How To Become A Senior Materials Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior materials analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior materials analyst. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.57 an hour? That's $71,913 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -29,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSenior Materials AnalystUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $71,913

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 7.83%

Black or African American 9.08%

Hispanic or Latino 12.45%

Unknown 4.41%

White 65.45%

Gender

female 38.62%

male 61.38%

Age - 49

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 - 49

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior materials analyst

Explore senior materials analyst education requirements

Most common senior materials analyst degrees

Bachelor's

65.3 %

Associate

17.5 %

Master's

11.6 %

Start to develop specific senior materials analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Supply Chain	17.08%
Materials Management	9.31%
MRP	8.62%
Material Planning	8.31%
Sigma	7.45%

Complete relevant senior materials analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior materials analysts 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 senior materials analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior materials analyst resumes.

Research senior materials analyst duties and responsibilities

Manage data gathering and processing of information to maintain and support Kanban production management systems.
Establish procedures that manage critical factors such as moisture sensitivity, electrostatic discharge, storeroom temperature and FIFO inventory staging system.
Develop Kanban and trigger base buying processes.
Assist with BOM audits and initial build validation efforts.

Get senior materials analyst experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior materials analyst. The most common roles before becoming a senior materials analyst include material analyst, buyer team lead and purchasing agent.

Prepare your senior materials analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior materials analyst 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 senior materials analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior materials analyst resume templates

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