Director of Planning & Fulfillment

The role

The Material Planning Director leads a team responsible for ensuring raw materials and components are delivered to support production needs. This role involves developing inventory strategies and managing multi-site material planning and fulfillment operations for launch vehicles and spacecraft.

What you will do

• Own end-to-end multi-site material planning and fulfillment operations across all production programs
• Set and achieve program-level material readiness targets
• Partner with Procurement to align supplier lead times and material flow to production demand
• Translate engineering change orders and program schedule changes into actionable supply and fulfillment plans
• Establish and own material shortage management processes
• Build and publish executive-level material health dashboards and weekly risk visibility reporting
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across planning and fulfillment

Required qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive supply chain experience in a leadership role owning material planning, production planning, or fulfillment functions
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent years of work experience (16+ years total work experience)
• Deep, hands-on expertise in MRP/ERP systems and planning fundamentals
• Proven track record building and scaling planning teams in a high-mix, low-volume, fast-paced manufacturing environment
• Exceptional cross-functional influence
• Prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work
• Occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas

Nice to have

• Prior experience in aerospace, defense, or other high-consequence, regulated manufacturing industries
• Experience managing multi-site or globally distributed planning operations
• Exposure to AI-enabled supply chain tools, digital transformation initiatives, or ERP implementation and optimization projects
• APICS CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent professional certification
• Demonstrated experience with production readiness frameworks

Benefits

• top tier medical HMO, PPO & a 100% company-sponsored medical HSA plan option
• dental and vision coverage
• 3 weeks paid vacation
• 5 days sick leave per year
• 11 paid holidays per year
• flexible spending and dependent care savings accounts
• paid parental leave
• disability insurance
• life insurance
• access to a 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Discounted employee stock purchase program
• subsidized EV charging stations

Before you apply

• US candidates must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce
• New Zealand candidates will undergo background checks including nationality checks
• New Zealand candidates must be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by ITAR

About the company

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems. The Supply Chain team is responsible for the flow of all materials, products, and components through the business.