Senior Director Planning

Senior Director Planning

Johnson Outdoors is a global leader in innovative outdoor recreation equipment, dedicated to creating the best possible outdoor experiences for consumers around the world! With a portfolio of market-leading brands and a passion rooted in adventure, the company designs and manufactures premium products across fishing, diving, camping & watercraft categories.

Check out each of the unique Johnson Outdoor brands in Fishing, Watercraft, Camping and Diving!

With 1,300 employees, 18 global facility locations and selling in over 80 countries, the Johnson Outdoors team is continuing to grow! The Senior Director of Planning develops and leads global planning and S&OP strategy to successfully optimize customer satisfaction, profitability, supply chain optimization, target inventory, and working capital operational business objectives. Provides strategic direction to balance supply and demand and align volume and mix with capacity and capability. Integrates financial and operating plans with strategic objectives to deliver improved operating and financial results.

Located at our beautiful Headquarters along Lake Michigan in downtown Racine: 555 Main Street, Racine, Wisconsin.

Key Responsibilities:

Global Planning and S&OP

• Develops, leads, and ensures execution of strategies for planning and S&OP processes including demand planning, supply planning, production scheduling, distribution and material requirements, and targeted inventory. Provides strategic direction to balance demand and supply, align volume, and mix with capacity, and integrate financial and operating plans with strategic objectives.

Demand, Supply, and Inventory Planning

• Directs and leads global demand planning functions to ensure demand forecasts accurately reflect future customer and product requirements while supporting profitable growth and minimizing costs.
• Collaborates with sales teams to incorporate the demand plan across product categories and SKUs to facilitate an effective planning/S&OP process.

• Drives maximizing target inventory levels based on operating plans and ensures current inventory levels meet plans and working capital objectives.
• Leads development and optimization of production and sourcing plans to optimize the use of labor, production capacity, financial resources, and supply capacity while meeting customer expectations.

Cross-Functional Business Partnership

• Serves as a trusted advisor to senior leadership and key stakeholders driving enterprise alignment and influencing business decisions across the organization. Collaborate with various cross functional teams to define current processes, identify opportunities, implement improvements, and drive key impactful projects.
• Partners closely with sales and product development teams on planning/executing new products as well as managing other product life-cycle phases.

Performance Management and Operational Excellence

• Drives global performance improvement based on industry's best practices by implementing and adopting tools to streamline, simplify, standardize, and increase automation. Reviews the S&OP process to ensure alignment with best practices and our business needs.
• Defines key metrics and track benefits/improvements to the business. Identifies opportunities to collaborate with sales and marketing about current and future customer demands to drive innovation in the customer experience.
• Develops and monitors metrics for operations and procurement teams to achieve customer order fulfillment objectives while maintaining inventory levels at operating plan and target.

Risk Management

• Identifies significant business risks and escalates to executives and other key stakeholders to drive effective decisions and resolutions to complex, difficult challenges.

Technology and AI Integration

• Champions an AI-first mindset and the responsible integration of AI and other digital technologies into business strategy, prioritization, risk management, decision-making, and operations. Guides organizational adoption while ensuring alignment with company governance, security, privacy, and ethical standards.

Other

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Performs human resources responsibilities for staff, which includes but is not limited to the following: hiring and terminating employees, promotions/pay adjustments, staff development, performance evaluations, resolution of employee concerns and disciplinary counseling.
• Oversee the development of budgets, and ensures budgets are managed within approved guidelines.
• Oversee the development and approval of policies, procedures, and guidelines to meet business needs.

What you need to succeed:

• Advanced bachelor's degree in supply chain management, business or equivalent.
• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of experience which includes developing planning/S&OP strategies and leading/driving multi-country planning/S&OP processes and strategy, providing strategic direction to align supply, demand, volume, and capacity needs, and maximizing financial results.
• Advanced experience in leading demand and supply planning and managing overall performance based on KPI's.
• Advanced leadership experience in inventory control, materials planning and demand planning.
• Ability to develop and lead performance improvement plans based on industry best practice while leveraging technology.
• Extensive experience in supply chain with an emphasis on planning and forecasting.
• Proven business management experience working across the organization with cross-functional teams and varying levels of leadership.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to effectively communicate about complex issues with colleagues, senior management, and business partners. Ability to make strategic recommendations based on data and best practices. Demonstrated stakeholder management experience and the ability to influence across the organization without having direct authority. Ability to work across multiple teams, align goals and drive overall success.
• Experience driving large, system-wide global projects through facilitation, influence, and collaboration.
• Strong understanding of AI capabilities, limitations, business impact, governance, risk, and ethical expectations. Ability to apply AI-supported insights to strategic decision-making, lead change, set expectations, and model responsible use.
• Proficiency in using the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook).

A few pointers about our culture:

• Entrepreneurial spirit and innovation are in our bones! We authentically innovate trusted equipment that gets people out in the great outdoors.
• We are laser-focused on our consumers, and passionate about providing superior solutions flexible to meet any event's needs or mission requirements.
• We strive to create meaningful, healthy change in the world as individuals and as a family of brands.
• We value team members who are willing to wear many hats; who take personal initiative, anticipating what needs to be done, and figuring things out to make them happen; but who are also willing to ask for help, to assist others and work together.

What you will receive:

• Share in the company's success with competitive base salary with additional earning potential through participation in the management bonus program, and eligibility for annual pay increases.
• Find work/life balance with generous Paid Time Off and holiday benefits, a full benefits package, and broad range of employee support and fitness and wellness plans.
• Further your career with performance development and training opportunities, including our tuition assistance program.
• Have fun at work, enjoy a collaborative and casual work environment, participating in fun company events, and taking advantage of great employee discounts on all our outdoor recreational products.
• Plan for your future with our 401(k) with company match and deferred retirement contributions, Sons & Daughters Scholarship program, college savings program, life and LTD insurance, and more.

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
* Industry: Outdoor Recreation & Consumer Products
* Business Scope: Global Supply Chain Planning, Sales and Operations Planning, and Cross-Functional Business Alignment
* Operations Supported: Global Operations and Multi-Country Planning Processes
* Business Segments: Fishing, Watercraft Recreation, Camping, Diving
* Global Footprint: Leading global planning and S&OP strategies that integrate demand, supply, inventory, capacity, sourcing, production, and financial plans across the organization
* Primary Focus: Global S&OP Strategy, Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Production Scheduling, Inventory Optimization, Capacity Planning, Working Capital Improvement, and Customer Order Fulfillment
* Key Skills: Sales and Operations Planning, Demand Forecasting, Supply Planning, Inventory Management, Materials Planning, Production and Sourcing Optimization, KPI Management, Strategic Leadership, Stakeholder Influence, and Cross-Functional Collaboration
* Functional Focus: Balancing Supply and Demand, Aligning Volume and Product Mix with Capacity, Integrating Financial and Operating Plans, Supporting New Product and Product Life-Cycle Planning, Managing Business Risk, Improving Planning Processes, and Driving Standardization and Automation

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment at Johnson Outdoors (and all subsidiaries) without regard to race; creed; color; religion; national origin; sex; age; disability; sexual orientation; gender identity or expression; genetic predisposition or carrier status; veteran, marital, or citizenship status; or any other status protected by law. Johnson Outdoors is proud to be an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please contact Human Resources at HRSpecialAccommodations@johnsonoutdoors.com to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

JOHNSON OUTDOORS is a leading global innovator of outdoor recreation equipment and technologies that inspire more people to experience the awe of the great outdoors. The company designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of winning, consumer-preferred brands across four categories: Watercraft Recreation, Fishing, Diving and Camping. Johnson Outdoors' iconic brands include: Old Town canoes and kayaks; Ocean Kayak; Carlisle paddles; Minn Kota fishing motors, batteries and anchors; Cannon downriggers; Humminbird marine electronics and charts; SCUBAPRO dive equipment; Jetboil outdoor cooking systems. Founded in 1970 by Samuel C. Johnson, the Company has delivered double-digit compound annual growth over its history, evolving from a single brand into a nearly $663 million global enterprise with around 1,300 employees across 20 countries.