Material Management Lead

Team Description:

Team: Supply Chain Location: South San Francisco / Austin (on-site) Type: Full-time Reports to: Head of Supply Chain

Neuralink is scaling from low rate initial production toward mass production, and the material pipeline that feeds our implant, microfab, surgical, and robot lines must scale ahead of it. We are creating a single point of ownership for material operations from dock to line: logistics and customs, receiving, incoming quality, inventory, kitting, and outbound clinical shipments.

As Material Management Lead, you will build and lead this function as a player-coach. You will design the processes, set the SLAs, and develop the team that delivers material to manufacturing predictably and fast, so production planning reflects what the line can actually consume. You will manage through metrics, with clear performance indicators for every stage of the pipeline, while staying close enough to the floor to step in wherever the operation needs you.

This function exists to accelerate manufacturing. The operating mindset is speed through discipline: rigorous process, traceability, and quality gates that make the line faster, never slower. You will run material operations as an internal service with tight SLAs, measured daily and improved continuously, in an environment that moves with urgency.

Job Description and Responsibilities:

• Build, lead, and develop a team of shipping & receiving technicians, IQC technicians, and inventory specialists, scaling the organization as build rate grows
• Manage the operation through metrics: define, publish, and own KPIs for dock-to-stock cycle time, scan adherence, inspection turnaround, disposition cycle time, kitting SLA performance, and inventory accuracy
• Own end-to-end inbound logistics: shipment visibility, transportation management, shipping terms, and customs clearance, with proactive exception handling
• Deliver fast, measured dock-to-stock cycle times: barcoded intake, structured lot creation, and rigorous scan adherence standards
• Establish packaging and labeling standards with suppliers so every package arrives identifiable and ready for scan-based intake
• Build and operate the incoming quality (IQC) program to a consistent SLA: risk-based sampling plans, receiving inspection, COA/documentation verification, NCR intake, quarantine control, and rapid dispositions through MRB
• Partner cross-functionally on non-conformance dispositions and corrective actions, feeding incoming quality data into supplier scorecards
• Implement one unified inventory standard across all product lines: cycle counts, FEFO and shelf-life control, and full traceability of movements and consumption, with a low-friction experience for the teams consuming material
• Establish the production kitting pipeline: pull, verify, document, and stage kits within an agreed SLA window so shortages are identified and resolved ahead of build impact
• Own outbound shipment of products to meet customer and clinical needs
• Drive floor-level adoption of our internal inventory and manufacturing systems and partner with the software team to improve them
• Execute the material side of engineering change cut-ins: identifying affected inventory, segregating obsolete material, and restaging kits

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years in manufacturing operations, materials management, or production logistics, including direct experience building and leading teams
• A metrics-driven approach to operations management: you set KPIs, run performance cadences, and use data to drive accountability and improvement
• A player-coach leadership style: comfortable managing through your team day to day, and equally comfortable on the dock, in the inspection area, or running kitting when the operation requires it
• Quality systems fluency: sampling plans, MRB, NCR dispositions, and lot traceability in a regulated or high-rigor environment (GMP / ISO 13485, aerospace, automotive, or equivalent)
• A track record of designing operational processes that scale: SOPs, SLAs, training programs, and the metrics to sustain them
• Experience driving adoption of inventory or warehouse systems (WMS, MES, ERP, or equivalent) with frontline teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience scaling operations through a production ramp (low rate initial production to volume, or startup to scale)
• Medical device, implantables, or other GMP manufacturing background
• Military logistics or operations leadership experience
• Experience with international shipping and customs, or shelf-life and cold-chain-controlled material
• Prior ownership of incoming inspection or supplier quality programs

Additional Requirements and Competencies:

• Travel between Austin and South San Francisco sites will be required as needed