Lab Operations Coordinator

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies•Irvine, CA

3d•$85,600 - $117,700•Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a highly organized and proactive Lab Operations Coordinator to keep engineering labs and test assets supplied, traceable, organized, and ready for use. This hands-on role owns purchasing coordination, receiving, inventory, equipment records, supplier follow-up, shipments, returns, and lab workflow for the Systems Integration and Diagnostics labs, and provides defined shared services — SAP transaction support and cross-site part transfers — to partner engineering teams. The position is based in Irvine, where the majority of builds and stocked material are located, and supports Palo Alto through remote coordination.

Requirements

3+ years of experience in lab operations, purchasing administration, inventory control, asset management, logistics, manufacturing operations, or a similar environment
2+ years will be considered with directly relevant lab or purchasing operations experience.
Experience with an ERP or procurement platform; SAP experience strongly preferred, Coupa familiarity a plus.
Strong spreadsheet, data-management, recordkeeping, follow-through, and communication skills.
Ability to understand basic electrical/electronic lab equipment, part-number structures, inventory concepts, calibration needs, and safe material handling.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting automotive, aerospace, electronics, hardware development, HIL, validation, prototype, or test-lab environments is preferred.
Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, asset-management systems, barcode/QR tracking, ESD practices, or multi-site material movement is a plus.

Responsibilities

Coordinate SAP requests, purchase orders, quotes, order status, backorders, invoices, returns, RMAs, and supplier follow-up.
Serve as the SAP execution point for partner engineering teams, absorbing recurring transactional work that currently fragments engineering time.
Verify request completeness and escalate pricing, vendor, approval, or sourcing decisions to the appropriate owner.
Maintain accurate records for lab equipment, test assets, components, consumables, harness materials, spares, and shared tools within the Systems Integration and Diagnostics labs.
Coordinate receiving, inspection, labeling, storage, issuance, asset records, calibration visibility, cycle counts, and discrepancy resolution.
Coordinate builds with previously qualified suppliers for established, validated designs — order placement, part collection, delivery scheduling, receiving readiness, and dock coordination — so engineers are not managing routine build logistics.
Chase and consolidate parts across sites against engineer-provided BOMs; for example, sourcing connectors, terminals, and components stocked in Irvine for builds and first articles at other sites, and driving them to the requesting site.
Coordinate incoming deliveries, inter-site shipments, packing lists, tracking, carrier handoffs, and material movement between Palo Alto and Irvine.
Support damaged shipments, missing items, returns, and supplier packing or quality issues through documented closure.
Maintain BOM-to-asset traceability for test assets leaving the lab, including tagging, record linkage, and documentation sufficient to support data-security and TISAX audit requirements.
Apply and maintain a consistent asset tagging method (physical documentation, barcode/QR linkage to build records, or equivalent) across sites.
Maintain a visible view of requests, incoming material, shortages, equipment status, service actions, and readiness blockers.
Coordinate with engineers and technicians around build milestones, lab capacity, need-by dates, staging, storage, and escalation of risks.
Establish standard work for purchasing intake, receiving, inventory updates, asset tagging, shipment coordination, and issue escalation.
Report on purchasing cycle time, open orders, overdue deliveries, inventory accuracy, calibration status, traceability coverage, and unresolved blockers.