Materials Planner Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• 8+ years of relevant experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, materials management, or supply chain, ideally within food, beverage, or CPG manufacturing.
• Demonstrated ownership of supplier relationships and commercial negotiations, including pricing, MOQs, lead times, payment terms, and supplier performance.
• Proven track record of delivering measurable cost savings, cost avoidance, and COGS improvements through strategic sourcing and supplier negotiations.
• Experience managing raw materials, packaging, and contract-manufactured products, including replenishment planning, inventory optimization, and supply continuity.
• Strong analytical and financial skills, with experience managing weeks of supply, working capital, purchase price variances, and inventory or purchasing cash-flow forecasts.
• Proficiency with ERP/MRP systems, advanced Excel, and cross-functional collaboration with Finance, Planning/S&OP, Quality, and Operations.

Nice To Haves

• Fluency in Mandarin Chinese, spoken and written, for communicating directly with our vendors

Responsibilities

• Own all purchasing decisions for existing raw materials, packaging, and contract manufactured goods across the business.
• Ensure materials are procured, at the right quantity, time, and cost.
• Maintain full visibility into demand, supply, and inventory positions.
• Act as the final decision-maker before any PO is placed.
• Validate every purchase by asking: Does the quantity align with demand and current inventory? Is the timing appropriate? Is there an opportunity to consolidate, delay, or optimize? Is this the best supplier and price available?
• Fully own supplier relationships post-onboarding.
• Negotiate pricing, MOQs, lead times and payment terms.
• Continuously benchmark suppliers and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Hold suppliers accountable to service, quality, and delivery expectations.
• Identify and execute cost savings across materials and packaging.
• Regularly review price changes and market trends.
• Partner with Finance to understand COGS impacts.
• Proactively communicate cost increases, supply risks, and market changes cross-functionally, while driving mitigation plans through supplier negotiations, alternate sourcing, packaging optimization, MOQ adjustments, or specification changes.
• Partner with SIOP lead to understand demand signals.
• Translate demand into optimized purchasing decisions.
• Push back when the plan creates excess inventory, drives inefficient ordering, or increases costs unnecessarily.
• Manage inventory levels to balance service levels, storage costs, and working capital.
• Avoid overstocking, emergency buys, and inefficient MOQ-driven inventory.
• Ensure accurate POs creation, tracking, and delivery.
• Resolve discrepancies with vendors and accounting.
• Maintain clean audit ready procurement records.
• Improve procurement processes and systems over time.
• Develop and maintain a rolling 13-week inventory cash forecast, providing visibility into upcoming purchasing-related cash outflows.
• Track and report Weeks of Supply (WOS) across all raw materials, packaging, and co-manned items.
• Identify and flag excess, at-risk, and understocked inventory.
• Maintain a regular report of obsolete and slow-moving inventory (raw & packaging).
• Proactively escalate cross functionally to determine next steps.
• Track and report purchase price trends over time, highlighting variances and cost drivers.
• Develop and maintain supplier scorecards (OTIF, quality, reliability, etc.) and actively leverage insights in supplier negotiations.
• Report on PO accuracy, reactive/emergency purchasing, and MOQ-driven inefficiencies, including root cause identification.
• Provide consistent reporting cadence across Finance, Planning, and Operations, clearly communicating risks, opportunities, and required decisions.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health coverage including medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Optional Extra Protection for Life & AD&D (with guarantee issue amounts at time of hire), Hospital, and Short Term Disability
• 401(k) plan