Labour Deployment Planning Manager

pladis; Manchester; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Join pladis as a Labour Deployment Planning Manager and play a crucial role in workforce deployment at a high-energy manufacturing site. You will lead a focused team to ensure optimal labour planning, coordinate with various departments, and contribute to the success of our production objectives. This position offers the opportunity to leverage your expertise in supply chain systems while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.

Benefits

Annual Incentive Plan (AIP)

Private medical Insurance

Stakeholder Pension Scheme

Life Assurance Cover

25 days + bank holidays

Holiday Enhancement Scheme

Volunteering Day

Cycle to work scheme

Discounted gym membership

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Strong background in labour planning, supply planning, or MRP.
• Managing or leading a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Effective communicator with experience presenting to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead workforce deployment at a busy manufacturing site.
• Manage a small team, coaching and fostering collaboration.
• Ensure balanced labour pool across shifts and job grades.

Skills

Labour planning

Material resource planning (MRP)

Supply planning

Numerical and analytical skills

Education

Degree in Business Administration or Supply Chain Management

Tools

SAP

Power BI

Power Apps

SharePoint

Excel

Job description

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.

Labour Deployment Planning Manager

Why join our team?

We’re looking for an experienced and people-focused Labour Deployment Planning Manager to play a central role in leading workforce deployment at our busy manufacturing site. Reporting to the Supply Chain Manager, you will work collaboratively with the Supply Chain Team and other departments to ensure that our 300+ employees are effectively planned, trained, and deployed to meet 24/7 operational needs. You’ll bring together people and systems — ensuring we deliver against the supply plan to meet the 24/7 supply to our customer needs.

This will require a strong working relationship with the HR, L&D and Operational Planning Teams, the Manufacturing, Technical, Engineering and Finance Teams on site. An in-depth knowledge of SAP and robust understanding of Supply Chain Systems (and how they interact) is essential.

What will this role achieve?

The key areas of focus will be:

• To ensure a balanced labour pool in terms of skills and numbers across the shifts and job grades.
• To ensure the labour deployment system is set up and maintained to deliver 90% deployment accuracy against the defined production plan.
• To support the delivery of the key Supply Chain metrics – for example Conformance to Plan (CTP) and Internal Service Level (ISL).
• To manage skills and training of staff, ensuring skills balance across production lines and teams
• To manage labour systems/ways of working, and continuously improve on these systems used at site

What will be your key deliverables?

Contributing towards the success of the Supply Chain Team and Manchester site:

• Achieve budget, KPI, and working capital targets while proactively communicating capacity constraints across short- to medium-term horizons to support effective planning and decision-making.
• Manage a small team, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, providing coaching where needed
• Provide cross-functional cover, including for the Supply Chain Manager, by developing a strong understanding of all supply chain systems and processes, and contribute to key strategic site development projects as needed.

Supply Chain Systems and Processes:

• Develop deep knowledge of end-to-end site processes, interpret system data to assess production volumes, and collaborate with planning to address risks. Act as a superuser and champion for labour management systems like SharePoint, Power BI/PowerApps, and third-party tools.
• Drive digitalisation of systems and workflows, and deliver monthly analytical presentations to the Site Leadership Team covering key metrics such as overtime, agency usage, training costs, and labour utilisation.

Labour Management:

• Collaborate with manufacturing, finance, IS, and TCS teams to maintain accurate labour data and ensure 90% auto-deployment. Oversee data integrity across systems (Workday, SAP, labour management), audit HR inputs, and establish transparent processes for labour availability and utilisation.
• Champion labour management processes, provide training, and support balanced shift planning to meet customer and recovery targets. Partner with HR, Occupational Health, and operational teams to manage skills coverage, rehab processes, and optimise labour use across site initiatives.

Training:

• Manage training budgets and implement structured plans to ensure balanced skill coverage across teams. Act as a superuser for training systems, maintain audit-ready documentation, and collaborate with Compliance and DSOP teams to keep training materials current and aligned with operational needs.
• Work closely with Manufacturing Team Managers to ensure timely training completion and support the SQSE team by coordinating labour for critical training activities like metal detector sessions.

Bring your experience.

Essential

• Strong background in labour planning, material resource planning (MRP), or supply planning is essential to this role
• Managing or leading a team in a fast-paced environment
• Proficient in SAP and advanced Excel, with strong data maintenance capabilities and high numerical and analytical skills to support data-driven decision-making in fast-paced environments.
• Effective communicator with experience presenting to senior leadership, capable of leading, influencing, and managing complex workloads under pressure while collaborating seamlessly within cross-functional teams.

Desirable

• Understanding of payroll processes, food hygiene standards, and allergen awareness to support compliance and operational safety.
• Working knowledge of Power BI and Power Apps to support data visualization, reporting, and process automation initiatives.
• Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management or related fields

What will the interview process be?

• 1st stage interview – 45 minutes competency-based interview based on our company values and your experiences.
• 2nd stage interview – 60 minutes – a technical interview to understand your skill set/case study or presentation interview.

pladis does also use both Psychometric and Aptitude tests to support our processes so you may be asked to complete these as part of your process. Some processes may differ, but we will keep you updated!

What does pladis offer you?

• Annual Incentive Plan (AIP)– this is the business’s annual bonus scheme.
• Private medical Insurance
• Stakeholder Pension Scheme
• Life Assurance Cover ~ upon enrolment to Stakeholder Pension Scheme
• 25 days + bank holidays
• Holiday Enhancement Scheme
• 1 Volunteering Day per year
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounted gym membership – Carlisle and Chiswick only
• Discount and Cashback Scheme – make your everyday spending work hard for you on major high street brands, supermarkets and services
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme
• Financial Wellbeing Support
• Access to great training and development opportunities

Our Values

Purpose led – We’re energised and guided by our purpose to bring happiness with every bite

Agile – We’re ever evolving, we never stand still, always improving for our customers and our consumers.

Positive – We’re highly motivated optimistic, courageous, and we inspire each other to be better

Resilient - We’re persistent in the face of setbacks, quick to adapt, learn and move forward

Collaborative – We gain strength from operating as one pladis, winning and succeeding together

Best mix of ingredients

pladis is an equal opportunities employer, like every great recipe we’re a thoughtful mix. A happy and inclusive place to work that’s as diverse as our consumers and the communities we support, live and work in, all around the world. Where every voice is heard, and difference is celebrated. Where fresh perspectives and new ideas help us grow and thrive.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform key job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

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.