How To Become A Materials Program Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a materials program manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Meaghan Goodman Ph.D.

Often working in the manufacturing industry, as a Materials Program Manager, you will be overseeing the supply chain operations of the company to ensure the efficient and quality delivery of materials that need to be used to manufacture goods. You will also be tasked to manage teams, liaise with different parties, build relationships, and set goals, among others.

As a Materials Program Manager, you need to have special skills and traits. You need to have good analytical skills to be able to determine relevant information from non-relevant ones. You also need to have good decision-making skills in order to easily choose the best option when faced with a problem. Lastly, as a Materials Program Manager, you also need to know basic math skills.

You can earn an annual average salary of $118,288 as a Materials Program Manager. You can also explore other roles and further your career through the years. Starting as a Materials Program Manager, you can then become a Program Manager, a Vice President, and a Supply Chain Vice President.

What's a day at work look like for a materials program manager?

Meaghan Goodman Ph.D.

Program Director & Assistant Professor, Maryville University

A bachelor's in communication sciences and disorders can prepare you for three different tracks. First, it can prepare you to become a licensed Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA). This is someone who works under a fully credential speech-language pathologist. Often times, they carryout intervention plans developed by a fully credentialed speech-language pathologist. If graduate school is on your horizon, a bachelor's degree in communication sciences and disorders will prepare you for acceptance into a Speech-Language Pathology program, or an Audiology program. If you are not accepted into a graduate program right away, working as a speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA) is a great way to get experience in the field!

ScoreMaterials Program ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $113,011

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 7.52%

Black or African American 9.19%

Hispanic or Latino 12.48%

Unknown 3.83%

White 66.68%

Gender

female 29.87%

male 70.13%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a materials program manager

Explore materials program manager education requirements

Most common materials program manager degrees

Bachelor's

68.3 %

Master's

16.1 %

Associate

11.1 %

Start to develop specific materials program manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Supply Chain	15.03%
Program Management	7.67%
Supplier Management	6.10%
Chain Management	5.90%
Sigma	5.45%

Complete relevant materials program manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New materials program managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a materials program manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real materials program manager resumes.

Research materials program manager duties and responsibilities

Manage key commodities such as displays, camera modules and sensors, batteries and other components.
Manage and develop multimillion-dollar programs as capture lead for DoD subcontracts and project submissions.
Negotiate and manage contracts for domestic, international transportation custom brokers, freight forwarders and other logistics services.
Manage implementation of referrals, coordinate assignment of new physicians and create support network for transitioning patients during clinic closure.

Prepare your materials program manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your materials program manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a materials program manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable materials program manager resume templates

Build a professional materials program manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your materials program manager resume.