Material Planning & Control Specialist V

Job Details

New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That’s our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers—literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission—your opportunity—is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you’re driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you’re ready for JPL.

Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.

The Facilities and Logistics Operations Division (Div 6400) is responsible for the overall physical development and maintenance of the Laboratory. The objective of the division is to provide a safe physical environment that promotes the advancement and transfer of knowledge. Our core function is the stewardship, reliability, and safe operation of the Lab’s physical infrastructure, site structures, utility systems, and equipment. Our primary goal is to provide advanced workplaces, resilient infrastructure, and comprehensive logistics to enable optimal Laboratory operations with minimal disruption.

The Logistics & Operations Planning Section (Section 643) is responsible for the strategic management and functional production operations that enable all logistics-related Laboratory activities. We exercise a Lab-wide purview to establish centralized control over all equipment, including personal property, non-collateral, and manufacturing assets. Our mission encompasses end-to-end Material Requirements Planning (MRP), equipment delivery, inventory control (WIP, loan pool, deliverables), and essential technical services. Furthermore, we provide specialized expertise in measurement systems, metrology, instrumentation, and technical logistics for project flight hardware, ensuring operational readiness and seamless support for the Laboratory's mission development and production processes.

We invite you to join the Logistics and Operations Planning Section within the Facilities & Logistics Operations Division to serve as a Material Planning & Control Specialist V. In this critical institutional capacity, you will function as an inter-organizational capability leader and subject matter expert, bridging enterprise operations, engineering, and IT to evolve lab-wide production planning and control architectures. This role is ideal for someone who excels at integrating complex operational insights into long-range functional and technical strategies and can shepherd those strategies through implementation all the way to value capture. The successful candidate will shape enterprise Production Planning & Control (PPC) capabilities by understanding how complex aerospace hardware moves through production in a one-of-a-kind development environment, converting that knowledge into system, process, and roadmap improvements that support mission success across JPL.

Tasks include but are not limited to:

Lead the PPC Capability Development Roadmap:

• Lead the evolution of the lab-wide Production Planning & Control (PPC) Capability Roadmap in alignment with key institutional, mission, and manufacturing strategies.
• Identify capability gaps, modernization opportunities, and future-state architectures that integrate planning, scheduling, budget, accounting, and inventory data across the enterprise.
• Develop and communicate a clear multi-year strategy for meeting PPC’s future digital ecosystem needs (ERP/MRP, MES, planning and scheduling tools) in partnership with supporting technical orgs.

Define & Champion Strategic PPC Transformation Initiatives:

• Ensure delivery teams, key stakeholders, and operational organizations share a unified understanding of the scope, timing, and ultimate end-state for critical initiatives outlined on the PPC Capability Roadmap.
• For technical elements of initiatives, oversee the final determination of future-state integration design, data flows & structures, and configuration standards in partnership with all relevant technical stakeholder (e.g. E2D, enterprise IT, local service groups, report owners, etc.).
• For functional elements of initiatives, oversee the final determination of future-state business models, service & org design, business process flows, accounting rules, and cost-of-ownership projections in partnership with all relevant functional stakeholders (e.g. engineering, finance, accounting, operations leadership, etc.).
• Provide detailed business & technical requirements, in alignment with existing enterprise digital architectures & operational frameworks, that can be implemented in order to achieve transformative outcomes for JPL’s PPC finance, cost accounting, engineering, planning & control, and manufacturing related functions.
• Participate in guiding the initiative through every part of its implementation lifecycle all the way through to final value capture and ROI analysis.

Provide Analytics & Strategic Decision-Making Support To 6X Leaders:

• Define new metrics, reports, and predictive analytics tools that enhance mission and institutional understanding of our E2E production lifecycle from a cost, schedule, and throughput perspective.
• Ensure all production processes and data are correctly accounted for across our critical systems and accurately reflect engineering demand, material flow, production lead times, inventory & WIP cost, and integration sequences.
• Use production performance data, inventory insights, and WIP trends to guide lab wide production capability investments and design decisions.

Facilitate Continuous Improvement of PPC Standards & Frameworks:

• Serve as a leading authority on the standardization of production planning data, inventory representation, WIP structures, and capacity modeling parameters across the lab.
• Act as the bridge between PPC operations, production/manufacturing functional teams, engineering, and IT groups to qualify opportunities to evolve production best practices, institutional planning standards, and enterprise workflows.
• Facilitate the adoption of new production related standards, frameworks, and process as needed, to improve inventory, WIP accounting, and production flow observability for the lab.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Supply Chain, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, or related field with a minimum of 12 years of relevant experience; Master’s degree with 10 years of experience; or PhD with 8 years of experience.
• Deep expertise in manufacturing operations, supply chain, systems engineering, or enterprise planning functions.
• A lengthy record of success implementing or operating manufacturing capabilities within a complex, Oracle Project Manufacturing centric, environment.
• Proven track record of building trust across engineering, IT, supply chain, manufacturing, and customer organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to guide complex cross-functional initiatives and serve as a capability owner for enterprise-level processes or systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; able to resolve complex systems and workflow challenges independently.
• Ability to clearly communicate complex operational and technical concepts to a broad audience.
• Highly organized, proactive, and skilled at prioritizing and managing multiple roadmap initiatives simultaneously.
• Strong professional characteristics: highly collaborative, accountable, detail-oriented, and improvement-driven.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with aerospace flight hardware production, integration flows, or complex build & plan strategies.
• Familiarity with JPL, NASA, DoD, or other government requirements related to PPC, configuration, or manufacturing systems.
• Experience supporting proposal activities and formulation-phase modeling of planning and production flows.
• Understanding of supply chain dependencies, material readiness, planning parameters, and digital thread concepts.
• Experience driving digital transformation initiatives or enterprise architecture development in planning or manufacturing.
• Experience operating and/or significantly augmenting Oracle EBIS/Oracle Cloud platforms.

JPL has a catalog of benefits and perks that span from the traditional to the unique. This includes a variety of health, dental, vision, wellbeing, and retirement plans, paid time off, learning, rideshare, childcare, flexible schedule, parental leave and many more. Our focus is on work-life balance, and living healthy, fulfilling lives as we Dare Mighty Things Together. For benefits eligible positions, benefits are effective the first day of the month coincident with or immediately following the employee’s start date.

For further benefits information click Benefits and Perks

The hiring range displayed below is specifically for those who will work in or reside in the location listed. In extending an offer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory considers factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s job related skills, experience, knowledge, and relevant education/training.

The typical full time equivalent annual hiring range for this job in Pasadena, California.

JPL is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy or perceived pregnancy, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status or any other characteristic or condition protected by Federal, state or local law.

In addition, JPL is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

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The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federal facility. Due to rules imposed by NASA, JPL will not accept applications from citizens of designated countries or those born in a designated country unless they are U.S. Citizens, Legal Permanent Residents of the U.S or have other protected status under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). The Designated Countries List is available here.