Materials Planner

About Kerry

Kerry is a global leader in taste and nutrition solutions for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors. The company works with customers every day to develop products that are healthier, more flavorful, and more sustainable, reaching consumers around the world. Kerry’s goal is to be the most trusted partner for its customers and to help shape a more sustainable future for nutrition. Joining the business means working in an international environment with opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute to the future of food.

Role overview

The Materials Planner will oversee raw material inventory planning and control, ensuring supply is aligned with production schedules while balancing supply chain efficiency and working capital objectives. This position is based in Otahuhu, New Zealand, and reports to the Supply Chain Manager.

Key responsibilities

• Use business systems, reports, and production plans to make sure raw material needs from external vendors and Kerry sites worldwide are ordered, confirmed, and delivered on time.
• Take the lead in resolving stock shortages so production and customer delivery commitments are not affected.
• Contribute to the commercialization and launch process for new products introduced at the site.
• Partner closely with the Procurement team on material demand and supply challenges.
• Prepare weekly risk reports for materials, highlight expected shortages, and explain the actions being taken to meet requirements.
• Create practical action plans for slow-moving inventory to reduce the risk of write-offs.
• Build expertise in material call-off planning using SAP ECC and APO.
• Maintain key master data such as safety stock levels, minimum order quantities, ordering lot sizes, and lead times, while identifying optimization opportunities with suppliers and procurement to improve cash flow and meet targets.
• Review system outputs and convert them into raw material demand forecasts for suppliers.
• Support the vendor OTIF process and complete OTIF results for the assigned portfolio.
• Assist Procurement in driving corrective actions for supplier performance issues.
• Organize, attend, and contribute to supplier performance review meetings.

Qualifications and skills

• Strong understanding of supply chain principles, along with practical experience in inventory or materials planning.
• Well-developed analytical, planning, influencing, and negotiation abilities.
• Strong ERP knowledge is required; experience with SAP is an added advantage.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a professional approach in internal and external settings.
• Comfortable working with people across different functions and organizational levels.
• Highly motivated and able to perform in a demanding, fast-paced environment.
• Strong problem-solving ability, including handling complex issues and meeting tight deadlines.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and willingness to question existing processes constructively.

Additional information

Requisition ID: 65381

Position type: Full-time permanent role.

The employer warns applicants to be cautious of fraud. Communication will not come from non-official email addresses or phone numbers, and interviews are not conducted through video chat rooms such as Google Hangouts. Candidates should never be asked to pay money to take part in the hiring process, except for reimbursable travel expenses. Any legitimate payments from Kerry will come from official company accounts carrying the Kerry name.

Recruiter: Listed internally.

Posting type: LI.