Inventory Lead

Why Castelion, Why Now Castelion is moving incredibly fast to develop and deliver advanced defense systems at a time when execution matters more than ever. We believe focus, ownership, and excellence are decisive advantages - and we're building a world-class team to turn bold ideas into real capability. This is a rare opportunity to join at an early stage, where you'll have significant ownership, collaborate with exceptional teammates, and make a direct, measurable impact on our mission and the future of the company - regardless of your function. Inventory Lead As an Inventory Lead, you'll lead day-to-day inventory operations across physical and system environments, ensuring materials are accurately received, tracked, stored, issued, and available to support production schedules. You will provide direction to Inventory Specialists and material-handling personnel while serving as a key point of contact for Purchasing, Production, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional teams. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring strong attention to detail, sound judgment, clear communication, and a continuous improvement mindset. You will own inventory accuracy, help establish operational priorities, resolve material issues, and ensure that physical inventory aligns precisely with ERP data. Your work will directly support production readiness, material flow, operational excellence, and the timely delivery of Castelion hardware. Responsibilities • Lead and coordinate daily inventory, receiving, shipping, storage, kitting, and material-handling activities. • Assign work, establish priorities, and adjust activities based on production requirements and business needs. • Serve as a primary point of contact for inventory and material-flow issues during the assigned shift or area of responsibility. • Track, receive, identify, inspect, and document inbound inventory in accordance with company procedures. • Coordinate shipping activities and ensure outbound materials are accurately processed, packaged, labeled, and documented. • Maintain alignment between physical inventory stock levels and corresponding quantities, statuses, and locations within the ERP system. • Own and maintain a robust cycle count program, including count planning, execution, variance investigation, and reconciliation. • Perform and coordinate regular physical inventory audits and ensure inventory records remain accurate and audit-ready. • Investigate discrepancies between physical and system records, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. • Review inventory transactions and activity for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with established procedures. • Collaborate with Purchasing, Production, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, and other stakeholders to resolve inventory variances, shortages, and material constraints. • Support daily production kitting and ensure the production floor is supplied with the required materials, quantities, and documentation in alignment with the production plan. • Coordinate material staging, replenishment, and movement to support production priorities and minimize disruption. • Optimize physical storage locations to improve space utilization, material flow, accessibility, identification, and inventory accuracy. • Ensure materials are properly identified, labeled, stored, and controlled in accordance with company, security, quality, and export-control requirements. • Train, coach, and support Inventory Specialists and other material-handling personnel on procedures, systems, safety, and best practices. • Provide clear shift-start planning, status updates, end-of-shift handoffs, and escalation of open issues or production risks. • Help develop and improve standard work, inventory-control procedures, and operational metrics. • Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on inventory accuracy, process efficiency, material availability, and data integrity. • Promote organized, clean, and audit-ready work areas through 5S and other operational-discipline practices. • Lift, carry, handle, and transport materials up to 50 lbs. unassisted as required. • Support other Materials and Supply Chain activities as operational priorities require. • Perform other duties as assigned. Basic Qualifications • High school diploma or vocational school diploma. • 3+ years of experience in Material Management, Inventory Control, Manufacturing Operations, Warehouse Operations, or a related field. • Prior experience providing day-to-day direction, training, coordination, or informal leadership to inventory, warehouse, or materials personnel. • Experience working in an ERP system within a manufacturing environment. • Demonstrated experience with inventory transactions, cycle counting, physical audits, inventory reconciliation, and material kitting. • Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. • Advanced Excel skills, with the ability to analyze, reconcile, and communicate inventory data. • Strong written and verbal communication skills. • Strong organizational, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. • Self-motivated and hands-on, with a demonstrated continuous improvement mindset. • Ability to work independently, establish priorities, and appropriately escalate issues. • Ability to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance. Castelion offers a generous benefits package. Please refer to the bottom of our Careers page for more details. Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Additional Eligibility Requirements This position may require access to classified information or restricted U.S. Government sites, systems, or information, as determined by the Company and/or applicable U.S. Government requirements. If the position is so designated, your employment in the role may be contingent upon your ability to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance or other government authorization, and to satisfy any citizenship or other eligibility requirements imposed by applicable law, regulation, executive order, or government contract requirements. You will be notified if and when such requirements apply. Affirmative Action/EEO Statement Castelion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Castelion is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, participate in the interview process, or otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact hr@castelion.com. Requests for accommodation will be considered on an individual basis and handled in accordance with applicable law. Castelion is committed to fostering a workplace where employment decisions are based on qualifications, business needs, and the ability to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without reasonable accommodation. EAR/ITAR Requirements This position requires access to export-controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate’s ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.