Supply Chain Operations Lead

Supply Chain Operations Lead

Location: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, CA

Employment Type: Full-Time

Level: Senior / Staff / Lead

Work Arrangement: On-Site / Highly Collaborative

About the Opportunity

An early-stage aerospace and defense manufacturing company is building the operational infrastructure required to support the production of next-generation hardware.

We are seeking a Supply Chain Operations Lead to build the company's supply chain function from the ground up. This is a zero-to-one role for an experienced operator who has personally designed and implemented supply chain systems, processes, and controls within a regulated aerospace or defense manufacturing environment.

The company is still in the pre-production phase, creating a rare opportunity to establish the operating model before supplier activity and production scale significantly increase.

This is not primarily a procurement or strategic sourcing leadership role . Supplier relationships are already well established. The primary need is someone who can architect how supply chain operations should work, translate those requirements into business systems, and create the processes and governance necessary to support future manufacturing scale.

The role initially operates as a senior individual contributor and central owner of the function, with the organization expected to remain intentionally lean as automation and systems take on much f the operational workload.

What You'll Own

• Architect and stand up the company's supply chain operating model from the ground up.
• Design and implement supply chain processes, workflows, controls, and governance appropriate for an aerospace and defense manufacturing environment.
• Define and implement ERP/MRP business processes , working closely with the company's software and technology organization.
• Translate physical supply chain requirements into scalable digital systems and ensure business systems accurately reflect operational processes.
• Build planning, inventory management, material control, and procurement workflows from scratch.
• Establish processes for material planning, purchasing execution, inventory visibility, material movement, and operational tracking.
• Develop supplier qualification, onboarding, governance, and supplier quality processes.
• Establish appropriate terms-and-conditions and operational frameworks for supplier relationships.
• Build dashboards, reporting, and performance tracking to provide visibility into materials and supply chain execution.
• Establish processes that support AS9100 quality requirements and aerospace/defense manufacturing standards .
• Ensure supply chain operations maintain appropriate compliance with ITAR, DFARS, and related defense-industry requirements .
• Partner closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, software, and leadership to ensure supply chain processes support the broader product and manufacturing strategy.
• Identify operational gaps before they become production constraints and establish scalable solutions proactively.
• Serve as the primary owner and point of accountability for supply chain operations as the function develops.
• Establish the foundation for a small, highly automated supply chain organization that can scale without requiring significant headcount growth.

What We're Looking For

• Significant experience in supply chain operations, materials management, manufacturing operations, or a closely related function within aerospace or defense manufacturing .
• Direct, hands‑on experience operating within AS9100, ITAR, and DFARS environments .
• Demonstrated experience architecting and implementing supply chain systems and processes , rather than simply inheriting and managing an established organization.
• Experience implementing or significantly configuring ERP/MRP systems and translating operational requirements into system workflows.
• Strong understanding of planning, inventory, material control, procurement operations, supplier governance, and manufacturing supply chain processes.
• Experience establishing processes and controls in a regulated manufacturing environment.
• Ability to work effectively with software/IT teams to ensure ERP and other business systems accurately support physical operations.
• Strong process‑design and systems‑thinking capabilities.
• Comfortable operating as a hands‑on individual contributor with broad ownership.
• Strong judgment and ability to build practical processes without unnecessary organizational complexity.
• Experience working cross‑functionally with engineering, manufacturing, quality, software, and leadership teams.
• Willingness to operate in a highly hands‑on, early‑stage environment where the processes and infrastructure are still being established.

Particularly Relevant Experience

Strong candidates may come from:

• Aerospace and defense manufacturers operating under AS9100, ITAR, and DFARS requirements.
• Defense manufacturing startups where they have helped establish supply chain infrastructure from an early stage.
• Senior or staff‑level supply chain operators within larger defense organizations who personally own systems and process development.
• ERP/MRP implementation or transformation initiatives within aerospace and defense manufacturing.
• Manufacturing environments where supply chain operations had to be built or significantly redesigned ahead of production scale.

Experience with Odoo or similar modern ERP platforms is a plus.

Candidates who have successfully taken supply chain operations from zero-to-one —establishing the processes, systems, controls, and governance before meaningful production scale—are

particularly relevant.

What This Role Is Not

This position is not primarily focused on:

• Strategic sourcing or supplier discovery.
• Price negotiation as the primary responsibility.
• Managing a large procurement or supply chain organization.
• Traditional procurement leadership within a large established enterprise.
• Simply operating an existing ERP/MRP environment without having participated in its design or implementation.

The central challenge is building the operational and systems infrastructure that allows those relationships and future manufacturing activity to function effectively at scale.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to establish a supply chain organization before the company enters significant production and supplier scale.

You will have substantial influence over:

• Supply chain architecture
• ERP/MRP implementation
• Planning and inventory processes
• Supplier governance
• Material controls
• Compliance processes
• Operational reporting
• The connection between digital systems and physical manufacturing

Rather than inheriting an established supply chain organization, you will define how the function operates and build the infrastructure that will support the company's future manufacturing growth.

Compensation

Base Salary: $160,000-$185,000 + Equity, Benefits, Perks

Location

Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, California

This is a hands‑on role requiring close collaboration with the broader engineering, manufacturing, software, and operations organizations.