Supply Chain Associate

The role

At Ore Energy, we are developing long-duration, utility-scale iron-air batteries to provide safe, low-cost, multi-day energy storage. Having raised over €60 million from leading climate and energy investors and demonstrated our technology under real-world utility conditions, we are now entering our next phase of growth: financing our industrial scale-up, developing our gigafactory, and deploying multi-day storage across grid-scale markets.

As our Supply Chain Associate, you will work directly with our Head of Supply Chain to help build the supplier base and supply-chain capabilities needed to manufacture Ore Energy's iron-air batteries at industrial scale. Building on supplier relationships already developed through R&D and early industrialization, we are now creating a more structured, scalable supply base for FOAK production and our future gigafactory. You will work closely with R&D, Product and Factory Engineering to understand what we need from suppliers and identify the right external partners.

This is a broad, hands-on role at the intersection of technology, suppliers and commercial decision-making. Initially, you will work side-by-side with the Head of Supply Chain : researching markets and suppliers, making initial supplier contact, preparing and joining meetings, coordinating qualification and samples, developing analyses and keeping actions moving. As you grow into the role, the path is deliberately open: there will be significant room to take on more responsibility and develop towards the areas of the supply chain that best match your strengths and interests as the function grows.

We are looking for someone who is eager to learn, comfortable with ambiguity, willing to challenge assumptions and excited to grow with a function that is still being built. Your background matters less than your curiosity, judgement and drive to understand how things work and turn open questions into practical next steps.

Key responsibilities

• Understand technical needs and turn them into sourcing questions.  Work closely with R&D, Product and Factory Engineering to understand requirements, constraints and why they matter. Translate these into focused supplier research and discussions, and explore alternative materials, components, manufacturing processes or external capabilities where relevant.

• Discover and engage suitable suppliers.  Research supplier markets and relevant industries, identify and prioritise potential partners, and make initial contact. Explain what Ore Energy is looking for, gather early capability information and set up first meetings where there is mutual interest. 

• Coordinate supplier evaluation and qualification.  Assess suppliers' experience, manufacturing capabilities, capacity, scalability, commercial fit and organisational robustness. Gather evidence, organise technical discussions and supplier visits, identify risks and open questions, and work with internal experts to build a clear recommendation on whether a supplier is suitable for further development.

• Organise samples, testing and development activities.  Coordinate samples, prototypes and supplier trials with R&D and engineering teams. Align objectives, responsibilities and timelines; follow up on results and open issues; and keep promising solutions moving towards a sourcing decision. 

• Help build the supply-chain function.  Work alongside the Head of Supply Chain as we define and improve the processes, ways of working and capabilities needed to scale from FOAK sourcing towards industrial manufacturing. Help structure new activities as they emerge, develop practical ways of working across the team, and take on broader responsibility as the supply-chain function develops.

Your profile

• A strong foundation for working in a technical industrial environment.  This could come from a degree in engineering, applied sciences, chemistry or a related field, but a business, economics or other commercial degree can work equally well. If your background is primarily commercial, experience in a technical, engineering or manufacturing company is a strong advantage. Knowledge of chemicals or materials is useful, but not required; what matters is that you are genuinely interested in understanding physical products and how they are made.

• Early-career, ambitious and eager to grow.  We expect this role to suit someone with roughly 0-3 years of relevant experience, and we are open to recent graduates with strong internship or project experience. Relevant experience could come from engineering, operations, consulting, project work, sourcing, a technical start-up or an industrial company. A traditional procurement background is not required.

• Strong research and problem-solving skills.  You can take an unfamiliar and loosely defined question, structure it, investigate the market, evaluate evidence and turn it into a clear recommendation. You are comfortable working with incomplete information and can distinguish between facts, assumptions and questions that still need answering.

• Confident communication and commercial curiosity.  You are comfortable reaching out to suppliers, explaining what we are looking for and asking probing questions. You are curious about how suppliers operate, what drives their economics and priorities, what changes at higher volumes and what makes a productive long-term partnership.