{"id":801216,"url":"https://alion.io/job/valstad-operations-lead","title":"Operations Lead","company":{"id":688524,"name":"Valstad","domain":"valstad.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/valstad","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"is_intermediary":false,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":89000,"max_usd":201000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":496},"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-01T17:57:16Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-01","last_verified_at":"2026-09-23T19:52:59Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":22,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":22},"description":"About Valstad\nValstad is building the machine that builds the ships.\nWe combine industrial robotics, welding, sensing, and AI to turn 3D models into real high-mix ship structure. Our mission is to rapidly expand America's maritime output by 100x.\nOur team works directly with large industrial robots and real manufacturing equipment at our Austin facility. The systems we build will ultimately be deployed across shipyards and industrial facilities throughout the country.\nOperations Lead\nAustin, TX | Full-time | In-person\nValstad is building robotic manufacturing systems to radically increase the speed and productivity of American shipbuilding.\nWe’re a small team of engineers, roboticists, welders, and builders moving very quickly. As we grow, we need someone whose job is simple to describe but difficult to do exceptionally well:\nMake sure things happen.\nParts need to show up when they’re supposed to. Suppliers need to call us back. Candidates need to move through the hiring process. Purchase orders need to get issued. W-9s need to materialize. Freight needs to arrive at the right building. Problems need owners.\nWe’re hiring an Operations Lead to take ownership of all of it.\nThis is not a strategy role, and it’s definitely not a job for someone who likes forwarding emails and waiting for responses. We want someone relentlessly resourceful, highly organized, comfortable picking up the phone, and mildly offended by the existence of unresolved problems.\nWhat you'll own\nSupply chain & purchasing\nSource materials, components, equipment, and services\n\nRequest quotes and negotiate pricing, lead times, and terms\n\nIssue and track purchase orders\n\nMaintain visibility into everything we have on order and when it will arrive\n\nFollow up relentlessly with suppliers before something becomes late\n\nExpedite critical orders and find alternative suppliers when necessary\n\nCoordinate freight, shipping, delivery, and receiving\n\nBuild strong relationships with the suppliers we depend on\n\nIf a supplier says something will ship Friday, we want you to know by Wednesday whether that's actually true.\nRecruiting & people operations\nKeep candidates moving through our hiring process\n\nCoordinate interviews and candidate communications\n\nManage job postings and recruiting logistics\n\nHelp prepare offers and coordinate onboarding\n\nMake sure new employees have everything they need on day one\n\nHandle the operational odds and ends that inevitably come with a growing team\n\nFinance & administration\nCollect W-9s and vendor documentation\n\nCoordinate vendor setup, invoices, receipts, and payment information\n\nWork with our bookkeeper and accounting providers\n\nKeep Ramp, Gusto, Ashby, purchasing records, and other operating systems clean\n\nHandle insurance certificates, service providers, registrations, and miscellaneous company paperwork\n\nYou don't need to be an accountant. You do need to be someone who notices when something is missing and gets it fixed.\nWhatever else needs doing\nWe're an early-stage industrial company. Some weeks you'll be negotiating a major equipment purchase. Other weeks you'll be figuring out why a pallet is sitting in a freight terminal in Waco.\nYou'll encounter problems nobody has written a procedure for.\nYour job is to figure them out.\nWho we're looking for\nExperience matters, but temperament matters more.\nYou are probably:\nExceptionally organized. You can keep 30 things moving simultaneously without relying on your brain to remember all 30.\n\nPersistent. An unanswered email is the beginning of the follow-up process, not the end of it.\n\nComfortable on the phone. You'll call the supplier, freight company, candidate, insurance broker, or whoever else can actually solve the problem.\n\nResourceful. When Plan A fails, your first instinct is to find Plan B.\n\nLow ego. You're equally willing to negotiate a six-figure purchase and chase down a missing W-9.\n\nCommercially sharp. You don't blindly accept the first quote, lead time, or explanation you're given.\n\nDetail-oriented without becoming bureaucratic. You build systems that help us move faster, not systems that become the work.\n\nComfortable with ambiguity. You don't need a detailed SOP before taking ownership of something.\n\nA closer. You like turning open loops into closed loops.\n\nBackgrounds that could be a great fit\nWe expect this person to have roughly 3-7 years of relevant experience, but we're flexible for someone exceptional.\nYou might currently work in:\nOperations at a hardware or industrial startup\n\nPurchasing or procurement\n\nManufacturing or fabrication\n\nIndustrial automation or systems integration\n\nAerospace or defense\n\nConstruction or industrial contracting\n\nProject management or project coordination\n\nSupply chain or logistics\n\nBusiness operations at a fast-growing company\n\nExperience around physical things is particularly valuable. Knowing the difference between an RFQ and a PO, understanding that an eight-week lead time can wreck a build schedule, and having some intuition for freight and manufacturing will make you much more effective here.\nWhy Valstad\nAmerican shipbuilding has an enormous productivity problem. We're attacking it with robotics, software, and a fundamentally different approach to manufacturing.\nWe're still early, which means this role has unusually broad scope and unusually visible impact. You'll work directly with the founders and engineering team, help build the operating infrastructure of the company, and have substantial autonomy over how things get done.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5510,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-12T07:56:33Z"}],"liveness":{"score":53,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.712,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":21,"expected_fill_days":24,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-09-23T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/valstad-operations-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/valstad-operations-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-24T01:47:27Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers"}}