Materials Planner

Yorkshire Water; Bradford; Hybrid; GBP 33,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK water utility is looking for 2 Material Planners to join its Supply Chain and Logistics team. You'll help improve inventory strategies and ensure the availability of essential materials in a critical environment. The ideal candidates will have a degree in Supply Chain, strong analytical skills, and proficiency in SAP S/4HANA. This role offers a competitive salary and opportunities for continuous training and support, with a hybrid working arrangement of 2–3 days on-site at the logistics centre.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Annual incentive related bonus

Attractive pension scheme

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Wellness day

Life assurance cover

Health cash plan scheme

Gym membership discounts

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in Supply Chain, Business, Data Analytics, Logistics, or a related discipline.
• 2+ years of experience in supply chain or materials planning.
• Strong analytical skills and proficiency in Excel and ERP systems.

Responsibilities

• Support the delivery of better inventory strategies and stock parameters.
• Champion good practice in materials planning.
• Ensure operational continuity and optimised stock levels.

Skills

Inventory management

Supply chain operations

Data analytics

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Proficiency in Excel

Education

Degree in Supply Chain or related discipline

Tools

SAP S/4HANA

Job description

Material Planners x 2 (Materials Planning – Supply Chain and Logistics)

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Let us tell you about all the great reasons to join us here at Yorkshire Water:

• We are offering a competitive starting salary, depending on experience, 4b, £33,239 - £41,549
• Annual incentive related bonus (£1000 maximum bonus opportunity for the performance year).
• Attractive pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution).
• Continuous training and support in line with the Materials Planner progression plan.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays – plus an extra wellness day!
• Life assurance cover of 4 times pensionable salary.
• A great benefits package – choose from health cash plan scheme, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, life assurance flex and partner cover.
• Retail savings scheme.
• Online GP service, Employee Assistance Programme, cycle to work scheme, gym membership discounts and many more!

Location: Yorkshire Water Logistics Centre, Foxbridge Way, WF6. pending relocation to Leeds (LS10)

Work type: Permanent. You’ll be working 37 hours per week, Monday - Friday. Hybrid working, 2 - 3 days each week will be on site at the logistics centre.

We are currently looking to recruit 2 x Material Planners – (critical, low-volume maintenance spares, supporting essential services) to join our Supply Chain and Logistics team at our Logistics Centre here at Yorkshire Water. You will be a part of helping Yorkshire Water provide the best service to our customers. Could this be you?

What we do!

Everyone has an idea of what a water company does. Here in Yorkshire, we make sure that over million people living in the region and the millions of people who visit our region each year, can rely on our services, and have clean and safe drinking water on tap and that their wastewater is taken away. But for us, it’s so much more than this.

We look after communities, protect the environment, and plan to look after Yorkshire’s water, today, tomorrow 24/7, 365 days a year. We provide essential water and wastewater services to every corner of the Yorkshire region, and play a key role in the region’s health, wellbeing, and prosperity.

New environmental legislation, unprecedented levels of investment and changing expectations from customers means that this is an exciting time to discover opportunities within the water industry.

The Supply Chain and Logistics team are a key part of how we plan to meet the changing expectations of customers and regulators. Yorkshire Water is therefore transforming the way it manages inventory, materials availability, logistics and materials planning to better support asset reliability and service performance. We are creating enhanced capability in inventory planning to ensure that the right products, parts and critical spares are available in the right locations at the right time.

Where you fit in!

As a Material Planner, you will play a key role in shaping, improving and embedding the new Materials Planning & Logistics operating model. You’ll support the delivery of better inventory strategies, stock parameters, planning processes and performance insights to lift availability, reduce waste, and strengthen asset readiness across Yorkshire Water.

Working closely with supply planning, warehousing, logistics, engineering and commercial teams, you will play a key role in maintaining the availability of materials and spares, ensuring operational continuity and supporting optimised stock levels, improve forecasting accuracy, and create the right controls and governance for critical spares. You will champion good practice in materials planning and help teams adopt new systems, metrics, and decision‑making routines.

What skills, experience & qualifications you will need:

Degree or equivalent experience in Supply Chain, Business, Data Analytics, Logistics, or a related discipline.

Deep expertise in inventory management, stock balancing, and demand planning using data‑driven approaches.

2+ years of experience in supply chain or materials planning – managing and maintaining stock levels for critical and non‑critical materials.

Strong analytical skills and proficiency in Excel and ERP systems (SAP S/4HANA)

Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

Ability to manage competing priorities under pressure

It is desirable that you can demonstrate experience and knowledge in:

• Supply chain operations, inventory management or materials planning.
• Order management, replenishment logic, warehouse operations and logistics.
• Analysing and interpret operational and stock data.
• Proactive monitoring and reporting of stock performance, including usage, trends and variances.
• Support stock reconciliations, audits and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Stakeholder management across operations, engineering, procurement and commercial functions.
• Simplifying data into clear, actionable recommendations.

You will also benefit from having:

• Water industry experience or a background in asset‑critical operational environments (, regulated utilities, or other high‑criticality environments).
• Experience supply chain systems.
• Experience in improving stock availability and critical spares readiness.
• Experience in managing and maintaining stock levels for critical and non‑critical materials
• Demonstrated a reduction in overstocks and unplanned shortages.
• Improved alignments between warehouses, engineering and planning functions.
• A more mature, modern inventory management capability – suitable for Yorkshire Water.

If you’re experienced in materials planning and want to help us deliver exceptional service for our customers whilst protecting the environment, then apply today to find out what a career with Yorkshire Water can offer for you.