Material Planner

Orca Bio•Sacramento, CA

10d•Onsite

About The Position

The Material Planner ensures material availability for clinical and commercial cell therapy manufacturing by translating production plans and patient demand into material requirements. The role partners cross-functionally to maintain material readiness, mitigate supply risks, and support on-time manufacturing and patient delivery. It also provides backup support for production planning and scheduling as needed. The position is based at Orca Bio’s 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sacramento, California, and carries out planning activities in accordance with applicable GMP requirements, company procedures, and quality systems.

Requirements

Associate of Science degree required.
At least 3 years of experience in material planning, supply planning, production planning, inventory management, or a related function within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cell therapy, medical device, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
Experience using ERP/MRP systems for material planning and inventory management.
Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
High attention to detail and demonstrated ability to identify and resolve supply constraints proactively.
Ability to work effectively in a GMP environment and follow controlled processes.
Ability to multitask, prioritize, and handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously.
Ability to work collaboratively, independently, and as part of a team, including in a fast-paced start-up environment while following SOPs.
Strong interpersonal, communication, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to support decisions affecting due dates, quality, and cost.
Ability to work for long periods at a computer.
Must meet cleanroom gowning requirements, including wearing full gowning for up to three consecutive hours at a time, and be comfortable with minimal movement in the cleanroom and working with or around human blood, blood-derived materials, cells, other biological materials, and alcohol-based sprays.
Must have visual acuity of 20/20, corrected or uncorrected, and normal color vision for critical visual inspection tasks.
Must comply with cleanroom restrictions on cosmetics, jewelry, and facial piercings, and disclose skin conditions that cause shedding.
Must be comfortable regularly participating in video-based meetings.
Occasional need to ascend or descend stairs; job requires sitting and standing or walking.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Industrial Engineering, Business, Life Sciences, or a related field.
Curiosity to learn and contribute in a fast-paced collaborative environment.
Respectful and tolerant approach to all team members.
Desire to improve established processes.
A sense of humor is appreciated.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain material requirements based on production plans, patient demand, forecasts, bills of materials, lead times, and inventory levels.
Monitor inventory levels, shelf life, expiration risks, and replenishment parameters to ensure availability of critical manufacturing and QC materials.
Coordinate with Procurement, Warehouse, Quality, QC, and suppliers to ensure materials are ordered, received, released, and available when needed.
Identify and proactively communicate material shortages, supply constraints, and other risks that could impact manufacturing schedules or patient delivery.
Review upcoming production schedules and issued material-kit orders, and confirm material readiness for manufacturing campaigns and patient-specific production requirements.
Partner with Production Planning, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain to resolve material needs and constraints, support schedule changes, and coordinate production recovery activities.
Provide backup coverage for the Production Planner/Scheduler, including production scheduling, slot management, schedule changes, and communication of manufacturing plans.
Maintain material planning parameters, reports, dashboards, and key performance indicators to improve inventory visibility, planning accuracy, and supply reliability.
Support development and continuous improvement of material planning processes, procedures, and work instructions as the organization scales.
Perform planning activities in accordance with applicable GMP requirements, company procedures, and quality systems.
Perform other duties as assigned.