Material/NPI Program Manager

Location: North Reading, MA (Onsite) – Duration: 4+ months – Pay Rate: $85 to $95/hr on W2, depending on experience.

About the role

The Material Program Manager (MPM) drives end-to-end material readiness across all phases of the product lifecycle—from New Product Introduction (NPI) through beta builds and into General Availability (GA). This role serves as the critical bridge between engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing operations, ensuring material strategies align with product development milestones and business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute the Material Readiness Report, providing cross-functional visibility into material risk, lead times, supply health, and readiness-to-build status.
• Drive material program governance including ECO-to-PO change management, ensuring engineering changes translate into actionable supply chain execution without disrupting production schedules.
• Develop and maintain material program mechanisms (dashboards, trackers, escalation frameworks) that enable proactive risk identification and mitigation.
• Coordinate with engineering, procurement, contract manufacturing, and quality teams to manage BOM (Bill of Materials) maturity from prototype through volume production.
• Lead material allocation decisions, resolve supply constraints, and drive root-cause corrective actions for material shortages or receipt holds.
• Manage material phase-in/phase-out strategies aligned to engineering change orders and product revision schedules.
• Establish and improve repeatable processes for material program management that scale across multiple concurrent programs.
• Communicate material risks, trade-offs, and recommendations to senior leadership with clarity and data-driven insights.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in material program management, supply chain program management, or NPI/operations program management within a hardware product development environment (robotics, consumer electronics, industrial systems, or similar).

Qualifications

• BOM Management & NPI Lifecycle Expertise – Demonstrated experience managing Bills of Materials across development phases (EVT/DVT/PVT or equivalent), including BOM maturity tracking, material qualification, and build readiness assessments.
• ERP/MRP Systems Proficiency – Ability to navigate procurement systems (e.g., Oracle, SAP, or equivalent), track purchase orders, manage material demand signals, and interpret supply planning outputs.
• Cross-Functional Program Management – Proven ability to lead and influence without authority across engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, and quality organizations to drive material decisions and resolve constraints.
• Data-Driven Risk Management & Reporting – Strong analytical skills to build and maintain material readiness dashboards, identify supply risks proactively, and communicate trade-offs to leadership using metrics and data (Excel/Smartsheet/BI tools).

Skills

• PowerPoint/Excel
• BOM (Bill of Materials) management
• Cross-functional project management
• Data-flow analysis
• Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP)

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare coverage (medical, dental, and vision plans).
• Supplemental coverage (accident insurance, critical illness insurance, and hospital indemnity).
• 401(k)-retirement savings.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Employee assistance program and legal support.
• Auto, home, and pet insurance.
• Employee discounts with preferred vendors.