Principal Inventory & Materials Improvement Specialist

Socket.dev; Centennial (CO); On-site; USD 145,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Life insurance

Disability coverage

401(k) with company match

Equity in company

Bonus eligible

Job summary

Beehive Industries is seeking a Lead Inventory & Materials Improvement Specialist to own and continuously improve inventory processes across its Colorado manufacturing environment. This senior role interfaces with Manufacturing, Materials, Supply Chain, Operations, and Finance to align inventory strategies with production needs and financial integrity.

Responsibilities include line-side stocking, kitting, replenishment, and reconciliation, as well as leading cross-functional improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations, or related field.
• 10+ years of inventory or materials management experience in manufacturing.
• Proven ability to design, implement, and improve inventory processes.
• Experience partnering with Finance on inventory valuation, reconciliations, and reporting.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills.
• Ability to obtain and maintain U.S. government security clearance; U.S. citizenship required.

Responsibilities

• Own the overall inventory strategy and processes across manufacturing.
• Own material presentation to assembly, establishing line-side stocking and replenishment.
• Develop stocking strategies based on demand, lead times, and production needs.
• Own material issuance to the production floor with ERP/MRP reconciliation.
• Establish and lead cycle counting, physical inventories, and root-cause actions.
• Drive inventory accuracy and alignment of physical, system, and financial inventory.
• Partner with Finance on reconciliations, reserves, adjustments, and write-offs.
• Optimize working capital by balancing material availability with excess inventory.
• Lead cross-functional inventory improvements with Mfg, Supply Chain, Finance, Quality, Eng, IT.
• Establish inventory performance metrics and governance using KPIs.

Skills

Inventory management strategy

Production line support

Cycle counting

ERP/MRP systems

Finance collaboration

Cross-functional leadership

Analytical communication

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations, or related field

Tools

ERP/MRP software

APICS CPIM/CSCP

Lean/Six Sigma

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Lead Inventory & Materials Improvement Specialist is a senior-level leader responsible for establishing, owning, and continuously improving the company’s inventory management and material flow processes across Beehive’s manufacturing environment. This role serves as the strategic and operational owner for how inventory is received, stored, controlled, presented to assembly, issued to the production floor, reconciled, and ultimately reflected in the company’s financials.

The role sits at the intersection of Manufacturing, Materials, Supply Chain, Operations, and Finance, ensuring that inventory strategies support production requirements while maintaining strong inventory accuracy, financial integrity, and working capital performance.

This position is expected to operate with significant autonomy and influence. The successful candidate will establish standards, drive cross-functional alignment, identify systemic opportunities, and lead improvements that create scalable and sustainable inventory processes

What You’ll Do...

• Own the overall inventory strategy and processes across manufacturing, ensuring standardized, scalable, and effective inventory practices.
• Own material presentation to assembly, establishing strategies for line-side stocking, point-of-use inventory, kitting, staging, and replenishment.
• Develop and optimize material stocking strategies based on demand, consumption, lead times, material criticality, and production requirements; establish standard work for kit build, staging, and consumption.
• Own material issuance processes to the production floor, ensuring accurate transactions and alignment between physical material movement and ERP/MRP records.
• Establish and lead inventory reconciliation practices, including cycle counting, physical inventories, variance investigation, and root-cause corrective actions.
• Drive inventory accuracy and control, ensuring physical inventory, system inventory, and financial inventory remain aligned.
• Partner with Finance on inventory financials, including reconciliations, reserves, adjustments, write-offs, and month/quarter/year-end activities.
• Optimize inventory levels and working capital, balancing material availability to production with excess, obsolete, aging, and overall inventory reduction objectives.
• Lead cross-functional inventory and material-flow improvements, partnering with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, Quality, Engineering, and IT to solve systemic issues.
• Establish inventory performance metrics and governance, using data and KPIs to drive accountability, identify risks, and continuously improve inventory accuracy, availability, flow, and financial performance.

You have...

Minimum qualifications a candidate must hold to be considered. Keep these defensible and job-related.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations, or a related field (or equivalent experience)

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in inventory or materials management within a manufacturing or assembly environment

Skills & Competencies

• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and improving inventory management processes.
• Hands-on experience supporting production lines, work cells, or assembly operations
• Strong understanding of inventory reconciliation, cycle counting, and root-cause analysis
• Experience using ERP/MRP systems in a manufacturing setting
• Experience partnering directly with Finance on inventory valuation, financial reconciliation, reserves, adjustments, and reporting.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong communication, analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance

Nice to have...

• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Kanban, or pull-based material systems
• APICS certification (CPIM, CSCP) or Lean/Six Sigma certification
• Experience developing material flow strategies for high-mix or high-volume assembly
• Familiarity with WIP tracking and backflushing processes

In compliance with Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the salary range for this position is $145,000-$180,000 base salary. Please note that wage information is a general guideline only, and we will consider factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, and market conditions when extending an offer.

• Beehive Industries offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes group Medical, Dental, Life,and Short and Long-Term disability coverage from day one.
• We also offer a generous 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with a Company match.
• Every role at Beehive Industries is bonus eligible and will also receive equity in the company.

Beehive Industries is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminateon the basis ofrace, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.