Senior Planning & Operations Specialist

Great Minds; United States; Remote; USD 78,000 - 88,000; Full time

Job summary

Great Minds is seeking a Senior Planning & Operations Specialist, Manipulatives, to own end‑to‑end operational planning for physical instructional manipulatives. You will forecast demand, plan production, and ensure fulfillment readiness in partnership with Product, Marketing, Sales, and external vendors.

You will balance demand variability with manufacturing constraints during peak adoption and back‑to‑school cycles, driving cost efficiency and on‑time delivery across districts.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in education space with operations, planning, or production management.
• Experience managing physical products (print, kits, manipulatives, or educational materials).
• Strong forecasting, analytical, and inventory planning skills.
• Proven cross-functional collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Operations.
• Experience with ERP/CRM systems (NetSuite, Salesforce).
• Excellent communication skills translating data into insights.

Responsibilities

• Forecasting with stakeholders across adoption cycles and replenishment.
• Develop long-range capacity and inventory models for growth and seasonality.
• Monitor forecasts with vendors to ensure product availability.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing to assess risk and mitigation strategies.
• Monitor inventory health and drive corrective actions.
• Manage vendor relationships including lead times and costs.

Skills

Operations planning

Forecasting

Inventory management

Cross-functional teamwork

ERP/CRM proficiency

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Tools

NetSuite

Salesforce

Job description

Who We Are

Great Minds is a high-growth, mission-driven organization founded by educators in 2007. As a for-profit, Public Benefit Corporation, we believe all students deserve access to meaningful, challenging content—and all teachers deserve tools that are intuitive, effective, and built for the realities of today’s classrooms.

We develop high-quality, knowledge-rich math, science and ELA curricula grounded in research and designed in collaboration with educators. Our materials reflect real classroom needs and are built to drive lasting student outcomes.

We are committed to usability, coherence, and practical implementation—supporting teachers not just through curriculum, but with professional learning, purposeful technology, and responsive service that enable strong adoption and impact.

What We Build

Our products—Eureka Math and Eureka Math², Wit & Wisdom, Geodes, and the newly launched Arts & Letters ELA—are trusted by thousands of schools and districts nationwide.

• Eureka Math is the most widely used math curriculum in the U.S., and is focused on balancing conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application.

• Wit & Wisdom and Arts & Letters ELA anchor our reading strategy with content-rich, grade-level instruction that integrates literature, history, and the arts, grounded in the science of reading. Geodes complements our reading suite with decodable texts that pair phonics with meaningful content to support early literacy.

These programs reflect a shared belief in high expectations, joyful rigor, and deep respect for educators and students.

Where We’re Headed

Great Minds is entering a new stage of growth and product maturity. We are focused on building more connected, customer-informed experiences across the full educator journey—from curriculum to professional learning to platform and support.

Our long-term vision is to become a true partner in impact—not just delivering curriculum, but supporting educators in achieving outcomes at scale.

Job Purpose

The Senior Planning & Operations Specialist, Manipulatives owns end-to-end operational planning and execution for physical instructional manipulatives, including forecasting, production planning, and fulfillment readiness. Reporting to the Senior Director, Strategic Operations, this role partners closely with Product, Marketing, Sales, ePMO, and external vendors to ensure manipulatives are available, cost-effective, and aligned to go‑to‑market timelines and instructional priorities.

This position plays a critical role in balancing demand variability, manufacturing constraints, and district-level delivery expectations—particularly during peak adoption and back‑to‑school cycles.

Responsibilities

Planning & Forecasting

• Participate with various stakeholders on forecasting for manipulatives across adoption cycles, pilots, samples, and replenishment.

• Develop and maintain long‑range capacity and inventory models to support growth and seasonality.

• Communicate and monitor forecasts with vendors to ensure product availability

• Partner with Sales and Marketing to assess component availability risk and mitigation strategies.

Inventory & Supply Chain Operations

• Monitor established inventory strategy for manipulatives, including safety stock, reserve inventory, and obsolescence management.

• Monitor inventory health (on‑hand, committed, backordered, reserved) and drive corrective actions as needed.

• Manage manufacturing and vendor relationships, including lead times, MOQs, cost controls, and quality standards.

Cross‑Functional Execution

• Work with Order Management and Customer Success to resolve fulfillment issues, shortages, or escalations.

• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for manipulative‑related inquiries.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Develop dashboards and reporting for manipulative inventory levels, forecast accuracy, fulfillment performance, and risk indicators.

• Identify process improvements to reduce cost, increase reliability, and improve cross‑team visibility.

• Document and maintain SOPs related to planning, inventory management, and fulfillment workflows.

• Coordinate RFP and RFQ processes with internal and external stakeholders.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in education space with extensive experience in operations, supply chain, planning, or production management.

• Experience managing physical products (print, kits, manipulatives, or educational materials).

• Strong forecasting, analytical, and inventory planning skills.

• Proven ability to work cross‑functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Operations teams.

• Experience working with ERP and CRM systems (e.g., NetSuite, Salesforce).

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex operational data into clear insights.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with adoption‑driven demand cycles and back‑to‑school fulfillment.

• Experience managing 3PL relationships and overseas or domestic manufacturing vendors.

• Advanced Excel / data modeling skills; familiarity with BI tools a plus.

Required Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Status

Full‑time

Location

Remote

The expected base salary range for this position is $78,000-$88,000, however the offered salarymay be higher or lower than the above range dependent on numerous factors including, but not limited to location, work experience, skills and internal equity considerations. The base salary is not inclusive of benefits or other incentives.

New employees will be required to successfully complete a background check.

Great Minds is an equal opportunity employer. We will extend equal opportunity to all individuals without regard to race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our policy reflects and affirms the organization’s commitment to the principles of fair employment and the elimination of all discriminatory practices.