About the Role
Materials Manager – Drilling Rig Manufacturing & Fabrication
Location: [City, Province/State, Country]
Employment Type: Full-Time
Department: Supply Chain / Manufacturing
Reports To: Director of Operations / General Manager
Industry: Oil & Gas / Drilling Equipment Manufacturing
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Materials Manager to lead material planning, procurement coordination, receiving, inspection coordination, traceability, inventory control, and material availability for the manufacturing and fabrication of drilling rigs, masts, substructures, skids, and associated oilfield equipment.
The Materials Manager will ensure that materials and purchased components are available when required for production while maintaining full compliance with applicable customer specifications, engineering requirements, approved supplier requirements, and the company's API Spec Q1 Quality Management System.
The successful candidate will have strong experience managing structural steel, mechanical components, purchased equipment, consumables, and critical materials within a highly controlled fabrication/manufacturing environment.
The position requires close collaboration with Engineering, Quality, Welding, Production, Procurement, Project Management, and senior management.
Key Responsibilities1. Material Planning & Production Support
- Develop and maintain material requirements and procurement plans based on engineering bills of material, production schedules, project requirements, and approved manufacturing plans.
- Ensure required materials are available to support fabrication schedules and project milestones.
- Establish material priorities based on production requirements, long-lead items, critical-path activities, and project commitments.
- Monitor material shortages, shortages affecting production, and potential schedule impacts.
- Coordinate material expediting activities with Procurement and suppliers.
- Maintain accurate material status reports for management and project teams.
- Coordinate material requirements across multiple drilling-rig projects.
2. API / QMS Material Control
- Ensure materials and purchased products conform to specified engineering, customer, project, and applicable API requirements.
- Work within the company's API Spec Q1 10th Edition quality-management system and applicable procedures.
- Ensure materials classified as critical are identified and controlled in accordance with the company's documented procedures.
- Coordinate with Quality to ensure appropriate verification of critical purchased products and components.
- Maintain documentation necessary to demonstrate conformity of purchased materials.
- Ensure material purchasing and receiving processes support product traceability and final manufacturing documentation.
- Participate in internal and external API, customer, and third-party audits as required.
API Q1 emphasizes risk-based purchasing controls, supplier evaluation, verification of critical purchases, process-control documentation, and retention of quality records. AAmerican Petroleum Institute+1
3. Material Traceability
- Establish and maintain traceability from material receipt through fabrication and final assembly.
- Ensure material heat numbers, plate numbers, material identification, certificates, and associated documentation are properly recorded.
- Maintain traceability of structural steel, pipe, forgings, castings, bolting, pressure-containing components, and other critical materials as applicable.
- Ensure material identification is maintained during cutting, forming, machining, welding, assembly, and material movement.
- Prevent loss of traceability when materials are cut, split, transferred, or incorporated into fabricated components.
- Coordinate with Quality to resolve missing, incomplete, or questionable material certifications.
4. Material Receiving & Inspection
- Establish effective receiving controls for raw materials, fabricated components, purchased equipment, and consumables.
- Coordinate receiving inspections with Quality and applicable personnel.
- Verify purchase orders, packing slips, material identification, quantities, specifications, and required documentation.
- Ensure material certificates and other required supplier documentation are reviewed and controlled.
- Identify and segregate nonconforming or suspect materials in accordance with company procedures.
- Prevent unauthorized use of materials that have not completed required receiving or verification activities.
5. Supplier & Procurement Coordination
- Work closely with Procurement to identify qualified and approved suppliers.
- Support supplier selection based on technical capability, quality performance, capacity, delivery performance, and risk.
- Ensure purchase orders contain appropriate specifications, drawings, revision levels, quality requirements, inspection requirements, and documentation requirements.
- Monitor supplier performance, including quality, delivery, documentation, and responsiveness.
- Support supplier corrective actions when material or documentation problems occur.
- Participate in supplier evaluations, audits, and performance reviews where required.
API Q1's current requirements place increased emphasis on risk-based supplier evaluation and control of the supply chain, particularly for critical and high-risk purchases. AAmerican Petroleum Institute
6. Inventory & Warehouse Management
- Maintain accurate inventory records for raw materials, components, consumables, and finished/sub-assembly materials.
- Establish appropriate storage, identification, preservation, and handling practices.
- Maintain material segregation where required by specification, grade, project, or customer requirement.
- Control obsolete, surplus, damaged, expired, or nonconforming materials.
- Implement cycle-counting and inventory reconciliation processes.
- Establish minimum/maximum inventory levels for commonly used materials and critical components.
- Ensure appropriate preservation of materials susceptible to corrosion, contamination, deterioration, or damage.
7. Fabrication Material Control
- Work directly with fabrication and welding teams to ensure correct materials are issued against approved drawings, bills of material, weld maps, and production documentation.
- Verify that material substitutions are not made without appropriate engineering and quality approval.
- Support control of welding consumables and other production materials in accordance with applicable procedures.
- Coordinate material availability for structural fabrication, machining, assembly, painting/coating, and final integration.
- Maintain material status through each stage of manufacturing.
8. Nonconforming Material
- Immediately identify and control nonconforming, unidentified, damaged, or improperly documented material.
- Coordinate with Quality and Engineering regarding material disposition.
- Ensure rejected materials are physically identified and segregated where required.
- Prevent unauthorized release or use of nonconforming material.
- Participate in root-cause analysis and corrective actions related to material issues.
- Maintain appropriate records of material nonconformances and dispositions.
9. Documentation & Records
Maintain accurate and retrievable records, including as applicable:
- Material Test Reports (MTRs)
- Mill certificates
- Certificates of conformity
- Heat-number traceability records
- Purchase orders
- Receiving inspection records
- Supplier documentation
- Inspection reports
- Nonconformance reports
- Material issue/transfer records
- Inventory records
- Approved supplier records
- Material certificates and final manufacturing data-book documentation
API Q1 requires controlled quality records, with current API guidance identifying a minimum 10-year retention period for records. AAmerican Petroleum Institute
API / Industry Standards
The Materials Manager will work with applicable revisions of:
- API Spec 4F – Specification for Drilling and Well Servicing Structures
- API Spec Q1 – Quality Management System Requirements for Organizations Providing Products for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry
- Applicable AWS welding requirements
- Applicable ASME, ASTM, CSA, AISC, ISO, NACE/AMPP, and other standards specified by engineering, customer requirements, or project specifications
- Applicable company manufacturing procedures and quality plans
API identifies Spec 4F as the API specification covering drilling and well-servicing structures, including drilling structures such as masts and related structural equipment. AAmerican Petroleum Institute+1
Note: The applicable edition, addenda, errata, customer specification, and contractual requirements must be verified for each project. API states that manufacturers pursuing API certification must use the applicable current official API requirements. AAmerican Petroleum Institute
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of materials management, supply chain, procurement, warehouse, or material-control experience in oil & gas, heavy fabrication, structural steel, drilling equipment, pressure equipment, or similar manufacturing.
- Demonstrated experience managing materials for large fabricated equipment or complex engineered-to-order projects.
- Strong understanding of material traceability and MTR/certification requirements.
- Experience working within an API, ISO, ASME, or similarly controlled quality-management environment.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems and inventory-management systems.
- Strong understanding of procurement, supplier management, receiving inspection, inventory control, and production scheduling.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, bills of material, specifications, and material requirements.
- Strong understanding of carbon steel, alloy steel, structural steel, pipe, plate, fittings, forgings, bolting, and mechanical components.
- Strong communication and organizational skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities in a project-driven manufacturing environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with API Spec 4F drilling structures.
- Experience with API Spec Q1.
- Experience in drilling-rig or oilfield-equipment manufacturing.
- Experience with structural steel fabrication and welding operations.
- CIPS, SCMP, APICS/ASCM, CPIM, or equivalent supply-chain qualification.
- Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor, Infor, Oracle, or equivalent.
- Familiarity with material certification, NDE documentation, welding documentation, and manufacturing data books.
- Experience supporting API or customer audits.
Key Competencies
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Material traceability discipline
- Quality-system awareness
- Supplier and procurement management
- Inventory accuracy
- Production planning
- Risk-based material control
- Attention to detail
- Problem solving
- Schedule management
- Cross-functional leadership
- Strong documentation practices
- Safety and quality leadership
Key Performance Indicators
Performance will be measured using, as applicable:
- Material availability against production schedule
- Production delays caused by material shortages
- Supplier on-time delivery
- Supplier quality performance
- Inventory accuracy
- Inventory turns
- Material certification/documentation completeness
- Material traceability compliance
- Nonconforming material rate
- Purchase-order cycle time
- Expediting performance
- Critical-material availability
- Audit findings related to material control
- Cost reduction and material utilization
Working Relationships
The Materials Manager will work closely with:
- General Manager / Operations Manager
- Engineering Manager
- Quality Manager / API Management Representative
- Procurement
- Project Management
- Production and Fabrication
- Welding Department
- Inspection/NDE
- Warehouse and Logistics
- Finance
- Customers and approved suppliers
What We Offer
- Competitive salary based on experience
- Comprehensive benefits package
- Opportunities for professional development
- Exposure to complex drilling and oilfield equipment projects
- Stable, safety-focused manufacturing environment
- Opportunity to contribute to continuous improvement and API-compliant manufacturing processes
Application
Qualified candidates are invited to submit a resume outlining their experience in materials management, drilling-rig manufacturing, structural fabrication, API quality systems, procurement, and material traceability.
Pay: $64,218.83-$126,581.67 per year
Work Location: In person
