Senior Materials Planner

Posted:
12/18/2024, 5:38:00 AM

Location(s):
Washington, United States ⋅ Seattle, Washington, United States

Experience Level(s):
Senior

Field(s):
Operations & Logistics

Workplace Type:
On-site

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. 
 

Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

POSITION SUMMARY: 
The Senior Materials Planner for Global Support is responsible for overseeing the end-to-end material planning process to ensure the seamless availability and distribution of products, spare parts, and raw materials to meet global service requirements. This role focuses on optimizing inventory, minimizing costs, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to enhance supply chain efficiency and support operational goals.

Key Responsibilities:

Material Planning and Forecasting

  • Develop and manage material planning strategies to support global service needs, including spare parts, finished goods, and raw materials.
  • Analyze demand forecasts, inventory levels, lead times, and historical usage to determine optimal reorder quantities.
  • Anticipate changes in material demand based on market trends, install base, and customer feedback.

Inventory and Supply Chain Optimization

  • Monitor inventory levels to ensure product availability while minimizing excess or obsolete stock.
  • Optimize inventory holding across multiple global locations to balance cost-efficiency and responsiveness.
  • Lead initiatives to streamline material movement and improve warehouse efficiency.

End-of-Life (EOL) and Last Time Buy (LTB) Management

  • Plan and execute EOL and LTB strategies for discontinued parts, ensuring adequate coverage for service support.
  • Collaborate with suppliers and internal stakeholders to validate EOL/LTB requirements and minimize risks.

Supplier Management

  • Build strong relationships with global suppliers and vendors to ensure timely delivery and quality compliance.
  • Conduct supplier performance reviews based on metrics such as quality, delivery speed, and cost-effectiveness.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Work closely with service logistics, engineering, quality, and finance teams to align material planning with business objectives.
  • Support Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes by adjusting material plans to account for new designs or updates.

Process Documentation and Improvement

  • Document current material planning processes and identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Develop and implement best practices to enhance planning accuracy, cost control, and communication with global stakeholders.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Management

  • Monitor and improve material planning KPIs, such as inventory turnover, on-time delivery, and service level performance.
  • Utilize data analytics tools to generate insights and drive continuous improvement.

Forecast Communication

  • Establish robust systems to communicate demand forecasts and changes to suppliers and internal teams.
  • Collaborate with global teams to ensure consistency and alignment in planning efforts.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Required Skills

The qualified candidate for the Services Logistics Material Planner position must meet the following requirements to be considered for this position:

  • Strong analytic skills, assessing large amounts of data to develop hypotheses and solutions (extensive use of spreadsheets – data collection / pivot tables, create/use databases)
  • Strong problem solving aptitude; Ability to collect facts and make independent decisions supporting daily operations is a must
  • Highly organized, detail oriented
  • Self-motivated; accurately and effectively completing goals
  • Team player; Able to work with cross functional groups on customer solutions
  • Process driven; document & maintain policies, procedures, and key measurements
  • Familiar with a variety of the electronics industry repair and reverse logistics concepts, practices, and procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain or Business with a Supply Chain concentration strongly preferred
  • 5-7 years of proven experience in supply chain, logistics, or material planning roles, preferably in a global environment.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration abilities across cross-functional teams and suppliers.
  • Knowledge of material planning metrics and data analysis tools.
  • 5+ years of Material Planning analysis/management experience in electronics / infrastructure environment.
  • APICS, CPIM, CPM Certifications preferred
  • Proficient in MS office applications

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT:

  • Duties are performed in a normal office environment while sitting at a desk or computer table.
  • Duties require the ability to utilize a computer, communicate over the telephone, and read printed material.
  • Duties may require being on call periodically and working outside normal working hours (evenings and weekends).
  • Job may be performed on-site at a supplier facility in an office environment sitting at a desk or computer table. 
  • Duties require the ability to travel including internationally, up to 30% via automobile and airplane.
  • Job requires the ability to lift up to 50 lbs.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The annual base pay for this position is: $82,143.00 - $123,215.00

F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change.

You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice. 

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination.  F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting [email protected].