Material Planner

Babcock International; Walsall; Hybrid; GBP 34,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Matched pension scheme

Digital GP and health checks

Employee share scheme

Employee shopping portal

Payment of professional fees

Volunteering leave

Job summary

Babcock Vehicle Engineering in Walsall is seeking a Materials Planner to manage material demand and ensure availability across operations. The role focuses on optimizing inventory, coordinating with procurement, and driving improvements in planning processes within a hybrid work setup.

The ideal candidate will have strong MRP knowledge, experience with ERP systems, and a background in manufacturing or automotive environments.

Qualifications

• Experience in material, production or supply planning.
• Strong knowledge of MRP processes and systems.
• Experience with ERP, procurement or purchasing systems.
• Analytical, organized and able to manage multiple priorities.
• Experience in manufacturing or automotive environments is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Manage material demand through Material Requirements Planning (MRP) processes.
• Optimize inventory levels and maintain material availability across the business.
• Collaborate with operations, procurement and other stakeholders to identify shortages and coordinate mitigation.
• Raise and release purchase requisitions based on system demand profiles and business requirements.
• Create and distribute material availability and shortage reports to provide visibility and performance insights.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen planning processes, controls and performance.

Skills

Material planning

Production planning

MRP

ERP systems

Analytics

Manufacturing

Automotive

Tools

ERP systems

Procurement systems

Job description

Job Title: Material Planner

Location: Stockton Close, Walsall + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: Competitive Salary + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / 12-month Fixed Term Contract

Role ID: SF75788

Shape the flow of critical materials that build the next generation of specialist military and emergency service vehicles.

At Babcock, we're working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Material Planner at Babcock Vehicle Engineering in Walsall, near Birmingham, West Midlands.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a collaborative supply chain and planning team supporting a unique and complex vehicle engineering operation. . As a Material Planner, you'll play a key role in ensuring that the right materials are available at the right time to support operational delivery. Your work will directly influence production performance, reduce disruption, and help maintain a sustained production rate that our customers depend on. It's a role that offers variety, visibility across the business, and the chance to develop your expertise in material and production planning, supply chain management, and continuous improvement.

The role

As a Material Planner, you'll be responsible for managing material demand through Material Requirements Planning (MRP) processes, helping to optimise inventory levels and maintain material availability across the business.

Day-to-day, you'll be working closely with operational teams, procurement specialists, and key internal stakeholders, to identify potential shortages, coordinate mitigation activities, and support the continuous improvement of planning processes. You will be:

• Managing and maintaining the Material Requirements Planning system to support operational demand.
• Raising and releasing purchase requisitions based on system demand profiles and business requirements.
• Creating and distributing material availability and shortage reports to provide visibility and performance insights.
• Coordinating with operational and procurement teams to resolve material shortages and minimise production disruption.
• Driving continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen planning processes, controls, and performance

This role is full time, 37.5 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with days in the onsite and days working from home. Standard office hours apply Monday to Thursday with flexible start times between 7am and 9am, plus an early finish on Fridays.

Essential experience of the Material Planner

• Previous experience in a material planning, production planning, or supply planning role.
• Strong knowledge of Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems and processes.
• Experience using complex ERP, procurement, or purchasing systems.
• Strong analytical, organisational, and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Experience within a manufacturing or automotive environment would be advantageous.

Qualifications for the Material Planner

We value difference and don't have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and/or willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows the majority of employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement
• Be Kind Day' enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Flexible working - we give people more options to better integrate their work and personal life, whilst ensuring that business needs are met
• A dynamic working environment

Babcock

We're Babcock - a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you'll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we're building a future that lasts - not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [e-mail] with the subject header Reasonable adjustments requirement'. We're committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone's free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working - please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 24/09/2026