Interim Production Planner

About Ella’s Kitchen

Part of the Hain Celestial Group family of brands, Ella's Kitchen’s mission is to help little ones grow up happy, healthy, and never hungry. Set up in 2006 by Ella's Dad Paul Lindley, the company prioritises health and nutritional value, but never at the expense of taste or convenience. Ella’s Kitchen strives to be good in every sense, offering healthy, handy, and fun food that doesn’t cost the earth. In 2016, Ella’s Kitchen certified as a B Corporation, a global movement of pioneering companies that are using their business as a force for good. By certifying as a B Corp, it reinforces that the business is meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. 

We are looking for someone brilliant who believes in our mission and can live and breathe our values of childlike, winning together, owning it, fostering inclusion and being curious. 

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are guided by our values; they set the tone of our culture and we look out for newbies who will be a natural fit to our values and complement and contribute to our business.

About The Hain Celestial Group

Hain Celestial Group is a leading health and wellness company whose purpose is to inspire healthier living for people, communities and the planet through better-for-you brands. For more than 30 years, our portfolio of beloved brands has intentionally focused on delivering nutrition and well-being that positively impacts today and tomorrow. Headquartered in Hoboken, N.J., Hain Celestial’s products across snacks, baby/kids, beverages, meal preparation, and personal care, are marketed and sold in over 75 countries around the world. Our leading brands include Garden Veggie™ snacks, Terra® chips, Garden of Eatin’® snacks, Earth’s Best® and Ella’s Kitchen® baby and kids foods, Celestial Seasonings® teas, Joya® and Natumi® plant-based beverages, Greek Gods® yogurt, Cully & Sully®, Imagine® and New Covent Garden® soups, Yves® and Linda McCartney’s® (under license) meat-free, and Alba Botanica® natural sun care, among others. 

Our Commitment To Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are committed to promoting and enabling a positive culture where everyone can be themselves and diversity of thought is welcomed.

We give a full and fair consideration to all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

If you need reasonable adjustments made to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can support you in the right way.

Location: Near Henley-on-Thames – you’ll be able to work flexibly between home and our lovely Barns (minimum of 2 days per week)

Reports to: Operations Manager (Runs Making it like Clockwork)

Contract: Full time, Fixed term contract until 30th June 2025, Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

Responsible for:  

Ensuring Ella’s are holding the right amount of stock in the supply chain, through accurate production forecasting and stock management by working collaboratively with our co-manufacturers. 

Purpose of role:

Supporting the Clockwork (Operations) team deliver their strategy, by working with our out-sourced manufacturing partners and our internal Ella’s teams, to ensure we have the right stock in the right place at the right time, reducing cost whilst maximising availability, efficiency, and profitability. 

Role activities / responsibilities: 

• Manage production requirements, and confirm forecast and production orders to Ella’s manufacturers, to ensure we are holding the right amount of stock. This includes aligning Ella’s production requirements with manufacturing capacity, availability of raw materials, and retailer demand fluctuations. 
• Completion of key daily/weekly tasks to ensuring our planning systems and inventory are accurate. Examples include - daily booking of finished goods in processes in SAP, maintaining accuracy of inbound dates, service level risk reporting, waste reporting and key month end reporting/stock reconciliations.
• Develop strong working relationships with our manufacturers, taking on the role of influencer to ensure that we get the best outcome for Ella’s whilst still living our values with our suppliers. You will be the key operational contact for one of our biggest manufacturers and also for some of our other strategic partners.
• Manage stock levels efficiently, minimising waste and cash tied into stock.
• Support the development of new products by co-ordinating trials and availability of raw materials and packaging and contributing into project meetings.
• Drive improvements to the planning process and the day-to-day management of the manufacturer
• Track and report on supplier KPIs and find ways to drive improvement collaboratively
• Day to day problem solving 
• Working collaboratively across the internal Ella’s teams to ensure clarity, accuracy and consistency of information flow
• Support the S&OP process with internal and external partners; ensure appropriate forecasts are provided to our partners and internal teams - ensuring we have sufficient capacity at our manufacturers.
• Live the Ella's values and engage our suppliers in the brand

You will need:

• Ability to work well under pressure and demonstrate that you can adapt to the fast pace and variety of FMCG supply chain
• Some production planning experience within in a Food or FMCG background would be preferable. 
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills
• Ability and willingness to communicate effectively at all levels and provide support in a range of activities and tasks
• Real strength in using MS Excel, with top-notch numeracy skills and attention to detail
• Ability to build strong relationships, getting things done and resolving issues across the business and with suppliers 
• Passion and determination to succeed 
• Proactive and driven attitude with a natural aptitude for problem solving (and able to think differently when finding solutions)
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Ability to think logically, especially when it’s really busy
• Demonstrable ability to live and breathe our values

It would be really amazing if you had:

• Ability to speak a European language, preferably Spanish, French or Dutch
• Experience in an FMCG environment

And What You’ll Get In Return:

• Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway
• Competitive salary
• A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
• A really awesome place to come to work … our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, but the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend