Generate a McCoy IQ challenge in 30 seconds.
See how candidates think and approach the work this role demands, before the phone screen. We'll build a video challenge from this posting, and you can edit or share it before it goes live.
Key details
Why this role is notable
A defense drone startup is building the kind of materials, warehousing, and fulfillment machinery that traditional aerospace and defense primes run, signaling that it is betting on mass production of drones rather than small-batch prototyping.
Job Description
Who we are
Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.
As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.
What you will be doing
As Director of Materials Management, you will own all material flow at Neros: inventory and warehousing, shipping and receiving, kitting and line-side replenishment, fulfillment, and logistics. Your team is responsible for every part from the receiving dock to the production line and every finished drone from pack-out to delivery, with inventory accuracy and material availability as the core mandates. This is both an operations leadership and an engineering role: you will design and continuously redesign warehouse layouts, material flow systems, and packaging standards as production rate scales, build and lead a multi-shift team that will grow to include industrial and packaging engineers, and plan the capital investments and execute projects required to support production of over 1M drones per year in our 250k sqft Torrance factory.
Responsibilities
- Own all inventory, material handling, and warehouse operations: process, systems, and execution
- Ensure everything gets shipped on-time every time, including total ownership of the fulfillment and shipping functions for both standard product and one-off shipments (including hazmat)
- Maintain high inventory accuracy through process control and routine cycle counting, meeting internal and external audit requirements
- Define packaging, kitting, internal transport, and line-side presentation standards at the part-number level in partnership with production and supply chain
- Design warehouse layouts, storage systems, and material flow for each rate increase; plan and execute capital investments in racking, material handling equipment, and automation
- Use simulation and data analysis to continuously improve the floorplan, processes, tooling, and training and increase overall efficiency per employee
- Hire, develop, and lead a multi-level, multi-shift organization of hourly and salaried team members, with a safety-first floor culture
- Partner with supply chain and business systems teams to develop tools and systems to visualize and execute work reliably, and enable processes such as FIFO, Kanban, clear-to-build, fulfillment, and more
You should have the following
- 8+ years in materials management, warehouse, or distribution operations inside a manufacturing plant, including 3+ years managing teams
- Owned inventory accuracy for an operation with 1,000+ active part numbers
- Transaction-level fluency in an ERP/WMS system — min/max settings, backflush, cycle count variance, and location management
- Direct ownership of shipping & receiving, including carrier management and on-time shipment performance
Nice to have
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or similar technical field
- Scaled a materials operation through a major production ramp in aerospace, automotive, medical device, or consumer electronics
- Material flow modeling or discrete event simulation (FlexSim, AnyLogic, or similar)
- SQL or Python for operational analysis
- Experience handling and shipping ITAR-controlled hardware
- Experience handling and shipping hazardous materials including li-ion batteries
US Salary Range
$187,000-$262,500 USD
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.
We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
