Purchasing/Materials Manager

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

Lead the Supply Chain That Keeps Manufacturing Moving

At PolyPeptide, we partner with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to support the development and manufacturing of peptide-based therapies. We are looking for a Purchasing / Materials Manager to lead purchasing, material planning, inventory coordination, and supplier performance across our Torrance and San Diego sites.

This role is ideal for a supply chain leader who enjoys solving complex material challenges, developing teams, managing suppliers, and ensuring critical materials are available to support production and customer commitments.

About the Role

The Purchasing / Materials Manager leads a team responsible for raw materials, solvents, reagents, resins, packaging components, and other critical supplies.

You will translate production demand into purchasing and material plans, manage supply risks, improve supplier performance, optimize inventory, and maintain accurate ERP data. You will also work closely with Production Planning, Warehouse, Quality, EHS, Finance, Project Management, Manufacturing, and Global Procurement.

What You Will Do

• Lead purchasing activities from requisition and purchase order placement through delivery and issue resolution.

• Manage material planning for production, development projects, and customer requirements.

• Review forecasts, inventory, safety stock, open orders, shelf life, and manufacturing schedules.

• Lead MRP reviews and address shortages, late deliveries, and supply risks.

• Develop recovery plans using expedited deliveries, approved substitutions, alternate suppliers, or revised priorities.

• Monitor supplier delivery, quality, responsiveness, lead times, and OTIF performance.

• Lead supplier performance reviews and corrective-action follow-up.

• Identify opportunities to improve pricing, payment terms, freight costs, and total cost of ownership.

• Manage inventory levels while balancing availability, working capital, shelf life, storage, and obsolescence risk.

• Maintain accurate purchasing and planning data in ERP systems.

• Support supplier qualification, audits, documentation, and change notifications.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of approximately 3–5 direct reports.

• Establish clear priorities, standard work, and accountability across the purchasing and materials team.

• Partner with Finance on purchase-price variance, inventory, freight, and cost-saving initiatives.

What We Are Looking For

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Engineering, Science, or a related field.

• 5+ years of progressive experience in purchasing, procurement, material planning, or supply chain.

• 3+ years of leadership or supervisory experience.

• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, or another regulated manufacturing environment strongly preferred.

• Working knowledge of GMP requirements and controlled documentation preferred.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong knowledge of purchasing, supplier management, MRP, inventory control, logistics, and ERP systems.

• Ability to analyze demand, supply, inventory, cost, and supplier data and turn it into clear actions.

• Strong negotiation, problem-solving, and risk-management skills.

• Effective people leadership, coaching, delegation, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Strong organization, communication, and prioritization skills.

• High level of accountability, attention to detail, and continuous-improvement focus.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role includes improving:

• Material availability and raw-material coverage

• Supplier OTIF, quality, responsiveness, and lead times

• Production-impacting shortages

• Inventory levels, expiry risk, and working capital

• Purchase price, freight, and total cost

• ERP and master-data accuracy

• Team capability and performance

Why Join PolyPeptide?

This role has a direct impact on whether materials are available, production stays on schedule, and customer commitments are met.

You will have the opportunity to lead a team, support two Southern California sites, strengthen supplier partnerships, and improve supply chain performance in a regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environment.

If you enjoy combining people leadership, purchasing, planning, supplier management, and operational problem solving, this role offers the opportunity to make a visible impact across the organization.

Join PolyPeptide and help keep our Torrance and San Diego operations supplied, resilient, and ready to deliver for our customers.

Salary: $90k-$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.