Director of Planning & Fulfillment

Director Of Planning & Fulfillment

Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company delivering responsive launch services, complete spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, satellite components, and more – all with the goal of opening access to space. The rockets and satellites we build and launch enable some of the most ambitious and vital space missions globally, supporting scientific exploration, Earth observation and missions to combat climate change, national security, and exciting new technology demonstrations.

Rocket Lab's Supply Chain team is responsible for the flow of all materials, products, and components through the business. With many of our own products functioning as critical components to our own and our customers' missions, the Supply Chain team has a direct impact on the success of our rocket and satellite programs. They set up the assembly kits that enables our technicians to put together our Electron rockets, manage inventory, look after shipping and receiving, manage direct and indirect procurement, and inspect and ensure that all of our materials and products are compliant and up to standard.

They are the chain that links our teams together, and are critical to our success.

The Material Planning Director leads a team with responsibility for ensuring raw materials, and components are delivered supporting production needs, efficiently. This role will fully understand our supply chain and production operations. They will develop inventory strategies and drive execution. The Material Planning Manager requires engagement with Rocket Lab US and New Zealand across the extended supply chain.

What You'll Get To Do:

• Own end-to-end multi-site material planning and fulfillment operations across all production programs, including launch vehicle and spacecraft manufacturing.
• Set and achieve program-level material readiness targets: line of balance, clear-to-build status, and on-time kitting metrics.
• Partner with Procurement to align supplier lead times, purchase planning message cadences, and material flow to production demand.
• Translate engineering change orders and program schedule changes into actionable supply and fulfillment plans with minimal disruption to production.
• Establish and own material shortage management processes, including root cause analysis and corrective action loops.
• Build and publish executive-level material health dashboards and weekly risk visibility reporting for COO and program leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across planning and fulfillment identifying systemic gaps in ERP and closing them.

You'll Bring These

Qualifications:

• 12+ years of progressive supply chain experience in a leadership role owning material planning, production planning, or fulfillment functions.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent years of work experience (16+ years total work experience).
• Deep, hands-on expertise in MRP/ERP systems and planning fundamentals: demand planning, supply planning, order policy, BOM management, and fulfillment execution.
• Proven track record building and scaling planning teams in a high-mix, low-volume, fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Exceptional cross-functional influence; successfully aligning engineering, production, procurement, and finance on competing priorities under schedule pressure.

These Qualifications Would Be Nice To Have:

• Prior experience in aerospace, defense, or other high-consequence, regulated manufacturing industries.
• Experience managing multi-site or globally distributed planning operations, including international freight and customs coordination.
• Exposure to AI-enabled supply chain tools, digital transformation initiatives, or ERP implementation and optimization projects.
• APICS CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent professional certification.
• Demonstrated experience with production readiness frameworks: line of balance, manufacturing readiness level (MRL), or similar.

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.

Level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following…