Principal NPI Supply Planner - PCBA
Suzhou Qu, Gansu, China · Suzhou-Wuxi · 8+ years experience · Posted Oct 12, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 8+ years experience
- Location
- Suzhou Qu, Gansu, China · Suzhou-Wuxi
About the role
- Astera Labs is seeking a principal board NPI planner to drive material and production readiness for new hardware products, from early engineering builds through manufacturing ramp.
- You will turn complex requirements into executable plans, ensuring PCBA components, assemblies, suppliers, and build schedules are aligned to program milestones.
Responsibilities
- Own PCBA planning activities through production ramp readiness.
- Build and maintain detailed build plans covering BOM readiness, material availability, purchase orders, supplier commitments, and production milestones.
- Track planning-system transactions, inventory, shortages, and material status to keep the builds on schedule.
- Support order fulfillment against internal and external demand.
- Support local manufacturing activities and resolve execution issues as they arise.
- Partner with hardware engineering, operations, procurement, and the internal contract manufacturing team to align demand, supply, and execution plans.
- Coordinate PCBA readiness across component suppliers, PCB and assembly partners, and test or manufacturing teams.
- Support build execution by monitoring work-in-progress, finished goods, configuration changes, and handoffs into sustaining or high-volume manufacturing.
- Identify material shortages, supplier constraints, capacity gaps, and schedule risks, then drive mitigation plans to protect launch milestones.
- Prepare clear status reports, readiness assessments, and escalation materials for program and operations reviews.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience in NPI planning, supply chain planning, production planning, or manufacturing operations.
- Experience in PCBA hardware manufacturing, specifically within electronics assembly and contract manufacturing environments.
- Strong working knowledge of material requirements planning, supply-demand planning, inventory management, and supplier coordination.
- Experience building and managing detailed schedules across multiple cross-functional stakeholders.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and hands-on experience with ERP or MRP systems, with strong analytical and communication skills.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience supporting new product introductions for data center or AI infrastructure products.
- Familiarity with PCBAs, bills of material, approved vendor lists, engineering changes, component lifecycle management, and manufacturing readiness gates.
- Experience working with global suppliers, contract manufacturers, and manufacturing partners in Asia.
- Experience creating planning dashboards, shortage reports, and data-driven operating metrics using Microsoft tools.
- Ability to influence cross-functional teams, manage competing priorities, and drive timely resolution in a high-growth environment.
Skills
- Microsoft Excel
- ERP
- MRP