[Q & CC] Reverse Logistics Materials Planner at TCL North America in Irvine, CA, USA

Job description

• The North America region for TCL is seeking a key role of Reverse Logistics Materials Planner. This role serves as the primary owner of parts forecasting, supply planning, inventory governance, procurement coordination, and reverse logistics support between HQ China, repair centers, logistics partners, customers, finance, and regional leaderships.
• The ideal candidate will have demonstrated expertise in reverse logistics, inventory management, parts usage, parts forecasting, purchase planning, RMA coordination, repair center operations, customer support, and cross-functional stakeholder management. This role requires strong analytical discipline, ownership, and attention to detail to ensure continuous alignment between forecasted demand, physical inventory levels, procurement actions, claim accuracy, and repair program continuity across all North America customers.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain rolling multi-month spare parts forecasts by model, customer, program, and repair center, including T-Mobile, Verizon, Walmart, and other North America customers as applicable.
• Forecast and plan PCBA, handset, service spare parts, reclamation program needs, L3 requirements, EOL demand, swap program requirements, and buyback exposure.
• Continuously adjust forecasts using WIP, existing backorders, current inventory, safety stock targets, yield, part usage trends, repair trends, and customer return behavior.
• Prepare data-backed justifications for Purchase Order (PO), Delivery Transfer (DT), buyback, and expedite requests, ensuring each action is supported by analytical evidence.
• Assess EOL impact and stock sufficiency for legacy models and communicate transition risks to repair centers, customers, RSH, HQ, and leadership.
• Execute PO and DT uploads and follow through after internal approvals are received.
• Validate part availability, ownership, shipment timing, repair center inventory, and vendor readiness prior to system execution to prevent logistics errors.
• Manage expedite actions and shortage mitigation for critical components, including PCBAs, LCDs, batteries, housings, handset parts, and other high-demand parts.
• Track shipments, ETAs, quantities, and delivery status with logistics partners such as FedEx, DHL, UPS, vendors, repair centers, and HQ to support supply chain continuity.
• Coordinate RMAs, rejected units, stock returns, and return flows between vendors, repair centers, customers, and internal teams.
• Manage and reconcile HQ and internal systems such as SCS, FSSC, BI, SAP, and other company systems to support customer compliance, inventory accuracy, and audit readiness.
• Perform deep reconciliation between SCS, repair center files, vendor records, SAP, and physical stock on hand.
• Support and lead Physical Inventory (PI) preparation, onsite validation, variance categorization, and discrepancy resolution, including high-value and low-value inventory classifications.
• Clear and reconcile accounts prior to system closures, regional transitions, inventory clean-up activities, or customer program changes to reduce operational and financial leakage.
• Provide recurring inventory health, utilization, cost exposure, and open action visibility to management and stakeholders.
• Manage BRE and DOA validation from accounting, returns, and inventory perspectives for each customer.
• Review and validate Dead on Arrival (DOA) versus Business Rule Engine (BRE) classifications to support accurate claim handling and customer compliance.
• Cross-reference IMEI, model, customer, HQ records, system classifications, and supporting documentation to prevent incorrect, duplicate, or unsupported claims.
• Create, correct, issue, and close credit memos and Credit Note Requests (CNRs) in coordination with HQ, finance, accounting, and relevant customer support teams.
• Support labor fee and repair tier discussions by model, including low-tier and mid-tier classifications, when technical or operational context is required.
• Serve as the day-to-day operational interface for SBE USA, SBE Canada, HQ China, logistics partners, procurement contacts, local teams, repair centers, customers, finance, supply chain, quality, and other regions.
• Participate in regular calls with repair centers to review KPI performance related to material availability, repair parts, PCB usage, parts consumption, shortages, and open escalations.
• Participate in regular calls and meetings with customers, local teams, headquarters, repair centers, and internal stakeholders as needed.
• Escalate and follow up on missing stock, non-responsive vendors, shipment discrepancies, system mismatches, delayed shipments, and other operational blockers.
• Work closely with Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, Repair Operations, HQ, and regional teams on special projects, parts management, availability, pricing, and process improvement.
• Maintain and distribute daily, weekly, and monthly trackers covering forecasts, inventory utilization, open action items, shipments, shortages, claims, and risk areas.
• Provide timely written updates to management and colleagues through formal reports, emails, Teams or IM, and conference calls.
• Provide clear variance explanations, risk summaries, delay updates, and action plans to stakeholders when supply, claims, inventory, or system issues occur.
• Coordinate high-volume, cross-time-zone communications with HQ China and regional stakeholders regarding system data, claims rules, parts execution, pricing, and inventory issues.
• Provide training and guidance to local teams on applicable HQ customer care systems, reporting practices, inventory processes, and parts management workflows.
• Manage BRE sales to outside vendors where applicable and perform other duties as needed and related to the job function
• These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.

Requirements

• 3 to 5 years minimum of direct reverse logistics materials management experience, preferably in the telecom industry or another technical, manufacturing, repair, or OEM environment. Bachelor's Degree in related fields is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in spare parts forecasting, demand planning, inventory management, parts ordering, PO/DT execution, shipment tracking, and repair center support.
• Experience managing multiple devices, customers, SKUs, repair centers, inventories, parts usage, and ordering requirements simultaneously.
• Advanced Excel skills are required, including the ability to build forecasts, reconcile large data sets, analyze variances, and maintain detailed operational trackers.
• Experience with HQ or enterprise systems such as SCS, FSSC, BI, SAP, or comparable ERP/reporting systems is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of BRE, DOA, RMA, CNR, credit memo, claim validation, and inventory control processes is preferred.
• Excellent organizational, written communication, verbal communication, and presentation skills.
• Highly detail-oriented with strong accuracy discipline, especially for systems, claims, inventory, customer compliance, and financial support activities.
• Ability to manage frequent exceptions, urgent shortages, shipment delays, reconciliation mismatches, and cross-functional escalations with moderate supervision.
• Ability to support multiple customers and regional stakeholders while balancing forecasting, logistics, claims, finance, and repair operations priorities.
• Responsible, dependable, deadline-oriented, and comfortable working with cross-time-zone partners.
• Carrier, OEM, repair center, reverse logistics, supply chain, or related mobile industry experience is a plus.
• Bi-lingual Mandarin is preferred.
• Strong ownership of the end-to-end link between forecasted demand, physical inventory, procurement actions, and repair program continuity.
• Ability to navigate manual reconciliation across multiple systems, files, vendors, and repair center sources.
• High attention to detail when validating system data, IMEI/model information, customer classifications, inventory variance, claims, and financial support documentation.
• Ability to switch quickly between forecasting, logistics, inventory, finance, claims, customer, and HQ topics throughout the workday.
• Resilience in managing external dependencies, including HQ data, vendor responsiveness, shipment timing, system updates, and repair center accuracy.

Skills

Required

• Advanced Excel
• Spare parts forecasting
• Demand planning
• Inventory management
• Parts ordering
• PO/DT execution
• Shipment tracking
• Repair center support
• Data reconciliation
• Variance analysis
• Operational trackers
• Cross-functional communication

Preferred

• SCS
• FSSC
• BI
• SAP
• ERP/reporting systems
• BRE
• DOA
• RMA

Benefits

• Vacation: Starting at 5 days per year
• Health & Wellness Days: 10 days per year (prorated based on start date)
• Paid Holidays: 12 days per year
• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• 401(k) Matching
• This position is based onsite in Irvine, California. Regular in-person attendance is an essential function of the role. The anticipated base salary range for this position is $60,000 - $80,000 annually. Actual compensation will be determined based on job-related factors, including skills, experience, education, training, certifications, and business needs.