Elve

Manufactures high-efficiency mmWave power amplifiers

Director of Supply Chain

Supply Chain ManagementPosted on Nov 10

Full-timeDavis, CA, USA$110k - $190k /yrIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience in supply chain, sourcing, logistics, or manufacturing operations.
Experience owning supply planning in a production environment.
Ability to personally execute work while leading a small, lean supply chain team.
Background supporting complex, engineered hardware.
Demonstrated success managing suppliers, lead times, and logistics flows.
Capability with supply chain planning tools, including spreadsheets, automations, and data analysis.
Programming in Python and automating supply chain tools.
Ability to engage with engineers on design and manufacturability.
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations (EAR), candidates must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorization.

Responsibilities

Own material flow from suppliers to manufacturing and build and operate a resilient, scalable supply chain spanning sourcing, planning, and fulfillment.
Anticipate, prevent, and mitigate supply chain problems before they affect production or customers, ensuring materials, production, and logistics stay aligned and that risks, constraints, and tradeoffs are addressed early.
Personally execute planning while leading the supply chain team and partnering on sourcing, supplier management, and logistics as the business scales.
Define, implement, and execute inventory strategies, including safety stock, reorder points, and buffers.
Implement and operate planning, procurement, and inventory management systems.
Partner with Finance to manage inventory investment, working capital, and material cost forecasts.
Partner with Finance, Operations, and IT to implement ERP systems, owning supply-chain-specific configuration, data integrity, and day-to-day use.
Define, own, and execute incoming inspection strategy for purchased parts in partnership with Engineering and Operations.
Ensure material availability for production operations.
Maintain rolling forward visibility into inventory coverage, lead times, supplier capacity constraints, and demand signals.
Prevent last-minute expedites, line stoppages, and surprise shortages through disciplined planning, early intervention, and mitigation; identify supply risks early and develop prevention and mitigation plans with Operations and Engineering.
Develop and execute sourcing strategies for critical components, including dual-sourcing and communicating build-versus-buy decisions.
Qualify, onboard, and develop suppliers, and establish supplier performance metrics across delivery, quality, cost, and responsiveness.
Lead supplier negotiations and capacity planning discussions.
Drive material cost targets and cost-down execution in partnership with Engineering and Operations.
Work closely with Engineering on part selection, substitutions, and redesigns, and ensure supply considerations are included in engineering roadmaps.
Establish and run operating rhythms, including planning reviews, supplier and capacity reviews, fulfillment reviews, and risk register reviews.
Define and manage KPIs, and maintain dashboards covering inventory coverage, shortages, supplier performance, and delivery commitments.
Build playbooks for supply chain, sourcing, and logistics scenarios.
Develop and lead a lean supply chain function that scales with the business.

Desired Qualifications

Experience in aerospace, defense, radio frequency (RF), vacuum electronics, semiconductor, or other high-reliability hardware.
Experience in a high-growth, venture-capital-backed startup environment.
ERP or MRP implementation experience.
Quality inspection experience.
Experience scaling supply chain and fulfillment from pilot to higher-volume production.
Familiarity with export controls (ITAR) and regulated shipping environments.

Director of Supply Chain

Elve Inc · Davis, United States · Full-time · Posted 2026-11-10

Salary: USD 110,000–190,000

Workplace: on_site

Department: Operations

Description

Position Summary

The Director of Supply Chain owns material flow from suppliers to manufacturing. This role is accountable for building and operating Elve’s resilient and scalable supply chain spanning sourcing, planning, and fulfillment.

You are responsible for anticipating, preventing, and mitigating supply chain problems before they impact production or customers. You will ensure that materials, production, and logistics move in lockstep, and that risks, constraints, and tradeoffs are surfaced and addressed early.

This is a hands-on leadership role. In the near term, the Director of Supply Chain will personally execute planning, lead the supply chain team, and closely partner with team members on sourcing, supplier management, and logistics, while building the systems and processes needed to scale.

Strong supply chain execution is critical to Elve’s ability to deliver reliably to customers while scaling a manufacturing operation.

Key Responsibilities

Systems & Processes
Define, implement, and execute inventory strategies including safety stock, reorder points, and buffers
Implement and operate planning, procurement, and inventory management systems
Partner with Finance to manage inventory investment, working capital, and material cost forecasts
Partner with Finance, Operations, and IT to implement ERP systems, owning supply-chain-specific configuration, data integrity, and day-to-day use
Define, own, and execute incoming inspection strategy for purchased parts in partnership with Engineering and Operations
Supply Chain Strategy, Planning, & Risk Management (prevention and mitigation)
Ensure material availability for production operations
Maintain rolling forward visibility into inventory coverage, lead times, supplier capacity constraints, and demand signals.
Eliminate last-minute expedites, line stoppages, and surprise shortages through disciplined preventative planning, early intervention, and mitigation strategies. Identify supply risks early and develop prevention and mitigation plans in partnership with operations and engineering
Develop and execute sourcing strategies for critical components, including dual-sourcing and communicating build vs. buy decisions
Qualify, onboard, and develop suppliers and establish supplier performance metrics across delivery, quality, cost, and responsiveness
Lead supplier negotiations and capacity planning discussions
Cost-down
Drive material cost targets and cost-down execution in partnership with engineering and operations
Work closely with engineering on part selection, substitutions, and redesigns and ensure supply considerations are incorporated into engineering roadmaps
Operational Leadership
Establish and run regular operating rhythms (planning reviews, supplier and capacity reviews, fulfillment reviews, risk register reviews)
Define and manage against KPIs; maintain dashboards covering inventory coverage, shortages, supplier performance, and delivery commitments
Build playbooks for supply chain, sourcing, and logistics scenarios
Develop and lead a lean supply chain function that scales with the business

What Success Looks Like

The supply chain and fulfillment function scales smoothly and remains lean with growing production volume to 10x current throughput
Supply chain risks are visible early, clearly communicated, and actively managed
Regularly address material shortages, supplier delays, and capacity constraints before they impact production or customers

Requirements

Qualifications

7+ years in supply chain, sourcing, logistics, or manufacturing operations
Experience owning supply planning in a production environment
Willingness to roll up your sleeves and personally do the work while leading a small, lean supply chain team
High ownership of outcomes
Background supporting complex, engineered hardware
Demonstrated success managing suppliers, lead times, and logistics flows
Demonstrated capability with supply chain planning tools (spreadsheets, automations, data analysis)
Proactive and structured in approach to planning and execution
Strong systems thinker
Programming (python) and automation of supply chain tools
Clear communicator across technical and commercial teams
Technically conversant and able to engage with engineers on design and manufacturability
Adaptable and decisive in fast-moving environments
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations (EAR), candidates must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorization.

Preferred Skills (Not Required)

Experience in aerospace, defense, RF, vacuum electronics, semiconductor, or other high-reliability hardware
Experience in a high growth, venture capital-backed startup environment
ERP / MRP implementation experience
Quality inspection experience
Experience scaling supply chain and fulfillment from pilot to higher-volume production
Familiarity with export controls (ITAR) and regulated shipping environments

Benefits

Benefits Include:

The salary range for this position is $110,000 to $190,000 annually
Health benefits (medical, dental, vision)
Vacation
A taste of the start-up life
Exposure to cutting-edge technology in vacuum electronics, materials science, and additive manufacturing

What it’s like to work at Elve

We are an expanding team, on a mission to bring the next generation of high-speed wireless connectivity to a billion people worldwide. That kind of impact is not going to be achieved with incremental improvements- we are gunning for orders of magnitude advances in production capability, cost, size, and power in the mm-wave RF amplifier market. We work really hard, make sure we get good sleep, we handle conflict intentionally, and we expect great things from each other.

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About the Company

Elve

Manufactures high-efficiency mmWave power amplifiers

Elve Speed, Inc. makes high-efficiency, lightweight mmWave power amplifiers (TWTAs) for satellite networks and long-distance ground links. They use traveling-wave tubes and nanocomposite emitters to achieve higher electron emission at lower temperatures, enabling operation across Ka, Q, V, and E bands. Manufacturing relies on advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and automated production to enable cost-effective, high-volume vacuum electronic devices for telecom, satellite, defense, and imaging markets. The goal is to scale production to about 2,000 amplifiers per year and expand into space connectivity and defense applications, serving clients through a direct-to-consumer model.

Company size: 51-200
Company stage: Series A
Total funding: $16.7M
Headquarters: Davis, CA
Founded: 2020

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