Below is a clean, enterprise‑ready Job Description you can use internally or with vendors.
It is written to align with Advanced Planning / APS / Planning Solutions programs (demand, supply, inventory, S&OP) and reflects the data‑engineering, ERP, and planning‑domain needs surfaced in your APS architecture and skills materials.
Job Title
Data Engineer – Planning Solutions
Job Summary
The Data Engineer – Planning Solutions is responsible for designing, building, and operating scalable data pipelines that power advanced planning, forecasting, and optimization solutions. This role enables demand, supply, inventory, and capacity planning by ensuring high‑quality, reliable, and well‑governed data from ERP and upstream systems is available to planning engines, analytics, and reporting layers.
The role partners closely with Supply Chain Planning, Finance, IT Solution Architects, and external system integrators to translate planning requirements into robust data models and pipelines that support operational and strategic decision‑making.
Key Responsibilities
Data Engineering & Pipeline Development
- Design, develop, and maintain scalable batch and near‑real‑time data pipelines to support planning solutions (demand, supply, inventory, capacity).
- Build and optimize ETL/ELT processes that ingest and transform data from ERP (e.g., SAP) and other source systems into curated analytical layers.
- Ensure data pipelines are resilient, performant, and production‑ready.
Data Modeling & Analytics Enablement
- Design and manage analytical data models (star/snowflake schemas) optimized for planning and forecasting use cases.
- Model time‑series, hierarchical, and dimensional data (e.g., products, locations, customers, planning calendars, planning horizons).
- Prepare datasets for use by planning engines, simulations, scenario modeling, and executive reporting.
ERP & Source System Integration
- Integrate data from SAP ECC / S/4HANA and other enterprise systems, including both master and transactional data.
- Partner with functional teams to understand data semantics, granularity, aggregation rules, and business logic.
- Support integrations via APIs, replication tools, or file‑based interfaces as required.
Data Quality, Governance & Reliability
- Implement data validation, reconciliation, and quality checks to ensure accuracy, completeness, and freshness.
- Ensure compliance with enterprise data governance, security, and access‑control standards, especially for financially sensitive or restricted data.
- Support auditability and traceability through documentation and metadata management.
Operations & Automation
- Automate monitoring, alerting, and recovery for data pipelines and scheduled jobs.
- Support CI/CD practices for data engineering components.
- Identify opportunities to improve reliability, performance, and maintainability of the data platform.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Supply Chain Planning, Finance, Analytics, and IT Architecture teams.
- Translate business planning requirements into technical data solutions.
- Support integration efforts with external planning system vendors and system integrators.
Required Qualifications
Technical Skills
- Strong experience in data engineering and pipeline development in enterprise environments.
- Advanced SQL skills, including complex joins, window functions, and performance optimization.
- Experience with cloud data platforms, data lakes, and curated analytical layers.
- Proficiency in Python or similar scripting languages for data transformation and automation.
- Hands‑on experience integrating data from SAP or other ERP systems.
- Solid understanding of data modeling, including dimensional and time‑series data.
Data Governance & Quality
- Experience implementing data quality checks, validations, and monitoring.
- Understanding of data governance, access controls, and regulatory or audit considerations.
Domain Knowledge (Critical for Success)
- Familiarity with supply chain and planning concepts, including demand forecasting, supply planning, inventory management, and capacity planning.
- Understanding of planning KPIs such as forecast accuracy and bias, service levels, inventory turns, and cost trade‑offs.
- Experience supporting planning, optimization, or decision‑support systems is highly desirable.
Soft Skills & Working Style
- Strong communication skills with the ability to explain data concepts to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
- Proven ability to collaborate across business, IT, and vendor partners.
- Detail‑oriented with a strong emphasis on documentation, accuracy, and accountability.
- Comfortable working in complex, global, and cross‑functional program environments.
Preferred / Nice‑to‑Have Qualifications
- Exposure to Advanced Planning / Supply Chain Planning platforms (e.g., Kinaxis, OMP, SAP IBP, Blue Yonder).
- Experience supporting scenario modeling, simulation, or optimization engines.
- Experience in global manufacturing or high‑mix, low‑volume environments.
