Director of Materials Management

The Director of Materials Management is responsible for leading and optimizing the company’s materials management strategy to ensure the timely availability of aircraft parts, materials, and supplies necessary to support MRO operations. This role oversees material planning, purchasing, inventory management, warehouse coordination, supplier performance, and material flow while balancing availability, cost, quality, and turnaround time.

The Director will partner closely with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales, and executive leadership to develop strategies that improve material availability, inventory performance, and overall operational efficiency.

Essential Job Functions:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive materials management strategy aligned with MRO production requirements and company objectives.
• Lead and develop the Inventory teams.
• Oversee material planning and procurement activities to ensure parts and materials are available when needed to support maintenance and repair operations.
• Establish inventory strategies that balance aircraft-on-ground requirements, operational demand, service levels, carrying costs, and inventory investment.
• Monitor inventory levels, turns, shortages, excess and obsolete inventory, and other key materials metrics.
• Partner with MRO Operations to understand upcoming maintenance requirements and proactively identify material needs and potential shortages.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with suppliers, repair vendors, distributors, and other aviation industry partners.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, terms, and other commercial agreements with suppliers while maintaining quality and delivery expectations.
• Establish supplier performance metrics and develop corrective action plans for recurring delivery, quality, or service issues.
• Ensure procurement and material processes comply with applicable FAA, EASA, customer, and company requirements.
• Ensure appropriate documentation and traceability are maintained for aircraft parts and materials, including applicable certification and airworthiness documentation.
• Partner with Quality to ensure purchased and received materials meet applicable regulatory, technical, and customer requirements.
• Improve material flow from purchasing and receiving through inspection, inventory, kitting, and delivery to the production floor.
• Identify opportunities to reduce material-related delays and improve MRO turnaround time.
• Establish and maintain effective inventory controls, cycle counting, physical inventory, and inventory accuracy programs.
• Analyze material demand, usage trends, lead times, and historical data to improve forecasting and purchasing decisions.
• Develop and monitor departmental budgets and identify opportunities to reduce material costs without compromising quality or operational requirements.
• Utilize ERP/MRP systems and reporting tools to improve planning, purchasing, inventory visibility, and decision-making.
• Develop standard operating procedures and scalable processes for materials management.
• Identify opportunities to automate and improve materials processes through technology, data, and process improvement.
• Provide regular reporting to executive leadership regarding inventory, supplier performance, material availability, purchasing activity, and key performance indicators.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on cost, quality, inventory, productivity, and MRO turnaround time.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations, Aviation, or a related field preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in materials management, supply chain, purchasing, inventory management, or related functions.
• Experience leading teams and managing materials operations in an MRO, aviation, aerospace, manufacturing, or similarly regulated environment.
• Strong understanding of inventory management, material planning, procurement, and supplier management.
• Experience working with ERP/MRP systems and inventory management tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing processes and performance metrics.
• Strong negotiation, communication, and leadership skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.