Director of Supply Chain

ArcTern Ventures; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 203,000 - 219,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401k

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Parental leave

Unlimited sick time

Job summary

Muon Space in San Jose, CA is seeking a Director of Supply Chain to lead Purchasing, Planning, and Inventory Management at scale. You will define operating models, build cross-functional trust, and drive cost, quality, delivery, and resilience as Muon expands from prototype to volume production.

The role requires deep expertise in procurement, strategic sourcing, MRP, and supplier development, with a track record of building high-performing teams in manufacturing environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive supply chain experience, including 5+ years leading and building supply chain teams.
• Experience in a manufacturing environment—ideally aerospace, satellite, or high-mix hardware production.
• Proven success establishing operating models, processes, and KPIs from startup or scale-up environments.
• Deep expertise across procurement, strategic sourcing/supplier development, MRP, and inventory management.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and risk management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Hold overall responsibility for executing the Supply Chain organization's mission across Purchasing, Planning, and Inventory Management.
• Define overall supply chain operating models and the associated interfaces with other teams across the company.
• Ensure the supply chain organization has the tools, capabilities, and capacity to fulfill Muon's business objectives.
• Provide input into the phased build-out of the organization, helping prioritize and implement dedicated functional leads as mission volume grows.
• Coordinate and improve end-to-end, cross-functional supply chain processes.
• Define, monitor, and manage overall supply chain KPIs.
• Collaborate on cross-functional processes balancing supply chain, manufacturing, and engineering velocity.

Skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Supply chain leadership

Risk management

Vendor relationships

Program management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, or a related field

APICS/ISM certification or equivalent

Tools

ERP/MRP systems

Supply chain analytics

Job description

About the role

Muon Space is an end-to-end space systems company that designs, builds, and operates mission-optimized satellite constellations to deliver critical data and enable real-time compute and decision-making in space. Following our $146 million Series B, we are scaling rapidly: we recently announced new funding to scale production and acquire propulsion startup Starlight Engines, bringing a potential supply chain bottleneck in-house to support our rapid expansion. Our new San Jose facility serves as our production center and can support up to 500 satellites annually in the 100-500kg+ class. This is a pivotal moment for our supply chain. We are building a high-mix, high-volume constellation manufacturing system, and are vertically integrating large fractions of the components of our satellite platforms. The Director of Supply Chain will be central to delivering on that promise at scale. The Director of Supply Chain provides strategic leadership for Muon's end-to-end supply chain across Purchasing, Planning, and Inventory Management. This is a newly created leadership role established to address strategic leadership, cross-functional process definition, proactive supply chain risk management, and to evolve a team of individual contributors into a layered, process-driven organization. You will set the operating models, build cross-company trust, and create a supply chain capable of continuous improvement in cost, quality, delivery, and resilience as Muon scales from one-off missions to volume constellation production. This position is hybrid and requires working on-site in our San Jose, CA office three days per week.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Mission Ownership

• Hold overall responsibility for executing the Supply Chain organization's mission across Purchasing, Planning, and Inventory Management
• Define overall supply chain operating models and the associated interfaces with other teams across the company
• Ensure the supply chain organization has the tools, capabilities, and capacity to fulfill Muon's business objectives
• Provide input into the phased build-out of the organization, helping prioritize and implement the establishment of dedicated functional leads as mission volume and production complexity grow

Process & Performance Management

• Coordinate and improve end-to-end, cross-functional supply chain processes
• Ensure accountability for performance within each of the supply chain functions
• Work with functional leads to implement management principles so teams stay correctly focused and prioritized
• Define, monitor, and manage overall supply chain and individual function KPIs
• Collaborate on cross-functional processes that balance the requirements of supply chain and manufacturing with the needs of engineering and engineering velocity

Risk Management & Resilience

• Manage near-term and long-term supply chain risk, including obsolescence, sole-source dependencies, and geopolitical impacts
• Proactively assess and mitigate risks; cultivate relationships with key vendors to ensure priority access
• Architect and implement new supply chain practices such as formal supplier assessment & onboarding, inventory excess & obsolescence review, and in-sourcing/out-sourcing decisions

Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Development

• Own strategic sourcing and supplier development as a core part of the role, building and managing a high-performing supplier base that delivers continuous improvement in cost, quality, delivery, and innovation
• Identify and propose innovative supplier engagement approaches to improve supply chain robustness and reduce risk
• Lead or support strategic supplier engagement negotiations
• Champion platform commonality—maximizing reuse of parts, suppliers, and processes across missions to drive cost efficiency and supply resilience (a natural fit for Muon's common, stocked-component production model)

Design & Production Integration

• Synchronize with the design team to incorporate design changes into procurement plans without compromising mission delivery
• Ensure Planning sits effectively at the center of Engineering Design Release, Material Procurement and Delivery, and Production Execution
• Partner with Mission Management, Engineering, Finance, and Production to align material readiness with program delivery schedules

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of progressive supply chain experience, including 5+ years leading and building supply chain teams and managing managers
• Demonstrated experience in a manufacturing environment—ideally aerospace, satellite, complex electromechanical, or other high-mix, regulated hardware production
• Proven success establishing supply chain operating models, processes, and KPIs from an early or immature baseline (start-up or scale-up experience strongly preferred)
• Deep expertise across procurement, strategic sourcing/supplier development, materials/production planning (MRP), and inventory management
• Strong track record of proactive supply chain risk management (obsolescence, sole-source, geopolitical)
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills, with a demonstrated ability to balance supply chain and manufacturing needs against engineering velocity and to build trust across stakeholders
• Nice-to-have Skills Experience scaling a supply chain from low-rate/prototype to higher-volume serial production Familiarity with aerospace/defense supply chain requirements (e.g., AS9100, ITAR/EAR, counterfeit-part avoidance, traceability) and secure-program environments Experience supporting vertical integration and make-vs-buy/insourcing decisions Hands-on experience implementing or improving ERP/MRP systems and supply chain analytics APICS/ASCM (CPIM, CSCP), ISM (CPSM), or equivalent certification

Salary

The salary range for this role is $203,000 - $219,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location as assessed during the interview process.

About Muon Space

Founded in 2021, Muon Space is an end-to-end Space Systems Provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission-critical data. Our revolutionary, integrated technology stack enables customers to optimize every dimension of their missions for faster time-to-orbit and superior constellation remote sensing performance. Our state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley is optimized for manufacturing spacecraft and rapid, flexible payload integration at scale. From climate monitoring to national security, Muon Space is dedicated to delivering Earth Intelligence for a safer and more resilient world.

Taking Care of Our Team

At Muon salary is only part of our total compensation package. In addition to salary, full-time employees receive equity compensation as well as benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement plan, short & long term disability and life insurance. We also offer three weeks paid vacation for new employees, along with 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time and paid parental leave. Our mission embraces the entire planet and we believe our team should too.

Muon is dedicated to creating a diverse and dynamic company and workforce. We believe in equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity. We value diversity in the workplace, and that starts with our applicants.

In addition, if you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

ITAR/EAR Requirements

This position requires access to export controlled information. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicable to that information, applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency. The Company may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.