MRO Inventory Manager

USA Rare Earth, LLC•Stillwater, OK

About The Position

The MRO Inventory Manager is the strategic owner of maintenance inventory, materials planning, CMMS/EAM data management, and maintenance support processes. The role ensures critical spare parts, consumables, tools, and other maintenance resources are available to support equipment reliability, planned maintenance, and operational uptime. It combines inventory management, procurement coordination, maintenance planning support, vendor management, cost analysis, and systems administration, working closely with Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Finance to optimize maintenance effectiveness while controlling inventory investment and spending. The manager serves as the site subject matter expert for maintenance materials management and contributes to asset reliability and continuous improvement. The position owns the site-wide MRO inventory program, including inventory control, reorder strategies, cycle counts, stocking-level analysis, critical spares, equipment bills of materials, storage standards, and efforts to reduce discrepancies, stockouts, and obsolete inventory. It supports maintenance planning by coordinating materials readiness, developing kits, aligning labor and materials for scheduled work, participating in planning and scheduling meetings, and supporting shutdowns, outages, and capital projects. As the site administrator for maintenance inventory and material-related CMMS/EAM functions, the manager maintains and audits spare-parts master data, develops reports and dashboards, and trains maintenance personnel on inventory transactions. The role also manages procurement and supplier relationships, evaluates supplier performance, obtains quotations, supports contracts and supply agreements, and plans for supply risks affecting critical equipment. The manager monitors inventory investment, working capital, and materials spending; identifies inventory and cost optimization opportunities; supports budgeting and forecasting; and develops business cases for inventory investments and reliability initiatives. The role analyzes failure and consumption trends, participates in root cause analysis, supports preventive maintenance optimization, leads continuous improvement, develops standard work, and promotes compliance with maintenance processes and best practices. It serves as the primary liaison across Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, and Finance, and supports repair-versus-replace decisions, equipment installations, commissioning, capital projects, and long-term materials strategies. The successful candidate will be an influential member of the Maintenance and Reliability team and champion the company values. The opportunity involves building the spare-parts and materials foundation for rare earth magnet production as the company builds a vertically integrated ex-China rare earth supply chain. The work environment combines a typical office, manufacturing floor, and construction site, with normal office, manufacturing, and construction noise. The role requires sitting at a computer, walking through storage, receiving, and manufacturing areas, handling parts and materials (using assistance or equipment for heavier items), and wearing required personal protective equipment on the manufacturing floor. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Maintenance Technology, Engineering Technology, or a related field; equivalent experience is considered.
At least 5 years of experience in maintenance inventory, supply chain, planning, manufacturing, maintenance operations, or a related discipline.
Experience with CMMS/EAM systems, such as SAP PM, Maximo, Maintenance Connection, Limble, or Fiix.
Strong inventory management and procurement experience.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Advanced Microsoft Excel capabilities.
Knowledge of MRO inventory management, maintenance planning, spare-parts management, procurement processes, and manufacturing maintenance operations.
Ability to optimize inventory levels while maintaining parts availability and supporting equipment reliability.
Ability to maintain accurate inventory, purchasing, and asset data.
Ability to build working relationships across Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Finance.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
Ability to sit for extended periods while working at a computer.
Ability to walk through storage, receiving, and manufacturing areas as needed.
Ability to lift and move parts, kits, and materials, using assistance or equipment for heavier items.
Ability to wear required personal protective equipment when working on the manufacturing floor.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting manufacturing, heavy industrial, metals, mining, chemical, or process operations.
APICS/ASCM, CPM, CPIM, CPSM, or reliability-focused certification.
Experience supporting maintenance planning and scheduling.
Lean or continuous improvement experience.

Responsibilities

Own the site-wide MRO inventory management program, including inventory control processes, reorder strategies, and cycle count programs.
Analyze inventory usage trends, recommend stocking levels for critical spare parts, and reduce discrepancies, stockouts, and obsolete inventory.
Maintain equipment bills of materials and critical spare-parts lists, partnering with Reliability, Engineering, and Maintenance on critical spares and optimization opportunities.
Maintain strong 5S and visual management standards in spare-parts storage areas.
Identify material requirements for planned work and coordinate materials readiness for preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance.
Develop and maintain maintenance kits for scheduled work.
Coordinate with supervisors and planners to align labor and materials before scheduled work and participate in weekly planning and scheduling meetings.
Support shutdowns, outages, and capital projects through material planning and coordination.
Administer maintenance inventory and material-related functions in the site CMMS/EAM.
Maintain spare-parts master data, including descriptions, vendor information, costs, inventory levels, and equipment associations; audit data accuracy and completeness.
Develop reports and dashboards for maintenance performance and inventory management.
Train maintenance personnel on proper inventory and materials transactions.
Manage procurement activities for maintenance-related materials and services and develop supplier relationships.
Evaluate supplier cost, quality, responsiveness, and delivery; obtain quotations to identify cost-saving opportunities.
Support contract negotiations and supply agreements.
Escalate supply risks and develop contingency plans for critical equipment components.
Monitor maintenance inventory investment and working capital utilization, and report monthly on maintenance materials spending.
Identify inventory reduction and spending optimization opportunities and support annual budgeting and forecasting.
Develop business cases for strategic inventory investments and reliability initiatives.
Analyze failure trends and spare-parts consumption and participate in root cause analysis activities.
Support preventive maintenance optimization and lead continuous improvement projects involving inventory accuracy, procurement efficiency, and maintenance execution.
Develop standard work and procedures for materials management and drive compliance with maintenance processes and best practices.
Serve as the primary liaison between Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, and Finance on maintenance materials and inventory.
Recommend repair-versus-replace decisions and support new equipment installations, commissioning, and capital projects.
Assist leadership in developing long-term maintenance materials strategies and influence site-wide improvements through data-driven recommendations and analysis.
Keep spare-parts storage, material handling, and maintenance kits safe and organized; follow safety procedures in storage and receiving tasks.