Supply Chain and Materials Manager

Responsibilities

- Build and lead the purchasing, sourcing, materials, and logistics team, with clear ownership of supplier commitments and material readiness for concurrent builds.

- Develop sourcing plans for precision optics, laser components, vacuum hardware, custom electronics, and cable assemblies; manage long-lead, single-source, and supplier-capacity risks.

- Translate released bills of materials (BOMs) and build schedules into purchasing requirements, material allocations, and complete subsystem kits, including approved spares.

- Manage quotations, purchase orders, delivery commitments, and supplier recovery plans within Finance approval controls; obtain Engineering approval for proposed substitutions.

- Establish inventory, receiving, and traceability controls so production uses the correct parts and revisions, with nonconforming material held from use.

- Coordinate incoming inspection, supplier corrective actions, returns, and protected handling of fragile optics, clean assemblies, and controlled bonding materials.

- Collaborate with Finance and Planning & Configuration Control to design NetSuite purchasing and inventory workflows; maintain accurate transactions and material status.

- Track supplier delivery, kit completeness, shortages, and inventory accuracy; resolve material constraints before they interrupt subsystem production or system integration.

Experience & Education

- Bachelors in supply chain management, operations, business, or a related field

- 8+ years in technical procurement, supply chain, or materials management

- 3+ years managing purchasing or materials teams

- Experience sourcing precision optical, laser, vacuum, or custom electronic assemblies for low-volume, high-complexity equipment.

- Experience establishing inventory and supplier controls while engineering designs are evolving; quantum-computing, photonics, or scientific-instrument manufacturing experience preferred.

Qualifications

- Ability to interpret technical purchasing requirements and work with engineers and suppliers on component specifications, configuration changes, and conformance documentation.

- Strong supplier negotiation, capacity-assessment, and recovery-planning skills for custom components and low-volume, high-complexity equipment.

- Practical knowledge of material planning, system-specific kitting, serial/lot traceability, controlled storage, and inventory reconciliation.

- Experience with enterprise resource planning (ERP) purchasing and inventory workflows; hands-on NetSuite experience preferred.

- Clear communication and sound judgment when balancing prototype and repeat-build demand, supplier limitations, and Manufacturing need dates.