Senior Material Planner

About Northwood:

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company focused on connecting space and Earth. The world runs on space. Space will run on Northwood. Our global ground network ensures that missions ranging from national security, to global connectivity, to disaster response can unlock their full potential and operate every day without fail.

Role:

We are seeking a Senior Material Planner to be the cornerstone of our planning function, owning material availability, mitigating supply chain risks, and leading the implementation of our first MRP system within NetSuite (or another ERP platform). This is a rare opportunity to design and drive the material planning strategy that will power our production lines and accelerate our new product introductions.

In this role, you’ll bring structure to ambiguity, connect the dots between design and production, and make sure the right parts are in the right place at the right time to enable first-of-their-kind space communication systems. If you’re energized by building processes from the ground up and want to have a visible, lasting impact on a company shaping the future of space infrastructure, we’d love to hear from you.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the setup, configuration, and deployment of our first MRP system, including item masters, BOMs, routings, and planning parameters.

• Develop and maintain production and NPI material plans to support build schedules, engineering prototypes, and ramp to volume.

• Partner with Supply Chain, Engineering, and Operations teams to align material availability with build and test milestones.

• Monitor supplier lead times, purchase orders, and inventory levels to mitigate shortages and production risks.

• Drive continuous improvement of planning processes, metrics, and system usage.

• Establish planning parameters (safety stock, reorder points, lot sizes) and maintain data integrity in the ERP system.

• Support NPI builds by working closely with engineering on early BOMs, long-lead items, and prototype scheduling.

• Validate engineering bills of material and assist in the conversion of eBOM’s into mBOM’s for proper systematic forecasting of needed quantities for duration of product life cycle.

• Provide forecasting and capacity analysis to suppliers and internal stakeholders.

• Mentor future planning hires as the team grows, setting the foundation for a scalable planning function

• Place POs for MRP planning messages for production parts and via email signals, if required

Basic Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in material planning, production planning, or supply chain management in a manufacturing environment.

• Proficiency in ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle) and advanced skills in Excel for data analysis and reporting (formulas, pivot tables, etc.).

• Strong knowledge of production planning for complex assemblies (e.g., electronics/PCBAs, electromechanical systems, or aerospace/defense hardware).

• Experience with NPI planning, including managing evolving BOMs and prototype material requirements.

• Proven ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, operations, and procurement.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience in the aerospace, satellite, telecommunications, or defense industries

• Proficiency in Oracle Netsuite

• Experience working with PCBAs, Avionics Assemblies and/or Electrical Harnessing

• Proficient in SQL or advanced competency in MS Excel

• Startup or fast-paced environment experience a plus

Additional Information:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.