Material Planner

About the Role

Barakat Group of Companies is looking for a proactive and analytical Material Planner to manage material and supply planning for trading items, with a particular focus on air shipments and short-lead-time products.

The role will be responsible for ensuring optimum product availability by translating demand, inventory, incoming shipments and lead-time requirements into accurate and timely material/buying requirements.

The Material Planner will work closely with Procurement, Sales, Warehouse, Logistics and Smartdata teams to optimise inventory, manage supply risks, improve forecasting and minimise stock-outs, excess inventory and wastage.

What You'll Do

• Develop and maintain material plans for trading items, with primary focus on air shipments and short-lead-time products.
• Calculate and communicate timely buying/material requirements to Procurement based on demand, available stock, incoming shipments, lead times and agreed stock-cover norms.
• Monitor inventory, Days on Hand (DOH), incoming shipments and projected stock depletion to maintain optimum inventory levels.
• Work with the Smartdata team to develop, implement and improve AI-based forecasting and RM ordering.
• Coordinate with Procurement on buying requirements, origin changes, seasonal transitions and supply constraints.
• Proactively identify supply risks arising from shipment delays, origin shortages, quality issues and other disruptions.
• Coordinate alternate supply and mitigation plans with relevant stakeholders.
• Work closely with Warehouse, Logistics and Sales to optimise stock allocation and reallocation across sales channels.
• Monitor demand trends, seasonal requirements, shortages, excess and ageing inventory.
• Initiate corrective actions to minimise stock-outs, wastage and business losses.
• Analyse material and inventory performance and maintain visibility of stock cover and projected availability.
• Drive continuous improvement by identifying planning exceptions and coordinating timely resolution with relevant stakeholders.

Key Performance Indicators

• Product Availability / Service Level - Maintain target availability across sales channels and minimise shortages resulting from planning gaps.
• Inventory & DOH Adherence - Maintain inventory within agreed stock-cover norms while balancing availability, shelf life and inventory risk.
• Material / Buying Requirement Planning - Provide timely and accurate material requirements based on demand, inventory, incoming supply, lead times and target stock cover.
• Supply Risk Management - Proactively identify supply risks and coordinate timely alternate supply and mitigation plans.
• Stock Allocation & Channel Availability - Optimise stock allocation across channels based on demand, customer priorities, available inventory and supply constraints.
• Slow-Moving, Excess & Ageing Inventory - Minimise slow-moving, excess and ageing inventory through proactive material planning and corrective actions.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Commerce, Business or a related field.
• 2–5 years of experience in Material Planning, Supply Planning, Demand Planning or a related planning role.
• Experience in FMCG, food manufacturing, fresh or perishable products is preferred.
• Strong understanding of material planning and MRP concepts.
• Good understanding of inventory, DOH, safety stock and service-level concepts.
• Strong Microsoft Excel and data-analysis skills.
• Experience with Power Query is highly desirable.
• Strong planning, prioritisation and organisational skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Strong communication and cross-functional coordination skills.
• Ability to work effectively with Procurement, Sales, CPD, Warehouse and Logistics teams.
• Proactive approach to identifying supply risks and resolving planning exceptions.

Key Skills

Material Planning | MRP | Inventory Planning | Supply Planning | Demand Planning | FMCG | Fresh & Perishable Products | DOH | Safety Stock | Procurement Planning | Supply Risk Management | Excel | Power Query | Forecasting | Data Analysis