Head of Supply Chain

Elve Inc • Davis, CA

14h • $110,000 - $190,000

About The Position

The Head of Supply Chain owns material flow from suppliers to manufacturing and is accountable for building and operating Elve’s resilient, scalable supply chain across sourcing, planning, and fulfillment. The role anticipates, prevents, and mitigates supply chain problems before they affect production or customers, ensuring materials, production, and logistics move in lockstep and that risks, constraints, and tradeoffs are surfaced and addressed early.

This is a hands-on leadership role. Initially, the Head of Supply Chain will personally execute planning and closely partner with team members on sourcing, supplier management, and logistics while building systems and processes for scale. Team growth will follow demonstrated execution. The role is critical to reliable customer delivery as Elve scales its manufacturing operation.

Requirements

• 7+ years in supply chain, sourcing, logistics, or manufacturing operations.
• Experience owning supply planning in a production environment.
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves and personally do the work while leading a small, lean supply chain team.
• High ownership of outcomes.
• Background supporting complex, engineered hardware.
• Demonstrated success managing suppliers, lead times, and logistics flows.
• Demonstrated capability with supply chain planning tools, including spreadsheets, automations, and data analysis.
• Proactive and structured approach to planning and execution.
• Strong systems thinking.
• Programming (Python) and automation of supply chain tools.
• Clear communication across technical and commercial teams.
• Technical fluency to engage with engineers on design and manufacturability.
• Adaptability and decisiveness in fast-moving environments.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorization to conform to U.S. Government export regulations (EAR).

Nice To Haves

• Experience in aerospace, defense, RF, vacuum electronics, semiconductor, or other high-reliability hardware.
• Experience in a high-growth, venture capital-backed startup environment.
• ERP/MRP implementation experience.
• Quality inspection experience.
• Experience scaling supply chain and fulfillment from pilot to higher-volume production.
• Familiarity with export controls (ITAR) and regulated shipping environments.

Responsibilities

• Define, implement, and execute inventory strategies, including safety stock, reorder points, and buffers.
• Implement and operate planning, procurement, and inventory management systems.
• Partner with Finance to manage inventory investment, working capital, and material cost forecasts.
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and IT to implement ERP systems, owning supply-chain-specific configuration, data integrity, and day-to-day use.
• Define, own, and execute incoming inspection strategy for purchased parts in partnership with Engineering and Operations.
• Ensure material availability for production operations.
• Maintain rolling forward visibility into inventory coverage, lead times, supplier capacity constraints, and demand signals.
• Prevent last-minute expedites, line stoppages, and surprise shortages through disciplined planning, early intervention, and mitigation strategies.
• Identify supply risks early and develop prevention and mitigation plans with Operations and Engineering.
• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for critical components, including dual-sourcing and communicating build-versus-buy decisions.
• Qualify, onboard, and develop suppliers, and establish performance metrics across delivery, quality, cost, and responsiveness.
• Lead supplier negotiations and capacity-planning discussions.
• Drive material cost targets and cost-down execution in partnership with Engineering and Operations.
• Work with Engineering on part selection, substitutions, and redesigns, ensuring supply considerations are incorporated into engineering roadmaps.
• Establish and run regular operating rhythms, including planning, supplier and capacity, fulfillment, and risk-register reviews.
• Define and manage KPIs and maintain dashboards covering inventory coverage, shortages, supplier performance, and delivery commitments.
• Build playbooks for supply chain, sourcing, and logistics scenarios.
• Gradually develop and lead a lean supply chain function that scales with the business.

Benefits

• Health benefits (medical, dental, vision).
• Vacation.
• A taste of the start-up life.
• Exposure to cutting-edge technology in vacuum electronics, materials science, and additive manufacturing.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed