Demand Management Program Management

Applied Materials • Santa Clara, CA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

Applied Materials is seeking an analytically sharp and execution-driven Senior NPI Demand Planner to manage the materials for New Product Introduction (NPI) programs. This role acts as the materials nerve center, translating complex Bills of Materials (BOMs) from Engineering and program managers into actionable procurement signals using SAP MRP demand. The position operates at the intersection of engineering, procurement, program management, operations, and finance, focusing on critical path problems and accelerating new product launches. The ideal candidate thrives in cross-functional environments and wants their work to directly impact time-to-market. This is an individual contributor role requiring in-depth knowledge and experience in NPI materials planning, applying BOM, MRP, and supply chain best practices. The role involves solving complex critical-path problems, taking a new perspective using existing solutions, and working independently across concurrent NPI programs. The Senior NPI Demand Planner will serve as the supply chain point of contact for assigned Business Units and mentor less-experienced planners.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree (Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, or Operations)
• 5+ Years (with NPI / pilot manufacturing focus)
• Expert knowledge of multi-level BOM structures, SAP MRP and material reservations, and NPI materials planning.
• Practical understanding of procurement, engineering change, and PLM disciplines.
• Understands NPI supply chain best practices and how materials planning integrates with engineering, procurement, finance, and manufacturing.
• Benchmarks against best-in-class OEM NPI planning practices.
• Solves complex critical-path and shortage problems; distinguishes signal from noise on shortage lists and finds the real critical path.
• Exercises judgment based on multiple sources of information and builds plans with incomplete BOMs.
• Explains shortage risk, commit dates, and budget status to program managers and senior leadership.
• Builds consensus and earns trust across engineering and procurement through accuracy and follow-through.

Nice To Haves

• Acts as a resource for less-experienced planners and the supply chain voice of each NPI program.
• May lead small process-improvement projects with manageable risks and resource requirements.

Responsibilities

• Establishes measurements for new demand planning processes and collaborates cross-functionally for process improvement.
• Performs multi-level BOM assessments against engineering and NPI program requirements, evaluates material availability, and lead times to determine initial commit dates.
• Explodes engineering BOMs in SAP to generate component-level requirements; categorizes component risk by type to calibrate planning strategy.
• Determines critical path demand signal in Expense vs MRP.
• Manages BOM change orders and pull-in/push-outs, including capacity constraint analysis.
• Utilizes Kinaxis Rapid Response software for scenario planning.
• Provides commit dates to stakeholders.
• Converts BOM explosions into formal demand by creating and managing SAP material reservations or Planning BOMs as the authoritative demand driver for NPI materials requirements.
• Generates planned orders, purchase requisitions, and works with PC planning to create production orders aligned to business unit requirements.
• Maintains reservations through the program lifecycle and aligns material slots with factory capacity across first-article, prototype, pilot, and pre-production phases.
• Runs and analyzes weekly shortage reports in SAP (MD04, availability check, exception messages) to identify at-risk components.
• Determines the material critical path and drives escalation with commodity buyers.
• Maintains a shortage risk register and produces delivery commit assessments for each NPI demand event.
• Serves as Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for assigned Business Units from BOM release through material kit delivery.
• Provides weekly materials health updates covering availability, recovery plans, commit dates, and schedule risk.
• Develops component-level commit dates with buyers and suppliers; represents materials planning in program core team meetings and milestone reviews.
• Tracks actual vs. planned NPI materials spend at program and component levels and delivers variance analysis to BU finance and program managers.
• Monitors open PO commitments against approved budgets and flags overruns.
• Supports budget planning via bottom-up BOM cost roll-ups and ensures POs are coded to NPI cost centers and WBS elements.
• Assesses the materials impact of Engineering Change Orders and Requests (ECO/ECR), including cut-in effectivity, inventory disposition, and procurement action.
• Maintains a change log of BOM revisions and required SAP material master updates.
• Collaborates with ECO change analysts and engineering to minimize excess and obsolescence (E&O) and keeps material master records aligned to the active BOM revision.
• Identifies gaps in NPI demand planning workflows and develops improvements to reduce time-to-demand-signal and raise BOM readiness at program kickoff.
• Builds standard shortage reporting cadences, escalation playbooks, and BOM readiness checklists.
• Contributes to NPI planning metrics including BOM readiness rate, CTB attainment, shortage closure cycle time, and E&O exposure.

Benefits

• Supportive work culture that encourages learning, development, and career growth.
• Opportunities to take on challenges and drive innovative solutions.
• Empowerment to push boundaries and learn every day in a supportive global company.
• Comprehensive benefits package.
• Potential eligibility for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and a stock award program.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior