Manager, Life Cycle Planning

Who We Are

Lennox (NYSE: LII) Driven by 130 years of legacy, HVAC and refrigeration success, Lennox provides our residential and commercial customers with industry-leading climate-control solutions. At Lennox, we win as a team, aiming for excellence and delivering innovative, sustainable products and services. Our culture guides us and creates a workplace where all employees feel heard and welcomed. Lennox is a global community that values each team member’s contributions and offers a supportive environment for career development. Come, stay, and grow with us.

What Drives Success

The Manager, Life Cycle Planning leads the strategy, people, processes, and systems required to balance supply and demand for new, active, and discontinued finished goods and repair parts. This role is accountable for delivering targeted customer service, inventory, and working capital outcomes while advancing life cycle transformation, automation, standard work, and continuous process improvement across the planning organization. 

 

What You Will Be Doing 

Leadership & Team Management 

• Lead, coach, and develop life cycle planners; establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and development plans. 

• Set direction for the life cycle planning function and translate business priorities into team goals, operating rhythms, and measurable outcomes. 

• Allocate work, remove barriers, and provide decision support and escalation leadership for complex planning issues. 

• Build planning capability through standard work, knowledge sharing, succession planning, and targeted skill development. 

Life Cycle Strategy & Planning 

• Own and govern end-to-end life cycle plans for assigned product portfolios across introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and phase-out. 

• Lead cross-functional decisions for product launches, design changes, substitutions, transitions, last-time buys, and discontinuations. 

• Balance service, inventory, cost, capacity, risk, and working capital considerations when developing supply and inventory strategies. 

• Establish planning scenarios, assumptions, decision points, and contingency plans for key life cycle events. 

Life Cycle Transformation 

• Develop and execute a multi-year transformation roadmap that advances life cycle planning maturity, scalability, and business value. 

• Redesign planning workflows, governance, roles, and decision rights to create an integrated and repeatable end-to-end process. 

• Partner with Supply Chain, Operations, Product Management, Engineering, Finance, Sales, and Technology teams to drive adoption of new planning capabilities. 

• Lead change management, communications, training, and sustainment activities associated with transformation initiatives. 

Automation, Data & Digital Enablement 

• Identify and prioritize opportunities to automate manual, repetitive, and exception-based planning activities. 

• Define business requirements and partner with technology and analytics teams to develop planning tools, workflows, alerts, dashboards, and system enhancements. 

• Establish controls, data standards, and ownership practices that improve data quality, decision speed, and confidence in planning outputs. 

• Measure automation benefits, including capacity released, cycle-time reduction, improved accuracy, and stronger process compliance. 

Process Improvement & Optimization 

• Lead continuous improvement efforts that eliminate waste, reduce complexity, improve handoffs, and strengthen planning discipline. 

• Map current-state processes, identify root causes and failure points, and design future-state solutions using structured problem-solving methods. 

• Standardize life cycle planning policies, procedures, templates, controls, and performance routines across applicable product lines. 

• Create mechanisms to monitor process health, sustain improvements, and capture lessons learned for future life cycle events. 

Inventory, Supply & Performance Management 

• Oversee inventory supply plans and validate inventory targets, safety stock, order quantities, and inventory segmentation. 

• Manage inventory strategies for new, transitioning, and phase-out parts, including actions to reduce excess, obsolete, and at-risk inventory. 

• Drive performance against customer service, network and facing fill rates, inventory turns, days of supply, working capital, forecast quality, and plan adherence goals. 

• Lead monthly performance reviews, identify gaps and trends, and ensure corrective actions have clear owners and completion dates. 

Cross-Functional Governance & Risk Management 

• Chair or facilitate life cycle planning reviews that align stakeholders on assumptions, risks, tradeoffs, decisions, and actions. 

• Identify supply, demand, timing, compliance, system, and execution risks; ensure mitigation and contingency plans are documented and monitored. 

• Influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners through clear analysis, fact-based recommendations, and transparent decision support. 

• Ensure planning practices comply with applicable company policies, controls, and regulatory requirements. 

Project, Reporting & Communication 

• Sponsor or lead life cycle-related projects, including product launches, portfolio transitions, planning system enhancements, and process deployments. 

• Define project scope, milestones, resources, risks, and success measures; monitor execution through completion and stabilization. 

• Prepare concise dashboards, reports, and executive presentations that communicate performance, risks, decisions, and improvement opportunities. 

• Translate complex planning data into clear business insights and recommended actions for leadership. 

Key Performance Indicators

• On- Time Production and sales launch on NPI minimal E&O on Inventory for both components, and FG
• Fill Rate > 98% on NPI when we launch New Products
• Item Global accuracy > 85% when we launch New Products

What We Are Looking For

Education & Experience 

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

• Seven or more years of progressive experience in supply planning, production planning, inventory management, or a related supply chain discipline; equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered. 

• Three or more years of experience leading people, projects, or major cross-functional initiatives preferred. 

• Demonstrated experience improving or transforming planning processes, implementing automation, and sustaining change. 

Technical & Business Skills 

• Proficiency in SAP ECC; SAP IBP or comparable advanced planning system experience preferred. 

• Advanced Excel and data-analysis skills, with the ability to work effectively with large and complex datasets. 

• Strong knowledge of supply planning, inventory management, product life cycle management, and continuous improvement principles. 

• Experience defining business requirements for workflow automation, dashboards, analytics, or planning system enhancements. 

• Working knowledge of structured problem solving, process mapping, root cause analysis, and change management methods. 

Leadership Competencies 

• People leadership and talent development, with the ability to set direction, coach performance, and build team capability. 

• Strategic thinking combined with disciplined execution and strong attention to detail. 

• Strong analytical judgment and the ability to make informed tradeoffs across service, inventory, cost, capacity, and risk. 

• Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills. 

• Stakeholder management, influencing, and cross-functional collaboration in a fast-paced, high-volume environment. 

• A continuous improvement mindset, curiosity, and a willingness to challenge existing processes constructively.

 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience leading planning transformation, digital enablement, or enterprise process improvement initiatives. 

• Experience with advanced planning platforms, workflow automation tools, data visualization, or analytics solutions. 

• Certification or applied experience in Lean, Six Sigma, change management, project management, or a related methodology. 

• Experience supporting product introductions, engineering changes, end-of-life planning, and inventory disposition decisions. 

 

What We Offer

Compensation: This is a salaried exempt role. The starting salary range for this role and market is between $111,200 - $145,950 annually. Factors that may affect starting salary include geography/market and the skills, education, experience, and other qualifications of the successful candidate. Employees in this role are also eligible for a Short Term Incentive (STI) bonus of 10% in accordance with the terms of the Company’s applicable plan. Employees in this role are not eligible for overtime.

 

Benefits: Subject to applicable eligibility requirements, the following benefits are offered for this role: tuition reimbursement; medical, dental, and vision insurance; prescription drug coverage; 401(k) retirement plan; short-term disability insurance; 8 weeks paid birthing leave; 2 weeks paid bonding leave; life and long-term disability insurance.

 

Depending on date of hire, and subject to applicable eligibility requirements, new employees in this role also receive up to: 12 days paid time off, 2 paid well-being days, 1 paid volunteer day, 12 paid holidays, and 3 floating holidays per year.

 

Our Culture: At Lennox, our Core Values of Integrity, Respect & Excellence are ingrained in the fabric of the organization. They define our culture – which is about how we do business and how we treat others. Lennox is not just a workplace; we are a global community that values each team member’s contributions. As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to recruit, develop, and retain talented individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to succeed and contribute to our continued growth and success. At Lennox, you’ll take pride in our brands, knowing you are part of something special. Come, stay, and grow with us! 

 

Disclaimers: The compensation and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Lennox reserves the right to modify this information at any time, with or without notice, subject to applicable law.

 

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We may use automated tools, including artificial intelligence, to support parts of our hiring process, such as application review and interview scheduling. These tools assist our teams but do not replace human decision-making. If you need an accommodation or have questions, please contact [email protected].