Director of Planning & Fulfillment

ABOUT ROCKET LAB

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets spacecraft and critical subsystems that keep the world connected protected expand humanitys reach to the Moon Mars and beyond. We move fast build real hardware for meaningful missions and make the impossible routine. Come shape the future with us.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Rocket Labs Supply Chain team is responsible for the flow of all materials products and components through the business. With many of our own products functioning as critical components to our own and our customers missions the Supply Chain team has a direct impact on the success of our rocket and satellite programs. They set up the assembly kits that enables our technicians to put together our Electron rockets manage inventory look after shipping and receiving manage direct and indirect procurement and inspect and ensure that all of our materials and products are compliant and up to standard. They are the chain that links our teams together and are critical to our success.

DIRECTOR OF PLANNING & FULFILLMENT

The Material Planning Director leads a team with responsibility for ensuring raw materials and components are delivered supporting production needs efficiently. This role will fully understand our supply chain and production operations. They will develop inventory strategies and drive execution. The Material Planning Manager requires engagement with Rocket Lab US and New Zealand across the extended supply chain.

WHAT YOULL GET TO DO:

• Own end-to-end multi-site material planning and fulfillment operations across all production programs including launch vehicle and spacecraft manufacturing.
• Set and achieve program-level material readiness targets: line of balance clear-to-build status and on-time kitting metrics.
• Partner with Procurement to align supplier lead times purchase planning message cadences and material flow to production demand.
• Translate engineering change orders and program schedule changes into actionable supply and fulfillment plans with minimal disruption to production.
• Establish and own material shortage management processes including root cause analysis and corrective action loops.
• Build and publish executive-level material health dashboards and weekly risk visibility reporting for COO and program leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across planning and fulfillment identifying systemic gaps in ERP and closing them.

YOULL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS:

• 12 years of progressive supply chain experience in a leadership role owning material planning production planning or fulfillment functions.
• Bachelors degree or equivalent years of work experience (16 years total work experience).
• Deep hands-on expertise in MRP/ERP systems and planning fundamentals: demand planning supply planning order policy BOM management and fulfillment execution.
• Proven track record building and scaling planning teams in a high-mix low-volume fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Exceptional cross-functional influence; successfully aligning engineering production procurement and finance on competing priorities under schedule pressure.

THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:

• Prior experience in aerospace defense or other high-consequence regulated manufacturing industries.
• Experience managing multi-site or globally distributed planning operations including international freight and customs coordination.
• 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: line of balance manufacturing readiness level (MRL) or similar.

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting standing walking computer work and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise dust and fumes in production areas.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Were on a mission to unlock the potential of space to improve life on Earth but thats not an easy task. It takes hard work determination relentless innovation teamwork grit and an unwavering commitment to achieving what others often deem impossible. Our people out-think out-work and out-pace. We pride ourselves on having each others backs checking our egos at the door and rolling up our sleeves on all tasks big and small. We thrive under pressure work to tight deadlines and our focus is always on how we can deliver rather than dwelling on the challenges that stand in the way.

Important information:

FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN US OFFICES ONLY:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) Rocket Lab Employees must be a U.S. citizen lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder) or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce as applicable. Learn more about ITAR here.

Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race color religion age sex national origin disability status genetics protected veteran status sexual orientation gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab including recruiting hiring placement promotion termination layoff recall transfer leaves of absence compensation and training.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for the application/interview process for a job in the United States should contact Giulia Johnson at This dedicated resource is intended solely to assist job seekers with disabilities whose disability prevents them from being able to apply/interview. Only messages left for this purpose will be considered. A response to your request may take up to two business days.

FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN NEW ZEALAND OFFICES ONLY:

For security reasons background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offers being made to an applicant. These checks will include nationality checks as it is a requirement of this position that you be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

Under these Regulations you may be ineligible for this role if you do not hold citizenship of Australia Japan New Zealand Switzerland the European Union or a country that is part of NATO or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality. For more information on these Regulations click here ITAR Regulations.