Global Supply Manager (Raptor)

United States Digital Space LLC; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Global Supply Manager (Raptor) to lead and optimize our supplier base for machined components, forgings, and metallic raw materials. The role focuses on strategic negotiations, risk mitigation, and high-level collaboration with engineering and finance.

The ideal candidate balances cost, rate, and engine reliability, guiding supplier selection, design for manufacturability, and end-to-end lifecycle management from NPIs to high-volume production.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree and 4+ years of experience in engineering, purchasing, or supply chain.
• Experience in CNC parts, forgings, and metallic raw materials is preferable.
• Strong contract negotiation and supplier management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Manage the supply base for critical commodities, including machined components and assemblies.
• Monitor part costs and negotiate should-costs and cost structures with suppliers and leadership.
• Ensure capacity, quality, and capability to ramp production for future designs.
• Provide guidance on manufacturability and cost-reduction strategies for mechanical commodities.
• Perform make-vs-buy analyses considering short-term NPIs and long-term volumes.
• Visit supplier facilities to assess capability and capacity for rapid deployment and long-term production.
• Develop should-cost models and teach team members cost-reduction strategies.
• Install and optimize manufacturing capacity in vendor base to ensure supply continuity and cost efficiency.
• Negotiate contract terms, pricing, scope, IP, and export compliance while adhering to policies and regulations.
• Present supplier health, risks, and cost-reduction opportunities to executives.

Skills

Engineering

Purchasing

Contract negotiation

Supply chain management

Material cost control

Global supplier management

Cost reduction

Negotiation

Education

Advanced degree

Bachelor's degree

Job description

the company was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today the company is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal ofenabling human life on Mars.

GLOBAL SUPPLY MANAGER (RAPTOR)

The Raptor Supply Chain team is looking for a machining, forging, and metallic raw materials expert to lead and develop our supply chain with strong commercial management, advanced technical skillset, and a hunger for excellence. Raptor requires the supply base to provide premium quality with rapidly evolving designs at increasingly ambitious volumes, rates and costs. We are actively seeking candidates who possess comprehensive supply chain experience in strategic negotiations, vendor development and risk mitigation. This position is extremely high-visibility with senior leadership & program executives and requires a combination of proven leadership, creativity, and persistence for excellence.

This is a technical position that requires practical experience in vendor development while being able to effectively balance cost, rate, and engine reliability. This candidate should be able to successfully see new product development all the way through to stabilized, high volume production and ensure the right parts are at the right homes in our supply base. The ideal candidate will have a broad understanding of the machining, assembly, and technical application of components of the engine, and be able to effectively communicate risks, strategy, and lessons learned with senior leadership, stakeholders, and junior members of the team.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage the supply base supporting critical commodities for the Raptor product line with an emphasis on build-to-print aerospace components including, but not limited to, machined components and mechanical assemblies.

• Monitor trends and manage costs of parts across the Raptor portfolio and proactively mitigate cost increases by leveraging commercial relationships with suppliers, technical knowledge of the product, and excellent relationships with internal engineering groups. Should be able to knowledgeably speak to should-costing, cost structure at vendors, and technical efforts to reduce cost with finance and engineering executive leadership.

• Leverage demand forecasts and upcoming design releases to ensure the Raptor supply base has sufficient manufacturing capacity, technical competency, and quality processes to enable aggressive ramp up of vehicle production and absorb slowdowns in times of design change.

• Provide guidance to internal procurement staff and engineering customers on design for manufacturability, supply chain optimization, and cost reduction strategies for mechanical commodities, including machined components, mechanical components, sheet metal, forgings, castings, and hardware, etc.

• Conduct comprehensive supplier analysis to inform ‘Make vs. Buy’ decisions, down select an optimal sourcing plan taking short term NPI requirements and long term production rates, technology replacement, price trend, market and industry position, and risk assessments into account.

• Visit supplier’s facilities and accurately assess technical capability, equipment, and capacity for rapid deployment of new product development and long-term production to implement a successful end-to-end product life cycle management strategy and process.

• Ability to develop should - cost models for competitive cost analysis. Deliver best in class Total Cost of Ownership and educate more junior members of supply chain team in how to effectively and aggressively approach driving cost down, contracts, and supplier management to yield the best results.

• Install and optimize manufacturing capacity in vendor base to assure continuity of supply in a dynamic environment while driving continuous process improvement to enhance efficiency at vendors and ultimately drive down cost.

• Administer moderate to large contracts and independently negotiate contract terminology, pricing, technical requirements, scope and terms involving responsibility, liability, indemnification, intellectual property and export compliance.

• Ensure compliance with all company policies, procedures and government regulations while acting with integrity and prioritizing the needs of the program.

• Present value propositions, open risks, and health of Raptor vendor base to the company executives and Raptor senior leadership, including those related to contract awards, cost reviews, cost reduction strategies and critical supply issues.

• Understand the technical aspects of production equipment to identify opportunities for cost, space, and process optimization and use data analytics to identify and parse process related opportunities.

• Utilize negotiations to maximize value, cost savings and priority in terms of delivery for the company while lowering risk; manage costs to ensure alignment with program budgets.

• Create sourcing strategies to reduce risk, enable continuous cost reduction and align with company strategy on payment terms, cash targets, on time delivery and cost savings.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Advanced degree and 4+ years of experience working in one or more of the following; OR bachelor’s degree and 6+ years of experience working in one or more of the following; OR 10+ years of experience working in one or more of the following with anemphasis in CNC machined parts, forgings, or raw materials:

• Engineering (mechanical, aerospace, chemical, materials)

• Purchasing (CNC machined parts, forgings, metallic raw materials, sheet metal, metal stampings, production tooling)

• Contract negotiation

• Supply chain management

• Material cost control

• Experience in identifying and executing an optimized machining supply chain, including raw material, machining, material processing, inspection and logistics.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Demonstrated success in experience managing large value contracts and global supply base while balancing dynamic configuration changes and balancing trades between cost, quality, and schedule.

• Proficient ability to read drawings, geometric dimensioning and tolerance, preliminary design reviews, and quality documents.

• Experience in sourcing from a global supply base and raw materials, for machined components and assemblies, with a good intuition for potential success/failure of chosen vendors.

• Demonstrated experience in strategic technical procurement, new product introduction, and high-volume production procurement, manufacturing, or design/development experience.

• Exceptional written, verbal and presentation communication skills with ability to concisely summarize/explain risks, successes, and help needed with senior leadership.

• Ability to learn program context and needs quickly to prioritize meeting the goals of the Raptor program and striving for excellence.

• Detail-oriented, self-motivated and able to respond quickly to a fast-moving and ever-changing environment.

• Conducts all activities with the highest of integrity.

• Demonstrated success in technical + strategic negotiation process to meet/exceed Best-In-Class expectations, while meeting/exceeding Best-In-Class quality, in addition to driving continual cost reduction and avoidance initiatives through ad-hoc price negotiations.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to travel and communicate outside of work hours

• Must be able to travel up to 15%

• Must be able to work extended hours and/or weekends as n