Head of Supply Chain

Hypersonica; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

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Job summary

Hypersonica is building Europe’s sovereign hypersonic capability and seeks a Head of UK Supply Chain to own the UK procurement and supplier network. You will collaborate with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality and Operations to translate technical needs into effective sourcing strategies and robust supplier relationships.

You will lead supplier onboarding, risk management and make-versus-buy decisions, travel to sites and manage a team as the business scales in the UK.

Qualifications

• Experience leading procurement for complex hardware that includes engineering, manufacturing and qualification stages.
• Ability translate engineering needs into credible sourcing and procurement strategies.
• Proven track record building and scaling a UK or regional supply chain function.
• Familiarity with UK defence, security and export-control environments.

Responsibilities

• Build and own Hypersonica’s UK supply-chain capability from first principles.
• Develop a secure and resilient supplier network for prototype through production.
• Lead sourcing, contracting and negotiations for long-lead, complex hardware.
• Develop suppliers across materials, manufacturing, electronics and engineering services.
• Work with Engineering early to translate requirements into sourcing strategies.
• Negotiate critical supplier agreements protecting schedule and IP.
• Manage onboarding, performance and risk-management systems.
• Support make-versus-buy decisions and UK industrial strategy.

Skills

Aerospace supply chain leadership

Procurement and contracting

Supplier risk management

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Help build Europe's hypersonic capability

At Hypersonica, we are building sovereign European hypersonic capability at a pace rarely seen in traditional aerospace and defence.

We are looking for a Head of Supply Chain, UK to build and own the supply-chain capability behind our UK operations.

You will be responsible for supply-chain operations across the UK, building the suppliers, commercial relationships, processes and team required to support increasingly complex development, manufacturing and flight programmes.

This is not a role where you inherit a mature procurement organisation or an established approved supplier list.

Some suppliers will need to be found. Some will need to be developed. Requirements will evolve quickly. Some components will have very few credible sources. And occasionally the programme will need something that nobody has bought before.

Your job is to make sure that does not stop us building.

You will work directly with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Programmes and Operations, getting close enough to the technical problem to understand what we genuinely need and commercially sharp enough to find the best route to delivering it.

This is a regional leadership role responsible for operations in the UK. Travel to suppliers, test locations and other Hypersonica sites may be required depending on programme needs, your location and the future development of the company.

We need someone who can build the function while still doing the work.

What you'll do

• Build and own Hypersonica’s UK supply-chain capability from first principles.
• Develop a secure and resilient supplier network capable of supporting complex aerospace and defence hardware from prototype through qualification and increasing production maturity.
• Lead sourcing and contracting across long-lead, technically complex and flight-critical hardware.
• Develop suppliers across advanced materials, precision manufacturing, electronics, avionics, specialist processes, tooling, test equipment and engineering services.
• Work directly with Engineering from the earliest stages of development, translating technical requirements into credible sourcing and procurement strategies.
• Personally lead strategically important RFQs, sourcing exercises, negotiations and commercial agreements.
• Make Hypersonica a customer that critical suppliers want to prioritise, even where our initial volumes may be significantly smaller than those of established aerospace primes.
• Assess supplier capability across technical performance, manufacturing maturity, quality, capacity, commercial strength, security and delivery.
• Work closely with Manufacturing and Quality to take suppliers from prototype delivery through qualification, industrialisation and repeatable production.
• Establish appropriate supplier onboarding, performance management and risk-management systems.
• Identify and actively manage risks around single-source components, capacity, long-lead materials, geopolitical dependency and supplier financial resilience.
• Ensure purchasing and supplier activity operates appropriately within UK export-control, defence-security and regulatory requirements.
• Negotiate agreements that protect schedule, quality, intellectual property, commercial position and long-term supply.
• Support make-versus-buy decisions and the development of Hypersonica’s broader UK industrial strategy.
• Work closely with Logistics to ensure critical hardware moves reliably between suppliers, Hypersonica locations and test sites.
• Build the systems, processes and documentation required to scale without allowing procurement to become bureaucratic.
• Recruit, develop and lead an exceptional UK Supply Chain team as the business grows.
• Work closely with your counterpart in Germany and wider Group leadership so that our regional supply chains operate as one European capability where appropriate.
• Travel regularly to suppliers and other Hypersonica locations where problems are better solved in person.
• As Hypersonica’s manufacturing and test footprint develops, support future operations and locations where the needs of the business require it.

Who you are

• An exceptional aerospace, defence, space or advanced-manufacturing supply-chain leader who has owned procurement of complex technical hardware.
• Experienced sourcing products where technical maturity, manufacturing capability, quality and schedule matter as much as price.
• Someone who understands how Engineering decisions turn into supply-chain problems and knows how to engage early enough to prevent them.
• Commercially excellent, with strong instincts around negotiation, supplier economics and contractual risk.
• Technically literate enough to sit with engineers, understand what they are trying to achieve and challenge requirements intelligently.
• Experienced taking suppliers from initial identification through assessment, contracting, industrialisation and ongoing delivery.
• Comfortable operating around immature designs, low initial volumes and rapidly changing requirements.
• Able to identify the handful of supply-chain risks that can genuinely stop a programme and act before they become problems.
• Experienced building or materially transforming a supply-chain organisation rather than simply operating one you inherited.
• Familiar with aerospace quality frameworks and supplier qualification.
• Comfortable operating within UK defence, security and export-control environments.
• Able to build strong teams while remaining willing to personally find the supplier, negotiate the deal and chase the part when that is what the programme needs.
• Calm when critical hardware is late and able to move quickly from identifying the problem to creating viable options.
• Motivated by the opportunity to build sovereign capability and a resilient UK supply base around technologies that genuinely matter.

What we offer

• The opportunity to build the UK Supply Chain function behind one of Europe’s most ambitious defence technology companies.
• Genuine ownership over a capability that directly determines how quickly our technology moves from design into flight.
• The chance to shape suppliers and industrial strategy while the company is still early enough for your decisions to have lasting impact.
• Direct collaboration with exceptional people across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, AIT, Programmes and Operations.
• Short decision paths and the autonomy to solve problems without unnecessary layers of approval.
• High ownership and autonomy. No time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes.
• Competitive compensation and meaningful share options aligned to responsibility and impact.
• The opportunity to build capability with genuine strategic importance to the UK and Europe.

The person we are looking for

We are not looking for someone to administer procurement from a dashboard.

We want someone who sees a critical component without a credible supply route and immediately starts thinking:

Who can actually make this? How do we get them interested? What could stop them delivering? And what do we need to do now so the programme never feels that problem.

Someone who can build a function without becoming distant from the work.

Someone who can challenge Engineering, negotiate with a supplier, solve a delivery crisis and then build the system that means we do not have the same problem twice.

Hypersonica is an equal-opportunity employer and assesses candidates solely on merit, capability, and potential.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.