Senior Sourcing Specialist

Wingtra; Zürich; On-site; CHF 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Wingtra, a robotics scaleup born from ETH Zurich, is hiring a Senior Sourcing professional to own hardware supplier strategies. You will plan sourcing, scan markets, shortlist suppliers and build a clear view of capability in collaboration with R&D, Production, Finance and Compliance.

You will negotiate pricing and terms, set up NDAs and supply agreements, onboard suppliers, manage vendor data in our ERP, lead supplier qualification, audit for quality and compliance, and drive cost reductions.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in sourcing, purchasing or new product introduction for hardware products.
• Reading technical drawings and specs; work with engineers.
• Willingness to travel regularly, including international trips.
• Audited suppliers hands-on or in a quality management system (e.g., ISO 9001).
• Knowledge of trade compliance rules and ERP usage for purchasing.

Responsibilities

• Plan sourcing: build a plan for each commodity with BOM and criticality.
• Find and shortlist suppliers via market scans and RFIs/RFQs.
• Collaborate with R&D, Production, Finance and Compliance to assess supplier capability.
• Negotiate pricing, volumes, tooling and payment terms; set NDAs and supply agreements.
• Onboard suppliers and maintain ERP vendor data, price breaks and lead times.
• Lead supplier qualification including quality agreements and first articles.
• Audit suppliers for quality, traceability and compliance; trade checks.
• Place and track orders for prototypes, validation, and pre-series builds; monitor performance.
• Drive cost reductions using should-cost and landed-cost methods.
• Grow supplier base across regions and reuse qualification records.
• Document sourcing processes and templates for repeatability.

Skills

Sourcing

Supplier management

Negotiation

Market research

Reading technical drawings

English communication

Education

Engineering / Supply chain / Business degree

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Join the Wingtra team and become part of this venture-backed robotics scaleup with a global and international team of 125+ dedicated Wingtranauts who want to see their actions have a positive and lasting impact on the world. Founded more than 8 years ago at ETH Zurich, Europe’s leading robotics university, our goal is to build the best aerial robots to digitize the world at the push of a button and set the basis for faster and better decisions. Wingtra provides efficient and reliable data solutions to a variety of industries ranging from mining, construction and agriculture to humanitarian organizations, environmentalists and wildlife monitoring groups.

We are reaching for the stars and together we might just get there. Open communication, asking hard questions and valuing diverse viewpoints are but a few things that will help us achieve our goals. Above all we will never stop learning and striving to help each other reach our maximum potential.

Responsibilities

• Plan your sourcing. You take the bill of materials and build a sourcing plan for each commodity. You weigh criticality, lead time and single or dual source options.
• Find the right suppliers. You run market scans, requests for information and requests for quote. Then you shortlist the suppliers worth a closer look.
• Judge capability together. You work with R&D, Production, Finance and Compliance to build one clear view of what each supplier can do.
• Negotiate the deal. You agree pricing, volume tiers, tooling and payment terms. You also set up the NDAs, supply agreements and long-term agreements that back them.
• Set suppliers up properly. You onboard new suppliers and keep vendor data, price breaks and lead times current in our ERP system.
• Lead supplier qualification. You coordinate our tiered qualification process, including quality agreements and first-article inspections.
• Audit on site and remotely. You check suppliers for quality management, traceability and compliance. You also screen them against trade compliance requirements.
• Keep builds moving. You place and expedite orders for prototype, validation, pilot and pre-series builds. You track supplier performance on delivery, price and quality.
• Bring costs down. You work with suppliers on cost reduction, using should-cost and landed-cost models.
• Grow our supplier base. You qualify suppliers for additional production sites and regions, reusing existing qualification records.
• Make it repeatable. You document sourcing processes, templates and playbooks, so the purchasing team can take over mature suppliers.

Requirements

• You have 6+ years in sourcing, purchasing or new product introduction for hardware products, across a variety of product types, complexities and technologies.
• You can read technical drawings and specifications, and you work closely with engineers.
• You’re willing to travel regularly, including international trips of several days.
• You’ve audited suppliers hands-on or worked within a quality management system such as ISO 9001.
• You have working knowledge of trade compliance rules.
• You’ve used an ERP system for purchasing and vendor data.
• You have a qualification in engineering, supply chain, business or a related field.
• You communicate excellently in English and build good working relationships with colleagues and suppliers.

Plus

• Experience in aerospace, drones or other safety-critical products
• Experience sourcing custom electromechanical parts such as plastic parts, motors, batteries and avionics
• Experience qualifying suppliers for production in more than one region
• Experience with supplier scorecards and performance reporting

If you enjoy teamwork more than being the individual superhero, and if you thrive in a feedback-driven culture and an exciting, unconventional yet structured and progressive start-up environment, we would love to hear from you.