At a manufacturer, contractor, or supply operation, you prepare the lists of materials needed for production runs or projects — translating BOMs, drawings, or specifications into the order-ready lists that buyers, kitters, or warehouse staff pull from.
A typical week often involves BOM review, takeoff work, list preparation, and coordination with buying and production — translating engineering BOMs into pull lists, building project material lists from drawings, working with planners on substitutions, fielding questions from the floor. You're often the bridge between what engineering specified and what the floor actually pulls. Lists prepared accurately and on time is the operating measure.
The harder part is often the version-control discipline — when engineering revises a BOM, the materials lists have to follow, and missed updates cascade into wrong-part issues. Variance across employers is wide: at large manufacturers the role runs on integrated ERP/PLM systems; at smaller operations it tilts toward spreadsheets and shared drives.
Folks who fit this role are methodical, comfortable with engineering documents, and patient with version control. ERP and PLM fluency anchor advancement. The trade-off is the consequence weight of list errors — a missing item shows up at the assembly station, often hours after the list was prepared.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →At a manufacturer, contractor, or supply operation, you prepare the lists of materials needed for production runs or projects — translating BOMs, drawings, or specifications into the order-ready lists that buyers, kitters, or warehouse staff pull from.
Median pay for a Materials Lister is about $58K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $39K to $85K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Time Management, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 1.8% through 2034, with roughly 385,000 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Project Manager, Human Resources Project Manager (HR Project Manager), and Technical Project Manager (Technical PM).
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