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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Warehouse Operations Planner

💰 $ - $

LogisticsSupply ChainWarehouse Operations

🎯 Role Definition

As a Warehouse Operations Planner you will design, coordinate and optimize day-to-day distribution center activities to meet service, cost and safety objectives. This role is responsible for translating demand forecasts and sales plans into detailed warehouse capacity plans, labor schedules and tasking rules using Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Labor Management Systems (LMS) and reporting tools. The successful candidate partners cross-functionally with transportation, procurement, customer service and operations teams to ensure efficient order fulfillment, accurate inventory control, and continuous process improvement across receiving, put-away, storage, picking, packing and shipping functions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Warehouse Coordinator / Warehouse Associate with planning experience
  • Inventory Analyst or Stock Control Analyst
  • Logistics Coordinator or Transportation Planner

Advancement To:

  • Warehouse Operations Manager / Distribution Center Manager
  • Supply Chain Planner or Supply Chain Manager
  • Regional Operations Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Inventory Planner
  • Demand Planner
  • Transportation Planner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Create, maintain and execute accurate daily and weekly warehouse capacity and labor plans that align with forecasted volumes, promotions, seasonality and inbound receiving schedules to meet service-level targets while controlling labor spend.
  • Develop and optimize labor schedules across shifts using Labor Management Systems (LMS) and WMS tasking rules, ensuring right-sized staffing for receiving, put-away, picking, packing, staging and shipping while minimizing overtime and agency usage.
  • Build and continuously refine slotting and storage strategies—conduct slotting analyses, rank SKUs by velocity and cube, and implement re-slotting projects to reduce travel time and increase pick productivity.
  • Translate sales forecasts, replenishment plans and purchase order inflows into receiving plans, dock schedules and staging requirements; coordinate with procurement and carriers to minimize detention, congestion and off-schedule arrivals.
  • Manage order fulfillment planning, including wave planning, pick-path optimization, batch sizing and surge strategies to ensure on-time, complete shipments and minimize order cycle times.
  • Monitor, analyze and report on key warehouse KPIs (OTIF, order cycle time, pick accuracy, dock-to-stock, inventory accuracy, labor productivity, dwell time) via daily scorecards and dashboards, recommending corrective actions when targets are not met.
  • Configure and maintain WMS configurations related to task interleaving, pick/put priorities, replenishment thresholds, zone allocations and wave rules to enforce operational standards and facilitate automation adoption.
  • Lead cycle count strategy and cadence, analyze root causes of inventory discrepancies, implement corrective actions and process changes to improve inventory accuracy and reduce write-offs.
  • Drive continuous improvement and kaizen activities in the warehouse—lead small projects to remove bottlenecks, reduce waste (motion, wait, overprocessing), and increase throughput using Lean or Six Sigma methodologies.
  • Plan and execute cross-dock and consolidation strategies to reduce handling and storage costs while ensuring speed to customer for high-velocity SKUs and vendor-direct flows.
  • Coordinate with transportation planners and carriers to align pick/pack and staging timelines with outbound appointment windows and carrier cutoffs, reducing missed loads and detention fees.
  • Develop and manage short- and long-term equipment, racking and automation capacity plans (conveyors, sorters, pick-to-light, robots) to support growth and capital requests, including cost/benefit and ROI analysis.
  • Partner with safety, HR and operations teams to ensure the warehouse staffing plan adheres to safety standards, ergonomics best practices and regulatory requirements; incorporate safety tasks into daily planning.
  • Create, document and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), planning playbooks and escalation matrices for planning, wave management, rush orders and exception handling.
  • Manage inventory replenishment strategies, safety stock levels, and reorder points in collaboration with inventory control and procurement to prevent stockouts and overstocks while optimizing carrying costs.
  • Perform demand smoothing and load levelization across fulfillment lanes and shifts to reduce peaks, better utilize resources and improve predictability of daily volumes.
  • Run detailed what-if analyses and scenario planning for promotional events, new product introductions, and peak seasons, defining contingency staffing plans, temporary storage needs and expedited shipping strategies.
  • Facilitate root cause analysis for recurring operational issues (e.g., chronic picking errors, receiving bottlenecks, SKU misplacement) and lead the cross-functional implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
  • Oversee returns and reverse logistics planning including quarantine flows, disposition planning, credit processing timelines and refurbishment routes to minimize processing time and maximize recovery value.
  • Collaborate with IT and WMS support to implement system changes, test new configurations, participate in UAT, and validate production behavior against planning requirements.
  • Manage vendor and 3PL planning relationships where applicable by defining service level expectations, shared KPIs, data exchange requirements and continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Prepare monthly planning reviews, capacity forecasts and budget variance reports; recommend adjustments to headcount, shift patterns or capital investments based on trend analysis and business priorities.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory analysis for operations leadership using Excel, SQL or BI tools to answer urgent business questions and validate hypotheses.
  • Contribute to the organization's warehouse planning strategy and roadmap, recommending tooling, process investments and staffing models that scale with growth.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate product launches, promotional calendars and sales initiatives into detailed warehouse readiness plans and go-live checklists.
  • Participate in sprint planning and project ceremonies for continuous improvement initiatives or WMS enhancement projects; provide operational requirements and acceptance criteria.
  • Provide planning input into safety drills, facility maintenance windows and holiday scheduling to ensure business continuity and minimal disruption.
  • Train and mentor junior planners, schedulers and supervisors on planning principles, KPI interpretation and WMS best practices to build bench strength in the planning function.
  • Conduct periodic time-and-motion or productivity studies to validate standards and recalibrate labor norms in the LMS.
  • Support profitability and cost-to-serve modeling by providing warehouse activity estimates, handling times and cost-per-order inputs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) — experience with Manhattan, SAP EWM, Oracle WMS, JDA/Blue Yonder or similar.
  • Hands-on experience with Labor Management Systems (LMS) and workforce scheduling tools to plan and enforce productivity standards.
  • Strong Excel skills (advanced formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, VBA/macros) for modeling shift scenarios, headcount plans and labor cost analysis.
  • Experience building dashboards and operational reports using Power BI, Tableau, Looker or equivalent BI tools; ability to synthesize data for leadership.
  • SQL skills for extracting, cleaning and analyzing transactional operations and inventory datasets.
  • Familiarity with ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and integration points for order, inventory and ASN data.
  • Knowledge of demand forecasting techniques, SKU velocity segmentation and inventory replenishment logic.
  • Practical experience with slotting optimization tools or methods and understanding of cube utilization and throughput modeling.
  • Comfortable running scenario planning, capacity modeling and cost/benefit analyses for staffing and automation investments.
  • Understanding of TMS (Transportation Management Systems) principles and how outbound planning interfaces with carrier scheduling.
  • Experience with lean manufacturing or continuous improvement methodologies (Kaizen, Six Sigma, 5S).
  • Strong comprehension of warehouse KPIs (OTIF, order accuracy, on-time shipping, dock-to-stock, inventory accuracy) and how to influence them operationally.
  • Familiarity with safety and regulatory standards for warehouses (OSHA guidance, hazardous materials handling, DOT in US contexts).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven mindset; able to synthesize complex datasets into actionable plans.
  • Strong communication and stakeholder management skills — able to influence operations, procurement, transportation and commercial teams.
  • Excellent organizational skills and the ability to prioritize competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
  • Proactive, results-oriented mentality with a continuous improvement mindset and bias for action.
  • Leadership and coaching capabilities to build relationships with supervisors and frontline staff and drive adoption of planning processes.
  • Adaptability and resilience in the face of changing volumes, business priorities and last-minute operational disruptions.
  • Attention to detail and commitment to accuracy, especially in inventory and schedule-driven tasks.
  • Customer-focused orientation with a focus on meeting internal and external SLAs.
  • Project management capability — able to run medium-sized projects, track milestones and deliver to scope.
  • Conflict resolution and escalation management skills to handle carrier/3PL exceptions, capacity disputes and staffing shortfalls.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; relevant certifications in logistics or operations planning are a plus.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, Operations Management or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Supply Chain Management
  • Logistics and Transportation
  • Industrial / Systems Engineering
  • Business Administration
  • Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in warehouse planning, inventory planning, or operations coordination within a distribution or fulfillment environment.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years planning experience in a mid-to-large scale distribution center, including experience with WMS and labor planning tools.
  • Demonstrated success improving productivity, reducing costs and implementing slotting or wave strategies.
  • Experience working with 3PL partners, automation systems, and cross-functional stakeholders in a high-volume environment.
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