SAEKI - Manufacturing at software speed

Europe's industrial base cannot respond at the speed modern conflict requires. Legacy suppliers operate on month-long timelines. Tribal knowledge is retiring. Supply chains are fragile. SAEKI is building the operating system for autonomous factories — the infrastructure that lets Europe manufacture mission-critical components at software speed.
A factory that ships in days rather than months is only as fast as what moves in and out of it. Our materials, equipment, and parts cross borders — between European countries, and out to customers in defense, aerospace, and space. Every tariff classification, every export declaration, every forwarder who doesn't deliver is a potential standstill at the end of the line.
Until now, this has been handled across several people. From here on, it belongs to one.

The Role

ou are the first person at SAEKI to own import and export end to end. Early on, that means doing it yourself: you run the day-to-day execution, clean up where processes are improvised, and build the structure underneath as you go — customs procedures, export control, service provider landscape, ERP data.
We're growing fast, and this function grows with us. One person becomes a team. Whoever takes this role now decides what logistics at SAEKI looks like in three years — which providers we use, which processes run, which systems we're on, and who operates them. That isn't a promise of a title; it's a realistic path: build the function well, and you lead it.
Based in the greater Munich area, on-site at Factory ONE.

Your Responsibilities

• Import & export execution: You handle national and international shipments end to end — including shipping and customs documentation, tariff classification, and proofs of origin.
• Cross-border movements: You own transport between our Swiss and German sites, as well as to customers and suppliers across Europe and beyond.
• Export control: You build how we assess and document dual-use and export-controlled matters — not an optional topic in our markets.
• Provider management: You select forwarders and logistics service providers, negotiate terms, and keep performance and cost transparent.
• Process building: You turn recurring activities into documented processes — written so they hold up when someone other than you runs them.
• ERP & data: You keep logistics data in the ERP clean, current, and usable, and help shape how the system is set up for logistics.
• Interface role: You work closely with procurement, production, and engineering, and you're the point where delivery dates become commitments.
• Scaling: You recognise when the work outgrows one person, and build the next stage with us — processes, tools, team.

What We're Looking For

• Foundation: A completed commercial apprenticeship or degree in logistics, supply chain management, international trade, or a comparable field.
• Experience: 2–5 years in import, export, or international logistics, with solid hands-on practice in customs and export handling.
• Independence: You're comfortable arriving without an existing department, a predecessor, or a finished playbook — and you see that as an advantage.
• Appetite for building: You don't just want to process shipments, you want to shape the function. You think about how something works at ten times the volume while you're doing it for the first time.
• Systems mindset: Confident with ERP systems, and inclined to build processes into the system rather than into isolated spreadsheets.
• Reliability: Commitments hold. When something slips, the team hears it early — not on the delivery date.
• Language: Fluent German, good English.
• Location: On-site in the greater Munich area.

What we're not looking for

• Administrators. If you're looking for a settled department with clear boundaries, this isn't it — that department doesn't exist yet, and building it is the job.
• People who want to lead without having done the operational work themselves. The first months are hands-on.
• Pragmatism without precision. Customs and export control don't forgive shortcuts.

What we offer

• Mission: Rebuild the industrial sovereignty of the West — in an environment where logistics isn't a support function but a precondition.
• Ownership of a function: From day one you own a function, not a task list. Your decisions stand.
• Growth path: The function grows with the company. Whoever builds it has the first claim on leading it.
• Short paths: Direct line to management, production, and engineering. "Special Forces" model — everyone ships, no politics, no bureaucracy.
• The environment: State-of-the-art manufacturing technology, a data-driven production environment, a site under construction.
• Compensation: Competitive salary incl. share options.
• Location: Factory ONE, greater Munich area.

Apply

• Resume: Show us what you've actually owned — not just where you've been.
• Cover letter: Why this mission? Why now? And: what's the most complicated customs or export case you've personally resolved?