Materials Planner

Talascend is currently seeking a Materials Planner for a contract opportunity with our client in Sterling, Virginia.

Overview

The materials planner will plan, coordinate, and monitor material requirements to support engineering development, prototyping, production, and integration activities. This role ensures material availability, coordinates procurement requirements, identifies shortages and schedule risks, and manages material movement from receipt through production and shipment.

Responsibilities

• Develop raw material schedule requirements based on contract requirements, bills of material, technical specifications, and production schedules.
• Review material requirements planning messages and develop procurement and fabrication recommendations based on material availability, lead times, and production priorities.
• Analyze supplier quotations, pricing, availability, and lead times to support procurement recommendations.
• Prepare and enter purchase requisitions for processing by buyers.
• Execute purchase-card procurements in accordance with established policies.
• Coordinate material requirements for work in process, including material availability, allocation, and staging to support production schedules.
• Monitor supplier delivery commitments, maintain accurate material status information, and communicate potential shortages or schedule impacts.
• Expedite material deliveries and coordinate resolution of supplier delays to support production commitments.
• Coordinate disposition and processing of nonconforming materials, vendor returns, and replacement material requirements with quality and procurement teams.
• Plan and manage material movement through receiving, warehousing, production, and shipping.
• Maintain material planning accuracy by coordinating engineering changes, bill of material revisions, and configuration requirements with engineering and production teams.
• Identify material shortages, excess inventory, obsolete material, and other conditions affecting production efficiency and cost.
• Support inventory accuracy, material traceability, quality, and configuration management requirements.
• Provide material status, shortage reports, and procurement updates to management.
• Interface effectively with engineering, production, program management, procurement, quality, warehouse personnel, senior leadership, and external suppliers.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree with two years of relevant experience, or five years of related experience in a hardware production or material planning environment in lieu of a degree.
• Experience supporting material planning, procurement coordination, inventory control, or production material management.
• U.S. citizenship.
• Working understanding of quality management, configuration management, and material traceability requirements within a hardware production environment operating under ISO/AS9100 quality management practices.
• Ability to balance competing priorities, proactively resolve material issues, and communicate risks affecting production schedules.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, data accuracy, analytical skills, and follow-through.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Foundational understanding of quality assurance, configuration management, and material traceability principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with material requirements planning systems.
• Comprehensive understanding of requirements planning, inventory management, procurement lead times, and production scheduling.
• Experience supporting low-volume, high-mix manufacturing.
• Familiarity with engineering bills of material, drawing revisions, and engineering change processes.