Material Planner

Location: Torrance, CA | Employment Type: Full-Time

Help keep critical materials moving for life-changing peptide manufacturing.

At PolyPeptide, we partner with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to support the development and manufacturing of peptide-based therapies. We are looking for a Material Planner to help ensure raw materials, consumables, and critical supplies are available when needed to support production plans, project milestones, and customer commitments.

This role is a strong fit for someone who enjoys supply chain planning, ERP systems, material forecasting, cross-functional coordination, and solving problems before they impact production.

About the Role

The Material Planner is responsible for ensuring materials are available at the right time, in the right quantity, and at the required quality level to support manufacturing and business needs at our Torrance site.

You will work closely with Production Planning, Buyers, Warehouse, Quality, EHS, and other site teams to translate demand into executable material plans, monitor purchase requisitions and purchase orders, support supplier follow-up, and help reduce shortages, overstocks, and excess inventory.

This role also supports ERP master-data accuracy, new item creation, and continuous improvement efforts across the supply chain.

What You Will Do

• Plan materials for production and project needs, including amino acids, resins, solvents, reagents, packaging items, and critical consumables.

• Run and review MRP outputs, planned purchase orders, purchase requisitions, alerts, exceptions, and item coverage settings.

• Follow supplier purchase orders to support on-time, in-full delivery and communicate material availability risks to key stakeholders.

• Partner with Buyers and suppliers to resolve delivery issues, escalate risks, and evaluate alternate sources when needed.

• Support new production and development activities by coordinating raw material and packaging requests.

• Lead Supply Chain inputs for new item creation in the ERP system.

• Assist with supplier sample management, QA documentation, certificates of analysis, BSE/TSE documentation, and related material documentation.

• Coordinate deliveries with Buyers and Warehouse while considering space limitations and material readiness requirements.

• Set up material forecasts based on MRP demand and global category schedules.

• Review bulk solvent and commodity chemical Kanban levels and support expiry, retest, and disposal review activities.

• Help avoid shortages and overstocks while improving inventory levels and planning processes.

• Apply Lean methods, including Kanban and Kaizen approaches, to improve supply chain execution.

• Participate in KPI reviews, S&OP, Tier 2 meetings, SOTA meetings, and procedure drafting as needed.

• Act as backup for the Production Planner when required.

What We Are Looking For

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• Master’s degree in supply chain, business, science, or a related field is beneficial.

• At least 5 years of experience in a similar planning, supply chain, procurement, or materials role.

• At least 5 years of GMP process experience.

• Fluent in English.

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical products, GMP requirements, and supply chain operations.

• Experience with ERP systems, MRP, procurement, logistics, purchasing master data, and planning tools.

• Knowledge of Kanban, Kaizen, Lean management, and inventory optimization.

• Strong data analysis skills and comfort working with figures, forecasts, and planning reports.

• Ability to support accurate master data, supplier coordination, and material availability tracking.

Skills and Competencies

• Clear communication and strong stakeholder management.

• Strong organization and prioritization skills.

• Proactive approach to identifying and escalating supply risks.

• Ability to work under pressure and manage short timelines.

• Strong attention to detail, curiosity, rigor, and results orientation.

• Collaborative mindset with the ability to work across Production, Planning, Warehouse, Quality, EHS, Finance, and other teams.

• Continuous improvement mindset focused on process ownership, data accuracy, and inventory performance.

Why Join PolyPeptide?

In this role, your work directly supports reliable manufacturing operations and on-time delivery for customers developing peptide-based therapies. You will help strengthen material readiness, improve planning accuracy, and support a supply chain that is critical to production success.

If you are motivated by supply chain planning, problem-solving, cross-functional collaboration, and supporting high-quality pharmaceutical manufacturing, we encourage you to apply.

Work Environment

This role is primarily based in an office and supply chain environment, with regular interaction across manufacturing, warehouse, quality, EHS, finance, and planning functions.

Physical requirements may include prolonged sitting, computer-based planning and documentation work, movement between office, warehouse, and production-adjacent areas, and occasional lifting or handling of documents or light materials up to 25 pounds. Occasional overtime or adjusted hours may be required to support production, supplier delivery, inventory, or urgent planning needs.

Reasonable accommodations will be made as needed.

Apply Today

Join PolyPeptide and help support reliable material planning for the future of peptide manufacturing.

Salary: $85k-$100k

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.