Demand Planner
Job Description
Title: Demand Planner
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL
Hire Type: Direct hire
Compensation: $70,000-90,000 with annual bonus eligibility
Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k
Must have Skill Set:
- Experience with demand planning, production planning, scheduling, or supply chain coordination.
- Strong Excel and data analysis capabilities.
- Experience using ERP or MRP systems.
- Excellent communication, organization, and attention to detail.
Overview:
Job Duties:
- Manage planning activities for multiple customer accounts, including establishing production start dates, deadlines, and target quantities.
- Maintain accurate customer demand and planning data within the company's ERP system.
- Partner with internal teams to gather information and ensure materials, capacity, and resources are available to support production requirements.
- Analyze production and demand data using Excel and business intelligence tools to support reporting and planning decisions.
- Assist with identifying potential capacity constraints and support risk mitigation efforts.
- Lead regular planning discussions with customers to review schedules, address material concerns, and proactively resolve production bottlenecks.
- Develop efficient production plans that balance customer delivery requirements with operational costs and available capacity.
- Maintain regular visibility on the production floor to understand operations and monitor customer production activities.
- Build strong working relationships with internal stakeholders and external customers.
- Adapt to changing customer needs, business priorities, production demands, and operational strategies.
- Follow all company policies related to food safety, quality, GMPs, and regulatory compliance.
- Participate in required food safety training and GMP activities.
- Perform additional duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Production Management, or a related field preferred.
- High school diploma or GED required; candidates with 5+ years of relevant industry experience may be considered in place of a bachelor's degree.
- Experience working in a manufacturing, production planning, supply chain, or demand planning environment preferred.
- Familiarity with ERP and MRP systems; experience with Syteline or SAP is a plus.
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate across all levels of an organization.
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
- High attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Spanish bilingual skills are a plus.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Meet Your Recruiter
Technical Recruiter & Team Mentor
Alicia Alexander is a Technical Recruiter and Team Mentor at Sterling Engineering with four years of recruiting experience and nearly three years with Sterling. She specializes in engineering, manufacturing, and technical recruiting, supporting roles across maintenance, reliability, operations, engineering, and industrial environments, including food and life sciences.
Alicia is passionate about helping people find careers where they feel genuinely happy, supported, and positioned for long-term growth. She enjoys building meaningful relationships with candidates, helping them take the next step in their careers, and supporting companies as they build strong, high-performing teams.
With a background in psychology and human resources from North Central College, Alicia brings a people-focused approach to recruiting. Her understanding of relationship building, communication, and candidate motivation helps her create successful matches between talent and opportunity.
Alicia is known for developing strong partnerships with both candidates and hiring managers, with a focus on creating long-term placements that benefit both the individual and the organization.