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Solcoa is building next-generation American metalmaking, starting with rare earths—the metals powering EVs, fighter jets, wind turbines, and data centers. The company has developed proprietary chemistry to convert rare earth oxides into high-purity metals cleaner, cheaper, and faster than conventional processes, and is now scaling to thousands of tonnes of annual production.
The Procurement Manager will own purchasing across Solcoa's development, equipment builds, and plant operations. This is a hands-on role requiring someone who can solve urgent sourcing problems while building supplier relationships and purchasing systems as the company scales.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own the full purchasing lifecycle from request through delivery for process equipment, custom fabricated parts, raw materials, consumables, spare parts, and outside services.
- Partner with engineering, research, and operations teams to translate drawings, bills of materials, and production plans into clear sourcing requirements and purchasing schedules.
- Find, qualify, and develop suppliers; run RFQs, compare technical and commercial proposals, and negotiate pricing, payment terms, lead times, and warranties.
- Manage open orders and long-lead items, follow up with suppliers, resolve delays, and coordinate freight and receiving to keep builds and production on track.
- Build reliable sources for critical materials and components, including alternate suppliers to mitigate single-source dependencies.
- Work with technical teams to resolve supplier quality issues, substitutions, and nonconforming deliveries; maintain specifications, certificates, and purchasing records.
- Establish practical purchasing processes, approval workflows, and supplier records; keep purchase orders, delivery dates, inventory needs, and spend visible to the team.
- Track supplier performance and total landed cost; identify savings and standardization opportunities.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 2+ years of procurement, purchasing, or supply chain experience in manufacturing, industrial equipment, chemicals, metals, or related technical environment.
- Experience sourcing both custom parts/capital equipment and materials/consumables needed to keep a facility running.
- Ability to work with engineering drawings, bills of materials, and technical specifications; can clarify requirements with engineers and suppliers.
- Strong commercial judgment and track record of negotiating favorable terms while protecting quality and delivery.
- Highly organized with follow-through to manage multiple orders, changing priorities, and urgent sourcing needs.
- Hands-on experience with purchasing or ERP systems and spreadsheets; comfortable building processes in a fast-paced startup.
PREFERRED:
- Experience supporting a pilot plant, new facility buildout, or manufacturing scale-up.
- Familiarity with high-temperature equipment, vacuum systems, refractory materials, specialty metals, or chemical feedstocks.
- Experience with domestic and international sourcing, freight coordination, and import documentation.
- Experience establishing a procurement function or improving purchasing and inventory systems at an early-stage company.
