Production Planner

Houston, Moab

About the role

About Mariana Minerals

Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated minerals company on a mission to supply the critical minerals powering modern energy, AI, and defense technologies. We’re reimagining the minerals supply chain by combining deep industry expertise with advanced software, automation, and data-driven decision-making.

Every Mariana Minerals site runs on a production plan, and this role brings them together. As our first Production Planner, you'll partner with each site to develop its plan, then roll those plans up into one clear view across the company.

You'll build our planning tools in MarianaOS, either with tools our software team develops or by building your own with AI. If you love building systems and learning new ways to work, you'll thrive here.

You'll also own KPIs and drive operational excellence across our sites, tracking productivity, cycle times, and costs, and finding ways to improve them. This role reports to our COO and sits at the intersection of operations, data, and OpEx. You'll build the playbook, and you will help shape the foundation of a central OpEx team.

This role is for someone scrappy, data-driven, and highly collaborative, who's excited to build systems from the ground up.

 

Responsibilities

  • Partner with site leads to build, refine, and maintain site-level production plans

  • Consolidate production plans across all locations into a unified, company-wide view

  • Define, track, and report KPIs covering productivity, cycle times, and costs

  • Build planning tools and systems in MarianaOS using AI-assisted development

  • Take over and expand the production planning work currently being handled across the team

  • Drive operational excellence initiatives and identify opportunities to improve how our sites run

  • Work closely with site leadership and technical program managers to keep plans aligned and on track

Qualifications & Experience

  • 5+ years of experience in operations, business operations, or production planning; OpEx or continuous improvement background strongly preferred

  • Bachelor's degree preferred

  • Experience defining and tracking KPIs such as productivity, cycle times, and costs

  • Data-driven system builder who uses metrics to drive decisions and AI to create the tools that track them

  • Highly collaborative, with strong communication skills and the ability to partner with site leaders and program managers across multiple locations

  • Thrives in a fast-paced startup environment with ambiguity and room to build

Working Environment & Physical Requirements

Full-time, salaried. Standard business hours with flexibility as needed to support sites across time zones.

Primarily office-based at one of our operating sites in Utah (La Sal), Texas (Houston or Joaquin), or at our San Francisco office, with periodic travel to other Mariana sites. Site visits may involve exposure to industrial and mining environments and require appropriate PPE.

Our culture is built on four principles:

Everyone Gets Home Safe. We never put speed or cost ahead of people.

Extreme Ownership. We take full responsibility for outcomes, relentlessly driving toward solutions.

Engineer Out Requirements, then Automate. We simplify, optimize, and then automate for scale.

Share Your Legos. We collaborate openly, share knowledge, and empower each other to build bigger, better solutions.

Join us as we build the future of responsible mineral sourcing and supply!

About Mariana Minerals

Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated minerals company focused on supplying the minerals critical to modern energy, AI, and defense technologies. It engineers, builds, and operates mines and refineries using its proprietary MarianaOS platform, which integrates capital project execution, refinery operations, and mine management into a single AI and machine learning stack. The company targets domestic U.S. critical mineral supply for sectors facing supply chain vulnerabilities, including copper and lithium.

Other roles at Mariana Minerals

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Job details

Location

Houston, Moab

Company

NameMariana Minerals
IndustryArtificial Intelligence (AI)
Team Size3

Funding

Total raised

$400M

Last stage

Series A

Investors

a16z

Founders

TC

Turner Caldwell

CEO & Co-Founder

LinkedIn
JL

Juan Lozano

Co-Founder & CTO

BT

Baker Tilney

Co-Founder & CFO

LinkedIn

What happens next.

No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.

01

Confirm the fit

A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.

02

I pitch you to the company

I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.

03

A meeting lands on your calendar

If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.