Material Planning Teamlead (m/w/d)

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Bei Caterpillar engagieren wir uns für unsere Kunden, die mit unseren Produkten, Dienstleistungen und Lösungen eine bessere und nachhaltigere Welt aufbauen. Wir verstehen und zeigen ihnen, warum sie sich für uns entscheiden sollten. Wir erkunden neue Ideen und Chancen – wir entwickeln Innovationen, um die Durchbrüche zu entdecken, die für das Wachstum von morgen notwendig sind. Dabei sind wir ein Team – wir entwickeln und liefern erstklassige Produkte, Dienstleistungen und Lösungen, die der Konkurrenz überlegen sind.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Material Planning Teamlead (m/w/d) in our Large Power Systems Team to support the production of large Caterpillar engines at our site in Kiel.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead and develop a team of 3–4 material planners with perspective for future growth, including goal setting, coaching and balanced workload distribution.
• Control and monitor the entire material flow from suppliers to production lines, including active escalation management.
• Define, standardize and continuously improve processes in material planning, inventory management and escalation to ensure process compliance and efficient operations.
• Act as central coordination between production, purchasing, logistics, quality and suppliers with decision authority.
• Plan and ensure supplier delivery schedules, create catch‑up plans for bottlenecks and manage risks for critical parts.
• Actively balance inventory between shortage risk and excess stock to ensure production capability and optimize inventory capital.
• Monitor and analyze supplier key figures and work closely with suppliers to ensure timely material supply and improve overall performance.

Requirements

• Proven experience in leading teams or managing projects in purchasing or supply‑chain environments.
• Strong knowledge and practical experience in material planning to support manufacturing processes.
• Problem‑solving competence with methods, tools and techniques to anticipate and resolve organizational, operational or process‑related challenges.
• Understanding of production planning (MRP) processes, practices and systems, and ability to optimize planning for manufacturing cycles.
• Supplier management knowledge and ability to effectively manage relationships and transactions with raw material or component suppliers.
• Very good German language skills (minimum C1) and very good English language skills (minimum B2).

Benefits

• Varied and challenging tasks.
• Excellent earning opportunities.
• Additional payments such as vacation bonus, Christmas bonus, etc.
• 30 days of vacation / working time account.
• Company pension scheme.
• Bike leasing / job ticket / wellbeing allowance.

This position requires presence at our plant in Kiel and is not suitable for remote or hybrid work. A valid work permit or citizenship of an EU‑25/EFTA country is required.