Associate, Commerical Planning

Position Overview

The Associate, Commercial Planning is an early-career high-potential role within the CCO office at USA Rare Earth. This position supports two critical functions: the monthly S&OP cycle and the development of commercial plans across the company’s three business units — Mining, LCM Metals, and Magnets. The Associate works directly alongside the Director of Commercial Planning and embedded BU supply chain and finance teams, gaining exposure to the full mine-to-magnet value chain. This role is designed as a deliberate development role: Associates who demonstrate strong performance could rotate into BU commercial, finance, or operational leadership positions as the company scales.

Key Responsibilities

S&OP Support

•         Support the monthly four-week S&OP cycle by consolidating supply and demand data from Mining, LCM Metals, and Magnets into a common reporting format

•         Maintain the S&OP data model and dashboard, ensuring BU inputs are complete, consistent, and submitted on time

•         Prepare draft material balance summaries, transfer pricing reconciliations, and consolidated P&L slides for the Week 3 enterprise integration review

•         Assist in preparing the monthly executive S&OP package and board operating report under the direction of the Director

•         Use AI tools to automate data cleaning, scenario modelling, and draft document preparation, actively building fluency in AI-augmented workflows

Commercial Planning Support

•         Support the development of commercial plans for each BU  

•         Conduct market research and competitive analysis using Fastmarkets, Argus Media, ADAMAS Intelligence, and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

•         Build financial models, sensitivity analyses, and scenario decks under the direction of the Director and in partnership with embedded FP&A analysts

•         Prepare high-quality PowerPoint presentations for internal reviews, ELT sessions, and board submissions

•         Synthesize external data sources and industry reports into concise briefing materials and market intelligence summaries

Cross-Functional Coordination

•         Work across BU supply chain managers, commercial leads, and FP&A analysts to gather inputs, validate assumptions, and ensure consistency across work streams

•         Support coordination with Legal and Finance on materials related to offtake structures, DoC program milestones, and financial modelling

•         Track action items, decision logs, and follow-ups from S&OP and commercial planning meetings

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

•         Structured, hypothesis-driven problem-solving — able to break ambiguous questions into clear analytical frameworks and work independently to generate insights

•         Advanced PowerPoint skills with a strong sense of slide logic, visual clarity, and board-ready storytelling; able to build compelling, decision-focused decks from scratch

•         Strong Excel and financial modelling skills; ability to build and stress-test financial models with multiple scenarios

•         Proficient in leading AI tools — Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot — as day-to-day productivity multipliers for research, modelling, and document preparation

•         Strong written and verbal communication; able to synthesize complex information into concise, executive-ready outputs

•         Familiarity with BI tools (Power BI, Tableau) preferred but not required

•         Intellectual curiosity and comfort with ambiguity; thrives in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment where the role and scope will evolve quickly

•         Knowledge of or interest in rare earth elements, critical minerals, or energy transition supply chains is a meaningful plus

Minimum Requirements

•         MBA from a top-tier institution, or undergraduate degree from a highly-ranked program with 2–4 years of management consulting experience (strategy consulting or Big 4 strategy practice strongly preferred)

•         Demonstrated experience building financial models and executive presentations in a professional context

•         Comfortable working across multiple concurrent work streams and managing competing deadlines without losing quality

•         Willingness to travel to USAR’s operating sites as required (Round Top TX, UK, Stillwater OK)

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and distance vision. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk, stand, move, sit, carry, bend, kneel, reach, push, pull, lift, use hands and fingers, handle, or feel, and talk and hear. May be required to lift and move boxes or packages not exceeding 20 pounds in weight. Some work stress inherent to the position and extended work hours may be required.

Work Environment

The work environment will be an office environment. Noise level: Normal office noises.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required of personnel so classified. Reporting relationships may not reflect the most recent changes to the organization.

USA Rare Earth proudly supports Equal Employment Opportunities

USA Rare Earth’s policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and will provide reasonable accommodations according to applicable federal, state, and/or local laws.

For assistance applying for employment through this site due to disability, please contact People & Culture, people@usare.com, to discuss reasonable accommodations.