Lead - Material Planning and Control

Role Overview

This leadership position sits at the heart of the airline's technical supply chain, directing material planning for Kenya Airways and third-party maintenance customers. Day to day, you will balance aircraft on-ground (AOG) responsiveness with cost-effective inventory levels, ensuring every part—from fasteners to rotables—is available, certified, and traceable in line with KCAA and international civil aviation standards. Your decisions directly keep the fleet flying and protect revenue by avoiding costly downtime and excess stock.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute multi-year provisioning strategies for new aircraft introductions and ongoing fleet changes, translating engineering forecasts into practical purchasing plans.
• Steer the full material planning cycle: lead-time analysis, reorder point calculations, lot-sizing, and allocation of spares across hangar, line, and remote stations.
• Monitor consumption patterns, slow-moving inventory, and repair turnaround times to recommend scrapping, redistribution, or procurement actions that optimise working capital.
• Build and maintain a robust inventory control framework that keeps stock levels within agreed financial targets while supporting the maintenance schedule and customer service agreements.
• Set key performance indicators for the planning team—stock availability, service levels, and inventory accuracy—and conduct structured performance reviews and coaching sessions.
• Chair material review meetings with engineering, finance, and supply chain stakeholders to resolve shortages, obsolescence risks, and forecast variances before they become operational issues.
• Lead supplier negotiations for repair contracts, exchange agreements, and bulk purchase terms, documenting performance against service level agreements and taking corrective action where needed.
• Oversee compliance with customs procedures, airworthiness documentation, and Kenya's civil aviation regulations for every imported or exported aircraft part, tool, and chemical.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, or a directly related business discipline.
• Minimum eight years of experience in a material or production planning environment, with at least three years spent managing people and complex inventory decisions.
• At least five years working inside an aircraft maintenance environment—airline MRO, maintenance organization, or parts distribution supplier—with demonstrable knowledge of aircraft parts and repair processes.
• Solid understanding of part certification: EASA Form 1, FAA 8130-3 airworthiness tags, KCAA requirements, and customs procedures governing import/export of aviation components.
• Proficiency with enterprise resource planning (ERP) or aviation-specific inventory systems (e.g., AMOS, TRAX, SAP SCM), including running MRP exception reports and stock simulation tools.
• Commercial acumen with a track record of managing supplier contracts, driving cost-reduction initiatives, and interpreting pricing structures and repair quotes.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret spend reports, calculate metrics like turn-around times and stock-out impact, and present findings to executive leadership.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal ability to influence engineering teams, finance controllers, and third-party airline customers without creating friction.
• Unquestionable integrity in procurement dealings, with a history of working transparently across confidential cost and safety data.
• Working knowledge of IATA resolutions, aviation industry practices, and aircraft maintenance scheduling principles is preferred.