Material Planner / Supply Chain Specialist

Material Planner - Temp to hire

Location: Onsite in Lake Forest, CA
Position Type: Full-Time | Temp-to-Hire
Pay: $25.00 per hour

About the Role

We are seeking a highly organized and analytical Advanced Material Planner to join our growing team. This role is responsible for forecasting material demand, managing inventory levels, coordinating purchasing activities, and ensuring materials are available to support production and customer requirements. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, data-driven, and experienced in purchasing, inventory planning, and ERP systems within a manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain forecasting models to accurately predict material demand.
• Generate both long-term and short-term material forecasts.
• Plan and maintain appropriate safety stock levels to ensure uninterrupted production and customer service.
• Coordinate advanced purchasing activities based on forecasted demand.
• Create, maintain, and expedite purchase orders as needed.
• Communicate regularly with suppliers regarding pricing, lead times, delivery schedules, and order status.
• Negotiate competitive pricing while maintaining strong supplier relationships.
• Monitor supplier deliveries and shipping schedules to ensure on-time performance.
• Investigate inventory, purchasing, and ERP discrepancies and implement corrective actions.
• Analyze daily backorder reports and proactively resolve shortages.
• Prepare and analyze monthly inventory turnover reports.
• Ensure inventory accuracy and maintain target inventory levels.
• Collaborate closely with Purchasing, Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain teams.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum 2+ years of experience in purchasing, inventory management, material planning, or supply chain.
• Strong understanding of purchasing workflows and inventory planning principles.
• Experience with demand forecasting and safety stock planning.
• Proficiency with ERP systems
• SAP Supply Chain experience.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including data analysis and reporting.
• Strong mathematical and analytical abilities with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to interpret data and make informed planning decisions.
• Excellent organizational, project management, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Knowledge of electronic components or the electronics manufacturing industry.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States.

Benefits

• Opportunity for permanent employment following successful temporary assignment
• Career growth within a stable manufacturing organization

If you enjoy working with data, optimizing inventory, and collaborating across departments to keep operations running efficiently, we'd love to hear from you.