Job Purpose
To lead the Materials Management function across procurement, material planning, inventory control, and warehouse operations, ensuring the timely and cost-effective availability of raw materials, production consumables, spare parts, and operational supplies required for uninterrupted steel manufacturing operations.
The role is responsible for optimizing procurement costs, inventory levels, supplier performance, warehouse efficiency, and working capital while maintaining full compliance with approved policies, technical specifications, quality requirements, and applicable Saudi regulations.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and implement the Materials Management strategy in alignment with the company's production plans and business objectives.
- Lead Procurement, Warehousing, Inventory Control, and Materials Planning activities.
- Ensure the continuous availability of raw materials, production consumables, maintenance spare parts, safety stock, and critical operational supplies.
- Coordinate with Production, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Finance, and Planning teams to forecast material requirements and prevent production interruptions.
- Manage local and international sourcing, supplier qualification, tendering, commercial evaluation, negotiations, and purchase-order execution.
- Negotiate competitive contracts and long-term supply agreements while maintaining required quality, delivery, and commercial standards.
- Establish material requirement planning, reorder levels, safety-stock parameters, and critical-spares classifications.
- Optimize inventory levels and working capital while reducing shortages, excess inventory, slow-moving items, and obsolete stock.
- Ensure warehouse efficiency, proper material handling, preservation, storage conditions, stock accuracy, and compliance with health and safety requirements.
- Implement regular cycle counts and physical inventory audits and investigate stock variances.
- Monitor supplier quality, delivery performance, lead times, commercial compliance, and supply-chain risks.
- Develop alternative suppliers and contingency plans for critical materials and spare parts.
- Ensure all purchased materials meet approved technical specifications and quality standards in coordination with the relevant departments.
- Prepare and manage the annual procurement and materials budget.
- Strengthen internal controls, approval authorities, segregation of duties, and procurement governance.
- Drive the effective use of ERP and material management systems, preferably SAP, including MRP, purchasing, inventory, and warehouse modules.
- Develop departmental KPIs and submit regular performance and risk reports to the Chief Executive Officer.
- Lead, coach, and develop the Materials Management team and promote accountability, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
Key Accountabilities
- Continuity of material supply to production and maintenance.
- Procurement cost optimization and budget compliance.
- Inventory accuracy and stock availability.
- Reduction of excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory.
- Efficient management of critical spare parts.
- Supplier performance and supply-risk management.
- Warehouse productivity, safety, and material preservation.
- Compliance with procurement policies and approval authorities.
- Optimization of inventory-related working capital.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
- A master's degree is preferred.
- Professional certification such as CIPS, CPSM, CSCP, or equivalent is an advantage.
Experience
- Minimum of 12–15 years of progressive experience in materials management, industrial procurement, warehouses, or supply-chain operations.
- At least 5 years in a senior managerial or leadership position.
- Strong experience within steel, metals, heavy manufacturing, mining, cement, petrochemicals, or a comparable process-manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated experience in managing industrial materials, maintenance spare parts, critical supplies, and large-scale warehouses.
- Experience in local and international sourcing and contract negotiation.
- Previous experience working in Saudi Arabia or the GCC is preferred.
Technical Competencies
- Industrial Procurement and Strategic Sourcing
- Materials Requirement Planning — MRP
- Warehouse and Inventory Management
- Maintenance, Repair and Operations Materials — MRO
- Critical Spare-Parts Management
- Supplier Qualification and Performance Management
- Contract and Commercial Negotiation
- Cost Reduction and Value Analysis
- Inventory and Working-Capital Optimization
- Procurement Governance and Internal Controls
- Supply-Chain Risk Management
- ERP and SAP Materials Management
- Budgeting, Reporting, and KPI Management
- Leadership Competencies
- Strategic and Commercial Thinking
- Strong Decision-Making
- Leadership and Team Development
- Negotiation and Influencing
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Problem-Solving and Risk Management
- Integrity and Accountability
- Operational Excellence
- Results Orientation
Key Performance Indicators
- Material Availability Rate
- Production Downtime Caused by Material Shortages
- Supplier On-Time Delivery
- Procurement Cost Savings and Cost Avoidance
- Inventory Accuracy
- Inventory Turnover
- Stock-Out Rate
- Critical Spare-Parts Availability
- Slow-Moving and Obsolete Inventory Value
- Purchase Requisition-to-Order Cycle Time
- Warehouse Productivity and Utilization
- Supplier Quality and Rejection Rate
- Procurement Budget Compliance
- Working-Capital Improvement
- Working Conditions
- The position is based full-time at the manufacturing plant in Yanbu Industrial City
- Regular presence within production, warehouse, maintenance, and material-receiving areas is required.
- The role may require travel for supplier visits, inspections, negotiations, and qualification activities.
