Strategic Materials Planner & Purchasing Lead

Sharp & Carter; Gold Coast City; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Superannuation

Job summary

Sharp & Carter is seeking a hands-on planning and purchasing professional to own raw material planning, purchasing and inventory management for a manufacturing client on the Gold Coast. You will forecast demand, manage long‑lead‑time imports and align procurement with production needs to ensure stock is right-sized and available.

The role involves partnering with Operations, Finance, Sales and the factory, taking ownership of Excel-based processes, and driving improvements to forecasting,

Qualifications

• Experience in materials planning, supply planning, purchasing or inventory management within a manufacturing environment.
• Proven experience with long‑lead‑time or imported materials and aligning purchasing with production requirements.
• Strong Excel skills and a data‑driven approach to stock decisions.
• Process improvement mindset to automate and improve manual processes.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management across technical and commercial teams.
• Hands‑on and able to work as an individual contributor.
• Experience in FMCG, chemicals, plastics, building products or textiles is well regarded but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Manage raw material replenishment and forward ordering across long‑lead‑time imported materials.
• Monitor sales trends, product demand, new product launches and performance by product line to set appropriate stock levels.
• Take ownership of existing Excel‑based planning processes and identify opportunities to improve forecasting, reporting and inventory management.
• Improve purchasing, planning and inventory processes to reduce the risk of shortages and excess stock.
• Proactively identify slow‑moving and ageing inventory and work with stakeholders to manage exposure.
• Partner with Operations, Finance, Sales, Customer Service and factory teams to align material requirements with production and customer demand.
• Support the General Manager with supplier management, with scope to take on greater commercial responsibility over time.

Skills

Materials planning

Supply planning

Purchasing

Inventory management

Data-driven decisions

Process improvement

Stakeholder management

Communication

Hands-on contributor

Tools

Excel

Job description

Sharp & Carter is seeking a hands-on planning and purchasing professional to own raw material planning, purchasing and inventory management for a manufacturing client on the Gold Coast. You will forecast demand, manage long‑lead‑time imports and align procurement with production needs to ensure stock is right-sized and available.

The role involves partnering with Operations, Finance, Sales and the factory, taking ownership of Excel-based processes, and driving improvements to forecasting,