---
title: 'Materials Manager at Vital Lyfe'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/materials-manager-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-5h50gg753b44'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Materials Manager at Vital Lyfe

- **Company:** Vital Lyfe
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Compensation:** $95k–$120k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe/cb661513-7cbc-4bce-8aa5-770434d1baf7

## Job description

## About Vital Lyfe

At Vital Lyfe, we are on a mission to solve global water scarcity by creating innovative desalination systems. This is an opportunity to join a passionate, multidisciplinary team tackling one of the world’s most critical challenges, water. Mission The Materials Manager owns the flow, accuracy, and readiness of materials across Vital Lyfe operations. This role ensures all parts, assemblies, and hardware are received, stored, moved, issued, and shipped correctly to support production, engineering, and customer delivery. The Materials Manager leads inventory personnel, maintains inventory integrity, drives cross-functional resolution of material issues, and continuously improves processes to scale our fulfillment and manufacturing systems.

## What You'll Do

- Oversee end-to-end materials operations, ensuring parts and hardware are received, stored, issued, and available to support production and engineering needs.
- Ensure timely and accurate movement of materials between receiving, storage, production lines, and shipping to support operational flow and schedule demands.
- Ensure outbound shipments are executed correctly and on time, with all required documentation, traceability, and packaging/handling completed to preserve product integrity through delivery.
- Maintain visibility and status communication for critical shipments and ensure shipment records remain accurate in required systems.
- Maintain accurate inventory records and system integrity, including resolution of discrepancies and required adjustments.
- Ensure inventory is properly controlled, including shelf-life, FIFO/stock rotation, environmental/storage requirements, and configuration/revision compliance.
- Ensure picking, kitting/de-kitting, staging, and material fulfillment activities support schedule and work order commitments.
- Maintain inventory levels and storage organization necessary to support operational demand.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to resolve material, inventory, and fulfillment issues and to disposition obsolete or excess inventory.
- Drive continuous improvement, cost efficiency, and achievement of site operational metrics.
- Maintain safe, clean, and audit-ready operations in alignment with all safety, quality, and compliance requirements.

## Minimum Qualifications

- 2+ years of experience in materials management, inventory control, warehouse operations, or supply chain roles in a manufacturing or hardware environment.
- 2+ years of experience leading teams or supervising materials/warehouse personnel.
- Working knowledge of inventory accuracy practices, traceability, and material flow in production environments.
- Experience operating within ERP/MRP systems and maintaining high data integrity.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to manage priorities across production, engineering, and shipping demands.
- Proven ability to drive process improvements and resolve operational issues cross-functionally.
- Ability to work on-site in a fast-paced hardware environment.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience supporting regulated or high-reliability manufacturing environments
- Familiarity with quality-driven inventory controls (serialization, lot trace, shelf-life).
- Experience scaling warehouse/material systems for new product introduction and growth manufacturing.
- Lean/continuous improvement background
- Forklift/material handling certification (or ability to obtain).

Physical / Working Requirements

- Ability to work in warehouse and production areas with routine lifting, carrying, and movement of materials.
- Ability to stand/walk for extended periods and work around active operations safely.
- Must be able to lift 50 lbs. unassisted.
- Must be able to climb ladders and be comfortable working in tight spaces.
- Must be able to move repetitively, bend or twist, and use hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.

Why Join Vital Lyfe?

- Work on high-impact problems with global relevance
- Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience
- Early ownership in a high-growth, engineering-led startup
- Join a tight-knit, mission-driven team in a fast-paced environment
- Build long-term career equity as we grow

Location Requirement: Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, CA (remote or hybrid work will not be considered)

Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vital Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

## About Vital Lyfe

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Vital Lyfe is a climate technology company building portable, aerospace-grade water purification systems that turn any naturally occurring water source—including saltwater—into clean drinking water on demand.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; total funding $42.1M)
- **Headquarters**: Hawthorne, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Jon C. (CEO) and Andrew Harner (COO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Climate Technology Product Manufacturing, Water Purification
- **Target customers**: B2C (outdoor enthusiasts, emergency preparedness, off-grid living), B2B (disaster relief organizations, military, remote operations), and potentially B2G (government/municipal infrastructure alternatives)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Rewriting how the world thinks about water” by creating a platform for water autonomy—personal water-making technology that scales where infrastructure can’t.

## Products & Services
- **[Access]**: A portable, intuitive device that uses a simple three-step process (place hose in water → press start → hydrate) to purify water from any natural source, including ocean water. Type: Hardware (personal water-maker) with an integrated platform for monitoring and reliability.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$42.1M** across four rounds (Pre-Seed led by Cantos; Seed rounds led by Interlagos Capital and General Catalyst, including $18M in December 2025 and $6M debt financing)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Cantos, Interlagos Capital, General Catalyst
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **1000% YoY** to 29 employees; LinkedIn followers up 440% yearly; website traffic surged 747% yearly; currently has 5 active job postings and has opened pre-orders for its first product.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Aerospace-grade engineering** applied to consumer water purification—founders and early team include alumni from SpaceX and other aerospace/defense firms.
- **Field-tested simplicity**: The device requires no complex installation or logistics, enabling water autonomy anywhere.
- **Platform approach**: Not just a single product but a scalable platform designed for solo missions, everyday readiness, and large-scale deployment.
- **First-mover in a new category**: Personal water-making that works with saltwater, addressing the 70% of Earth’s surface previously out of reach for portable purification.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling manufacturing and reducing unit cost to make water autonomy accessible globally.
- Expanding use cases from individual outdoor/adventure to disaster relief, military operations, and off-grid communities.
- Building a brand around “liberation” and independence from fixed water infrastructure.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “engineering liberation”—a mission-driven environment where employees push boundaries and reimagine essential resources. The team is heavily technical (39% in engineering/technical roles) and includes alumni from SpaceX, L3Harris, and other advanced engineering companies.
- **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Offices in Hawthorne, CA (HQ) and Long Beach, CA. Likely on-site given the hardware and manufacturing focus, but roles may offer flexibility.
- **Notable Perks**: Competitive salary, equity, 401K, health/vision/dental insurance, paid holidays, cellphone & internet stipend, referral bonus, team outings, meals & snacks, EV charging station, spot bonuses.
- **Growth Opportunity**: With 29 employees and rapid scaling, new hires will have significant impact and ownership from day one.

## Sources
1. [vital-lyfe.com](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/)
2. [vital-lyfe.com/about](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/about)
3. [vital-lyfe.com/careers](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/careers)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe)
5. [linkedin.com/company/vital-lyfe](https://www.linkedin.com/company/vital-lyfe)

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