complex supply chains at scale within FMCG.