Senior Materials Planning Specialist

Amy's Kitchen•Petaluma, CA

5d•$85,600 - $128,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Materials Planning Specialist is the most senior technical role within the materials planning function, responsible for shaping and governing the planning frameworks that ensure reliable material supply across the manufacturing network. Operating with a network-level perspective, this role establishes and maintains the planning standards, MRP parameter strategies, and inventory governance practices that enable consistent, scalable planning performance across multiple sites. Serving as a planning subject-matter expert, the Senior Materials Planning Specialist evaluates material flow dynamics, inventory positioning, supplier constraints, and system outputs to identify systemic planning risks and implement structural improvements. This role plays a central part in designing and optimizing ERP/MRP planning logic, strengthening master data governance, and improving planning system performance to support accurate planning signals and resilient supply execution. This role partners closely with sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain leadership to align planning strategy with operational priorities and long-term business objectives. The Senior Materials Planning Specialist leads cross-site planning standardization efforts, drives continuous improvement initiatives, and provides advanced analytical insight that improves service levels, inventory health, and supply chain stability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Business, Finance, Operations, Engineering, or Supply Chain, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
7-10 years of experience working in Materials Planning, Supply Planning, or Purchasing, with inventory management responsibilities.
6-8 years of hands-on experience owning ERP/MRP planning parameter design, configuration, and optimization across multi-site environments.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
APICS coursework or certifications (e.g., CPIM), familiarity with Lean concepts, or Lean Six Sigma training are a plus.

Responsibilities

Own planning strategy for complex or high-impact materials across the network; establish planning approaches used across planners and sites.
Diagnose systemic MRP planning issues and redesign parameter logic, exception handling, and planning workflows to improve network performance.
Establish ordering strategies, replenishment frameworks, and exception management processes used across planning teams.
Lead resolution of complex supply disruptions and design contingency planning strategies to protect enterprise supply continuity.
Design the enterprise materials planning framework for commercialization readiness across multiple plants and product launches.
Drive enterprise improvements in planning KPIs through planning process design, parameter optimization, and cross-site alignment.
Design network-level inventory strategies across plants to balance service risk, working capital exposure, and shelf-life constraints.
Identify systemic inventory risks across the network and implement structural improvements to planning policies and stocking strategies.
Influence enterprise planning strategies by analyzing multi-site demand patterns, inventory positioning, and supply constraints.
Establish standardized inventory planning frameworks and parameter governance across the planning organization.
Partner with Operations, Sourcing, and Quality to validate planning policies, stocking rules, and replenishment strategies that strengthen end-to-end material flow and planning visibility.
Provide enterprise visibility into supplier performance risks impacting multiple plants or product lines.
Identify systemic supplier performance risks and advise procurement on supplier strategy adjustments.
Align planning processes with sourcing strategy and supplier capability across the supply network.
Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve supplier collaboration, planning transparency, and supply resilience.
Lead the holistic, strategic use of data and analytics in materials planning, including using planning data, supplier scorecards, and service trends to implement changes to stocking strategies, replenishment frequency, or buffer positioning that improve service performance and reduce volatility across sites.
Serve as planning system subject-matter expert responsible for planning system design, parameter governance, and performance optimization.
Lead master data governance standards for planning parameters across the organization.
Lead planning-side system design, testing, and implementation for ERP/MRP upgrades and new planning tools.
Design advanced analytics and dashboards to improve planning decision-making across the supply chain.
Own documentation standards, master data governance, and SOP adoption to ensure accurate, scalable planning performance across plants.
Influence enterprise planning decisions by providing strategic insight into supply constraints and planning trade-offs.
Represent planning in high-impact operational and commercialization decision forums, influencing prioritization, material flow, and recovery strategies.
Lead cross-site resolution of complex planning issues through advanced RCA, driving corrective action, standardization, and escalation discipline across the network.
Serve as senior planning mentor and technical leader across all of the planning organization.
Identify enterprise-level planning gaps and lead transformation initiatives that improve planning capability across sites.
Establish and govern planning standards used across plants and planning teams.
Lead Kaizen events cross-functionally and at an enterprise level to transform planning processes, tools, and system capabilities. Build Kaizen capability within the materials planning team.
This position will be responsible for the future build out of the Materials Planning structure and will have hiring and supervisory responsibilities as the actions are taken to staff the team.