Senior Supply Planner – EMEA

Job Description:

Senior Supply Planner – EMEA

Location: Madrid, Spain
Reports to: Senior Manager, Supply Planning

Position Overview

The Senior Supply Planner – EMEA is responsible for developing and managing the supply plan for assigned suppliers, commodities, projects and products across the EMEA region.

The role translates demand, project requirements, sales orders, forecasts and inventory needs into executable supply plans. It ensures visibility of material availability, supplier capacity, lead times, allocations, inventory levels and supplier commitments, identifying risks that may affect project execution or customer delivery.

The Senior Supply Planner manages complex supply issues, including supplier delays, capacity constraints, material shortages, inventory risks and planning exceptions. The role coordinates recovery actions with suppliers and internal stakeholders, ensuring clear ownership, committed dates and timely escalation when required. The role directly protects revenue, enables project execution, and strengthens supplier partnerships critical to Nextpower’s growth in the renewable energy sector.

The role works closely with Sourcing, Procurement, Program Management, Delivery Management, Logistics, Quality, Engineering, Operations and Finance. It requires a high level of autonomy, analytical capability and stakeholder management to balance competing priorities, protect delivery commitments and improve supplier performance.

The Senior Supply Planner will regularly engage with senior and executive-level leaders at strategic suppliers and will lead escalations when supplier performance, capacity, or delivery commitments place customer projects or business objectives at risk.

Key Responsibilities

1. Supply Planning and Allocation Management

· Own the supply plan for assigned suppliers, commodities, projects, and products across EMEA.

· Translate customer demand, project schedules, sales orders, forecasts, inventory requirements, and business priorities into executable supply plans

· Manage supplier allocations based on demand, capacity, supplier agreements, inventory levels, lead times, and business priorities.

· Ensure timely release, confirmation, and execution of regular, supplemental, and additional sales-order allocations.

· Analyze item-level demand, supply, capacity, inventory, open purchase orders, and supplier commitments to identify risks and required actions.

· Balance competing customer, project, regional, and commercial priorities while protecting critical milestones.

· Coordinate supply planning for NPI, product transitions, engineering changes, ramp-ups, ramp-downs, and end-of-life activities.

2. Complex Constraint and Supply Risk Resolution

· Lead the resolution of complex and time-sensitive supply constraints affecting customer deliveries, project milestones, revenue, or contractual commitments.

· Identify the root causes of supplier delays, shortages, capacity constraints, raw-material limitations, quality issues, logistics disruptions, BOM discrepancies, and planning-data inaccuracies.

· Quantify the operational, financial, customer, and project impact of each supply risk.

· Develop clear recovery strategies, including revised production schedules, capacity increases, alternate sources, priority allocations, partial shipments, inventory reallocation, premium freight, and other mitigation options.

· Establish recovery plans with defined actions, owners, milestones, supplier commitments, and escalation points.

· Drive recovery plans to closure and verify that corrective actions have produced sustainable results.

· Challenge incomplete, unrealistic, or unsupported supplier commitments and require fact-based recovery plans.

· Provide early warnings to Delivery Managers, Program Managers, and senior leadership when supply risks may impact project schedules, customer commitments, liquidated damages, penalties, or revenue recognition.

· Maintain an active risk register and ensure that unresolved issues receive the appropriate level of visibility and escalation.

3. Supplier Performance and Relationship Management

· Serve as the primary planning point of contact and internal coordination lead for assigned suppliers.

· Manage supplier relationships with a clear focus on delivery performance, accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.

· Establish regular communication routines with supplier planning, operations, commercial, and executive teams.

· Lead weekly supplier reviews covering purchase-order status, production progress, raw materials, capacity, quality, forecast, logistics, and delivery risks.

· Monitor supplier performance using metrics such as On-Time Delivery, schedule adherence, confirmation accuracy, capacity attainment, backlog aging, response time, and recovery-plan performance.

· Drive sustained improvement in supplier OTD through structured root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and executive-level follow-up.

· Represent Supply Planning in supplier Quarterly Business Reviews and present performance trends, risks, recovery requirements, and improvement expectations.

· Engage directly with senior and executive-level supplier leaders when performance issues cannot be resolved through normal operating channels.

· Build executive alignment with suppliers around capacity commitments, prioritization, escalation paths, investment requirements, and long-term delivery performance.

· Partner with Procurement and Sourcing to support supplier negotiations, capacity commitments, commercial escalations, supplier development, and business-continuity actions.

4. Executive Escalation and Cross-Functional Leadership

· Lead escalations involving major supplier delays, critical shortages, capacity constraints, repeated OTD failures, quality disruptions, or project-threatening risks.

· Prepare concise, fact-based executive updates summarizing the issue, business impact, root cause, recovery plan, decisions required, and next steps.

· Facilitate alignment among internal senior leaders, supplier executives, and cross-functional teams.

· Ensure escalations result in clear decisions, accountable owners, committed dates, and measurable outcomes.

· Influence stakeholders across functions and organizations without relying solely on formal authority.

· Represent Supply Planning in executive project reviews, supplier escalations, operational reviews, and business-planning forums.

· Ensure that critical decisions are communicated quickly and accurately throughout the value chain.

5. Stakeholder and Project Collaboration

· Partner closely with Procurement, Sourcing, Program Management, NPI, Logistics, Quality, Delivery Management, Operations, Finance, and Engineering.

· Provide Delivery Managers with timely visibility into material readiness, supplier commitments, constraints, risks, and recovery actions.

· Coordinate internal actions required to resolve supplier issues and prevent delays.

· Support project launches by validating BOM readiness, supplier capacity, production readiness, lead times, logistics requirements, and material availability.

· Participate in S&OP, demand-review, supply-review, strategic-planning, and executive operating reviews.

· Ensure planning decisions are aligned with customer commitments, revenue goals, inventory targets, and regional business priorities.

6. Planning Systems, Data, and Reporting

· Ensure the accuracy and integrity of supplier, item, capacity, forecast, purchase-order, inventory, logistics, and delivery data.

· Maintain reliable planning parameters, including lead times, minimum order quantities, order multiples, capacity assumptions, supplier calendars, and safety-stock requirements.

· Use Anaplan, ERP systems, Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot, Solver, and other analytical tools to improve planning visibility and decision-making.

· Support planning-system enhancements, testing, adoption, master-data improvements, and process transformation.

· Develop executive-ready reports and dashboards covering supply risks, supplier performance, material readiness, recovery plans, capacity, and delivery outlook.

· Provide fact-based analysis and recommendations to support timely business decisions.

7. Process Excellence and Capability Development

· Standardize and improve supply-planning, supplier-review, escalation, recovery-plan, and material-readiness processes across EMEA.

· Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on improving OTD, reducing shortages and expediting, increasing supplier responsiveness, and improving planning accuracy.

· Develop standard work, escalation playbooks, risk-management routines, and supplier-performance reviews.

· Conduct lessons-learned reviews after major disruptions and ensure corrective actions are implemented.

· Share best practices across regions, commodities, suppliers, and planning teams.

· Mentor other planners and serve as a subject-matter expert in supply planning and supplier recovery management.

Key Performance Indicators

· Supplier On-Time Delivery and schedule adherence.

· Material readiness against customers and project milestones.

· Closure rate and effectiveness of supplier recovery plans.

· Reduction in shortages, late deliveries, expedites, and unresolved supply risks.

· Speed and quality of escalation response.

· Accuracy of supplier commitments and planning data.

· Capacity-risk identification and mitigation effectiveness.

· Performance of NPI ramp-up, ramp-down, and product transitions.

· Inventory availability and inventory-health performance.

· Stakeholder satisfaction and responsiveness.

· Sustainable improvement in supplier performance following corrective actions.

Required Qualifications

· Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field.

· 8–10 years of experience in supply planning, materials planning, production planning, supplier management, or a related function.

· Experience in manufacturing, industrial products, renewable energy, solar, or complex project-based supply chains.

· Demonstrated experience resolving complex supplier constraints, delays, shortages, capacity issues, and delivery risks.

· Experience developing and leading supplier recovery plans through closure.

· Experience engaging with senior or executive-level supplier and internal leadership.

· Strong knowledge of MRP, supply planning, capacity planning, inventory management, supplier performance, and production lead times.

· Experience with S&OP, demand planning, supply reviews, and strategic planning.

· Expert Microsoft Excel skills, including Power Query, Power Pivot, Solver, data modeling, and advanced analytics.

· Experience with ERP and supply-planning systems; Anaplan experience is highly desirable.

· Excellent analytical, problem-solving, influencing, communication, and presentation skills.

· Demonstrated ownership, urgency, resilience, and ability to drive results in a high-pressure environment.

· Fluency in English required; additional European languages are an advantage.

Preferred Qualifications

· Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Engineering, Business, or a related field.

· APICS CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent certification.

· Experience with supplier QBRs, executive escalations, supplier development, NPI, and strategic capacity planning.

· Experience with solar tracker components, steel products, castings, electromechanical assemblies, foundations, or engineered-to-order products.

· Experience with Power BI, advanced supply-chain analytics, and dashboard automation.

· Experience managing suppliers and supply plans across multiple countries and manufacturing locations.

Leadership Expectations

The successful candidate will:

· Take end-to-end ownership of supply risks, supplier commitments, escalations, and recovery plans.

· Act with urgency when customer, project, or revenue commitments are at risk.

· Lead difficult conversations with suppliers and internal stakeholders.

· Escalate early, clearly, and at the appropriate leadership level.

· Build credibility with supplier executives through facts, preparation, consistency, and follow-through.

· Convert complex problems into clear decisions and executable action plans.

· Maintain accountability until risks are fully resolved and performance is sustained.

· Demonstrate integrity, customer focus, teamwork, resilience, and commitment to continuous improvement.

At Nextpower, we are driving the global energy transition with an integrated clean energy technology platform that combines intelligent structural, electrical, and digital solutions for utility-scale power plants. Our comprehensive portfolio enables faster project delivery, higher performance, and greater reliability, helping our customers capture the full value of solar power. Our talented worldwide teams are redefining how solar power plants are designed, built, and operated every day with smart technology, data-driven insights, and advanced automation. Together, we’re building the foundation for the world’s next generation of clean energy infrastructure.

We are Nextpower

About Us

At Nextpower, we are driving the global energy transition with an integrated clean energy technology platform that combines intelligent structural, electrical, and digital solutions for utility-scale power plants. Our comprehensive portfolio enables faster project delivery, higher performance, and greater reliability, helping our customers capture the full value of solar power. Our talented worldwide teams are redefining how solar power plants are designed, built, and operated every day with smart technology, data-driven insights, and advanced automation. Together, we’re building the foundation for the world’s next generation of clean energy infrastructure.