Senior Supply Chain Planning Engineer

Job description

Career Area: Supply Chain and Logistics Job Description: Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it. The Senior Supply Chain Planning Engineer is responsible for designing, standardizing, and deploying an enterprise-wide Sales, Inventory, and Rental Planning (SIRP) process across machines, engines, and components. In this role you will enable demand-driven and constraint-based planning by integrating demand signals, long-range forecasts, inventory strategies, and capacity planning into a common enterprise planning framework. The position leads cross-functional efforts to improve planning consistency, strengthen decision-making, and drive supply chain performance improvements across multiple manufacturing value streams. Success in this role requires strong analytical thinking, project leadership, process standardization, and enterprise collaboration capabilities. What you will do: Enterprise Planning & Process Leadership Lead deployment of a standardized enterprise Sales, Inventory, and Rental Planning (SIRP) operating model, including planning horizons, governance structures, cadence, decision rights, and performance measures. Standardize planning processes across machines, engines, and components to improve alignment between demand, supply, inventory, and capacity plans. Define and reinforce planning governance, standard work, adoption metrics, and continuous improvement mechanisms. Identify, define, and implement integrated supply chain solutions that support enterprise planning objectives and business performance improvements. Demand-Driven & Capacity Planning Integrate demand-driven planning concepts including signal-based demand, inventory buffers, and decoupling points into planning execution. Translate long-range demand forecasts (12-36+ months) into capacity, labor, tooling, and capital planning requirements. Enable constraint-based planning by improving visibility to supply, capacity, material, and operational constraints. Develop planning processes that improve alignment between long-term demand expectations and enterprise manufacturing capabilities. Ensure capacity plans are synchronized across machines, engines, and components with visibility to bottlenecks, dependencies, and business risks. Analytics & Decision Support Develop and support scenario analysis to evaluate trade-offs across service levels, inventory investment, capacity utilization, recovery plans, and business performance. Analyze supply chain performance data and planning metrics to identify opportunities for improved efficiency, inventory utilization, and operational effectiveness. Support executive planning forums by providing data-driven insights, alternatives, recommendations, and decision implications. Evaluate business improvement opportunities and support ROI-informed planning decisions. Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate closely with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, and Information Technology teams to ensure execution readiness. Build effective partnerships across enterprise stakeholders and planning organizations. Facilitate alignment between operational planning requirements and commercial demand expectations. Drive process adoption and support change management efforts associated with planning transformation initiatives. What skills you will have: Analytical Thinking Knowledge of techniques and tools that promote effective analysis and the ability to determine root causes of business challenges, evaluate alternatives, and develop effective solutions. Project Management Ability to lead planning process deployments, coordinate cross-functional activities, identify risks, establish milestones, and drive execution of enterprise supply chain and planning improvements. Experience leading transformation or standardization initiatives is preferred. Cross-Team Integration Understanding of the importance of collaboration across functions and the ability to build effective partnerships that support enterprise objectives. Decision Making & Critical Thinking Knowledge of decision-making processes and associated tools with the ability to evaluate alternatives, assess risks, and develop sound recommendations. Supply Chain Management Knowledge in supply chain planning, manufacturing planning, materials planning, inventory planning, capacity planning, S&OP, Integrated Business Planning (IBP), or related disciplines. Experience supporting enterprise planning processes across multiple product lines or manufacturing operations is strongly preferred. Effectiveness Measurement Ability to establish planning metrics, evaluate business performance, monitor adoption of standard processes, and use data to support continuous improvement initiatives. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Experience establishing governance, standard work, planning cadences, decision frameworks, and consistent planning methodologies across organizations is highly desirable. Supplier Management Knowledge of supplier and business partnership management practices with the ability to build effective working relationships across internal and external stakeholders. Top candidates will also have: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Business, or a related discipline. Proven ability to drive planning excellence within complex manufacturing or industrial environments through supply chain, manufacturing, operations, materials, inventory, demand, or logistics planning initiatives. Demonstrated success designing, standardizing, and improving