Supply Chain Specialist - Buyer/ Planner

Job description

**The Company:** Solestial is pioneering the future of space-based solar power by developing advanced solar technologies optimized for the harsh conditions of space. Our innovative, low-cost, and scalable solar arrays are engineered for next-generation satellites, spacecraft, and orbital infrastructure. We are driven by a mission to power the space economy and unlock limitless opportunities in orbit and beyond. **The Role:** As a Supply Chain Specialist, you will support the production of solar cells, modules, and module integration at Solestial. You will be responsible for production scheduling and material procurement to ensure availability based on capacity, lead times, and delivery priorities. Your daily responsibilities will include monitoring inventory levels and material expiration, maintaining lot traceability, managing warehouse transactions, procuring materials, and sharing supply chain data with your teammates to support production goals. You will work closely with Production, Process Engineering, and Program Managers to coordinate production runs and support the scaling of Solestial’s manufacturing capacity. As Solestial continues to grow and transitions to a new, automated, high-volume manufacturing line, you will have opportunities to grow into broader or more specialized roles within supply chain, logistics, procurement, or planning. ### Your Mission - Prepare weekly schedules for the production teams and monitor production output to the schedule - Work directly with the operations team in development of production ramping plans - Prepare raw material inventory reports, monitor kanbans, and update other documentation with the use of multiple systems including MES, MRP, WMS, etc. - Procure raw materials for production of solar cells and modules, including creation and usage of purchase orders, negotiating for price, lead time, and payment terms. - Complete all receiving, in alignment with purchase orders for a complete 2-way match - Expedite orders with suppliers or transportation as required - Develop innovative methods to reduce the cost of materials and logistics - Create standard methods for data analysis to communicate material usage and determine scaling with ramp up of production. - Support continuous improvement of scheduling, warehouse management, procurement, and reporting processes. - Follow safety requirements and prevent accidents. - Maintain a clean work environment. - Work in collaboration with operations to achieve output performance (production capacity, on-time delivery, inventory levels) ### What You Bring - Experience using MES, MRP, and/or WMS systems in a manufacturing or production environment. - Strong skills in Microsoft Excel, with preferred candidates having experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar reporting/ analytics tools. - Ability to work in a class 10,000 clean room environment. - Ability to work in processing area wearing the necessary PPE. - Ability to work in a dynamic environment. - Strong analytical skills, basic data analysis and presentation, clear communication. - Production planning and scheduling experience, including coordinating build priorities, material readiness and capacity constraints. - Experience managing warehouse/ material control activities. - Ability to generate, analyze, and communicate production and inventory reports from multiple data sources. - Collaborative, takes ownership, and works well across the team to get things done. - **Preferred candidate: SQL/ Database experience for pulling, organizing, and validating production or inventory data.** - **Previous experience with photovoltaic solar modules or flexible circuits (R&D, manufacturing, reliability) is a strong plus.** ### Other Benefits: - Generous, high-quality medical, dental, and vision coverage. - 15 vacation days, 5 sick days, and 10 paid holidays annually - with an extended holiday break at year’s end - 401K with employer match up to 4% of salary - Employer-paid short-term and long-term disability and employer-sponsored life insurance - Your work will literally **go to space!**