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Job Description
Job Id:
1015
# of Openings:
1
Company Description: Instinct® is a rapidly growing, family-owned marketer and manufacturer of science based 100% natural pet food for dogs and cats. Instinct® is the Raw Brand, with a mission to get more raw nutrition into every bowl of dogs and cats, for proven healthier and happier long lives. Our company mission is to Empower people to transform the lives of pets. We are committed to hiring and developing a team of passionate, performance-oriented professionals who live by our 4 values of championing raw, empowered to make a difference, collaborating as one team, and striving for excellence through continuous learning and improvement. Our home office is located in St. Louis, Missouri with our Center of Excellence Raw Food kitchens in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Instinct® is part of the family-owned group, Agrolimen, who owns leading pet food and human food businesses in the US, China, Europe, and Africa.
Position Summary: The Senior Production Scheduler manages scheduling activities for Instinct Lincoln-based manufacturing operations and owns the end-to-end planning, scheduling, and execution governance for all private label manufacturing (co-manufacturing) on the Lincoln network. This position maintains key parameters in the MRP system in coordination with the Product Supply team and ensures a feasible, optimized production plan across internal and external sites. The Scheduler works closely with Product Supply, Procurement, Quality, Logistics, and Plant/Partner Operations to develop SKU-level schedules that support demand, maximize efficiencies, achieve inventory targets, and meet customer due dates. This role is accountable for private label partner schedule attainment, service, inventory alignment, and issue resolution, ensuring internal production performance meets private label standards for safety, quality, cost, and delivery.
Primary Job Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain master production scheduling process, within ERP system and utilizing third party support systems in coordination with the Product Supply team
- Maintain daily, weekly and forward planning master scheduling data
- Maintain MRP system inputs by SKU and work centers that drive the scheduling process
- Review and align all scheduling activities based upon demand planning forecast and adjust targets based on real time data updates.
- Maintain effective scheduling to hit target run rate efficiencies to achieve cost targets
- Work closely with procurement to ensure proper material availability to support target scheduling
- Drive scheduling communication out to all support functions to ensure alignment across all areas of the operation
- Develop and maintain scheduling reports and how those relate to future planning inventory levels
- Maintain scheduling efficiency reports
- Maintain Work Orders and PO’s associated with scheduling and inventory transfers within production process
- Own the end-to-end master schedule for private label partners, including capacity alignment, frozen windows, and short-interval rescheduling.
- Establish and run a weekly cadence with each private label partner: confirm capacity, materials, changeovers, constraints, and execution risks; publish committed production schedules and shipment expectations.
- Serve as escalation owner for internal private label manufacturing disruptions (capacity loss, quality holds, supplier delays); communicate impacts and options to Product Supply and stakeholders within 24 hours.
Personal Attributes
- Comfortable working at a rapid pace
- Strong execution and decision making
- Strong system and computer skills
- Strong team player
- Strong follow-up and communication skills
- Must be punctual and dependable
- Problem solving skills
- Must be able to multi-task and adapt
- Must have strong verbal and written communication skills
- Comfortable influencing partners and cross-functional teams without direct authority
- Strong risk management mindset (anticipates constraints, builds contingencies)
- Able to lead structured escalation and recovery plans under time pressure
- Strong organizational skills (ability to manage multiple projects)
- Practical learning (assimilating and applying new information)
Skills and Technical Expertise:
- Bachelor’s degree preferred (Supply Chain, Operations, Industrial Engineering, Analytics) or equivalent
- 3–5+ years in production planning/scheduling in a manufacturing environment; food/CPG preferred
- Experience with co-manufacturing/co-packing/co-processing planning and performance management preferred
- Strong understanding of MRP drivers: lead times, yields, MOQ, safety stock, lot sizes, capacity constraints
- Basic understanding of operational flow and systems coordination
- Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, PowerQuery preferred); ability to build planning models and dashboards
- Working knowledge of quality/traceability requirements (lot control, holds/releases, COAs) in regulated manufacturing
- Understanding of operational data as how it relates to effective planning and cost controls
- Sense of urgency and ownership regarding the role and the needs of the department
Compensation and Benefits
Highly competitive compensation package includes health and dental insurance, life and AD&D insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, short and long-term disability, paid time off, Purpose Days off for company partner volunteer opportunities, and 401k with company match.
Our Instinct is to CHAMPION Diversity
At Instinct, we are as passionate about our people as we are about the pets we call family. We are committed to inclusion, empowerment, and respect. We believe that just like our pets, what sets us apart unleashes our greatest strengths. We thrive on the ability to not only empower people to transform the lives of pets through raw nutrition, but also to empower each other to inspire a culture that celebrates our differences. Our unique approach to pet food is what makes us who we are as a company, and our individual identities are what makes us a successful, innovative, authentic team.
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