Senior Materials Planner

Here at Humanoid, we believe in a future where robots amplify human potential. That’s why we’ve set out on a mission to build the world’s most capable, commercially-scalable, and safe humanoid robots. We’re bringing that mission to life with HMND-01 - our rapidly developed humanoid platform being deployed in real industrial environments - and we’re growing the team to take it even further.

About the Role

We are hiring a Senior NPI Materials Planner to own material readiness for our prototype and early production builds. You will take the demand and build plan, turn it into a clear, prioritised material and purchasing plan, and make sure Procurement can deliver against it. Where supply cannot meet demand, you will say so early and bring options.

You will answer one question for the business: what material and configuration is actually available to build? You will work side by side with the Demand and Production Planner, who decides what we build and when given material availability, priorities and capacity, and with the Production Supervisor, who confirms the workshop can execute that sequence with the people and equipment available. You will report to the Senior Manager - WILP and work closely with Procurement, Engineering and the Business Transformation team across London, Boston and Vancouver.

This is a hands-on senior role in a business moving from prototype builds to production. We are building our planning capability as we go, with design changes landing every six weeks, so you will need to be comfortable making good decisions with incomplete information. Your job is to make sure the supply base is ready for the plan, and to give the plan an honest view of what the supply base can do.

What You'll Do

Strategic Responsibilities

• Build and own Humanoid’s buy-side material planning approach: how production demand is translated into purchasing requirements, including planning parameters, lead-time management, safety stock and order policies. This includes making it work now with the tools we have (spreadsheets, BI and AI-assisted analysis), setting out the path to a proper MRP / ERP as we scale, and helping define what it must do.

• Own material readiness for the builds from engineering release through to parts on the shelf, working with the Buyers who engage suppliers and place orders, so there is one clear owner for whether material will be there when the build needs it.

• Set up the demand-to-supply interface with the Demand and Production Planner: the cadence, the handover of forecast and build plan, change-freeze rules, and shared ownership of plan accuracy.

• Feed supply constraints (material availability, constrained parts, supplier capacity) into the S&OP cycle, so the build plan reflects what can actually be supplied.

• Agree the planning strategy for long-lead, single-source and critical components with Procurement, including forward buys, buffer stock, call-offs, blanket orders and supplier-held stock.

• Work with the Business Transformation team on the planning tools and data we need, whether that is the manufacturing systems, spreadsheets and BI we use today or a future ERP / MRP, so the tooling keeps pace as we scale.

• Build a repeatable material planning framework that copes with a changing BOM, frequent ECOs and the move from prototype to production volumes.

• Plan to a six-week design and build cadence: decide which parts to buy early, which to hold until a design is proven, and re-plan at each engineering release.

• Prepare the material plan for Gamma and a contract manufacturing partner, including how plans, forecasts and any supplier-held or consigned stock are handed over.

Operational Responsibilities

• Run MRP-style planning on a regular rhythm, in the ERP or in the tools we use today, and work the exceptions (expedite, de-expedite, reschedule, cancel), turning planned orders into clear purchase requirements for Buyers.

• Maintain a rolling, prioritised material plan with need dates and quantities, pegged back to the builds they support, and share it with Procurement every week.

• Tell the build team, for each planned build, which material and configuration (BOM revision, variant, approved substitutes and deviations) is actually available to build, and keep that view current.

• Bring demand from every source into one view: robot builds, repair packs, service spares, hot spares and customer pilots, with coverage by phase (for example Beta 0 plus spares, Beta 1 plus spares, and service stock).

• Own the lead-time data by commodity and subsystem, keep it current, and use it to decide what needs ordering now.

• Read production demand properly: the forecast, build schedule, BOM structure and phasing. Challenge demand that looks unrealistic or unstable, and flag the supply impact of every change.

• Run the weekly material readiness (clear-to-build) review. Identify shortages, find the root cause, and bring recovery options and recommendations.

• Assess the impact of ECOs and BOM revisions on open purchase orders, planned orders and stock, including effectivity dates and obsolete or excess exposure.

• Work with Buyers to validate supplier lead times, MOQs, lot sizes and order cycles, track delivery against commitments, and feed actuals back into the system.

• Own the accuracy of planning master data (lead times, MRP parameters, lot sizes, safety stock, BOM alignment) with Engineering and the Inventory and Warehouse team.

• Keep clear visibility of open POs, inbound deliveries and in-transit stock between sites, including customs clearance on critical parts. Work with Logistics and our third-party storage partner on call-offs and delivery cadence, so material lands when it is needed and space is not overrun.

• Work with the Global Inventory & Warehouse Manager so that stock accuracy, reservations and cycle count variances do not distort the plan.

• Report on PO coverage against demand, shortages, supplier on-time-in-full, lead-time variance, excess and obsolete stock, and the exception backlog.

Leadership & Collaboration Responsibilities

• Act as the senior authority and escalation point for complex material supply problems.

• Bring the Demand and Production Planner, Manufacturing, Procurement and Engineering round to one material plan, and lead the trade-off conversations when they disagree.

• Hold both sides to account: Production for a stable demand signal, Procurement for delivery against the plan.

• Work with the Business Transformation team to document, test and roll out planning processes and system changes, including UAT.

• Coach and mentor Buyers and junior planners as the team grows.

• Take over and develop the existing material planning work and tools, and turn them into a standard process for the business.

• Deputise for the Senior Manager - WILP on material planning matters when required.

What We're Looking For

Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years in supply planning, materials planning or buy-side planning within complex manufacturing, such as robotics, aerospace, defence, advanced manufacturing, automotive, medical devices or high-tech electronics, with recent experience in a fast-changing or ERP-light environment.

• Hands-on experience of messy prototype and early build environments, not only established production: incomplete BOMs, shortages, substitutions, rework and constant change.

• Strong understanding of production and demand planning: how forecasts, master production schedules and build plans become material requirements. Experience working alongside Demand Planners, Production Planners and Master Schedulers.

• Experience working both inside and outside the ERP. You understand MRP logic (netting, pegging, time fences, lot sizing) and have built and run a material plan in spreadsheets, BI tools or an MES when no full ERP was in place.

• Experience supporting Procurement on long-lead, single-source and multi-tier supply bases, including expediting, allocation and supplier recovery.

• Experience in low-volume, high-mix and NPI environments, planning to an engineering release cadence, and making buy decisions before a design is proven.

• Experience planning demand for spares, repair and service stock alongside build demand.

• Experience planning material for a contract manufacturer or manufacturing partner (desirable).

• Track record of managing ECOs and revision control, and their impact on materials and lead times.

• Experience planning across multiple sites and regions, ideally North America and Europe, including cross-border moves and customs clearance on critical parts.

• Degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Engineering, Business or a related field.

• APICS / ASCM CPIM or CSCP (desirable).

• Lean or Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt (desirable).

• Knowledge of robotics, AI, electromechanical or electronics products is desirable but not essential. We will help you get up to speed.

Technical Skills

• Hands-on with an ERP / MRP system (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Dynamics or similar): MRP runs, exception messages, planning parameters and pegging, and able to plan without one when needed.

• Able to specify what a planning tool or ERP needs to do, and to work with IT and Business Transformation to test and roll it out.

• Solid grasp of multi-level BOM structures and how they drive material requirements and lead times.

• Planning techniques including time-phased netting, lot sizing, safety stock, reorder point, min/max, Kanban, ABC/XYZ analysis, supplier call-offs and VMI.

• Comfortable using AI and data tools to build, test and maintain a plan quickly, and sound enough in the fundamentals to check the output.

• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets, with SQL and a BI tool (Power BI, Looker or similar) for working with large data sets.

• Comfortable with PLM and BOM management tools, and able to read engineering requirements well enough to plan material against them.

• Proficient in Google Workspace and Slack.

Behavioural Skills

• A natural problem solver who stays calm under pressure and is happy to make the call with incomplete information.

• Credible with Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering and Finance, and able to influence without direct authority.

• Pushes back with data, and says no early and clearly rather than late.

• Works autonomously with minimal oversight and is hands-on when needed.

• Balances strategic thinking with tactical delivery.

• Practical and hands-on, comfortable working alongside the build team on the shop floor.

• Curious, adaptable and comfortable in a fast-moving start-up.

What We Offer

• Competitive equity: stock options with meaningful upside as we scale.

• 30+ paid days off, including 23 days of annual leave, all UK bank holidays, and additional company closure days (including Christmas-New Year shutdown).

• Private healthcare, including virtual and in-person care.

• Pension scheme with 8% total contribution (5% employee, 3% employer) on full earnings.

• Free daily breakfast, catered lunch, and snacks in-office.

• Work at the frontier - collaborate daily with world-class engineers, researchers, and product experts building the next generation of AI and humanoid robotics.

• Real ownership - direct access to founding leadership, meaningful input on product direction, and the ability to drive key initiatives from day one.