Head of Procurement & Strategic Sourcing

Stealth Startup; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employer funded medical, dental, and視s

Flexible PTO

Daily meals and a fully stocked office

Job summary

Stealth Startup in Palo Alto seeks a strategic sourcing leader to own the supply base and the spend, shape the team, and set the sourcing strategy. You will negotiate high-stakes terms and build the processes and systems needed before scale makes them mandatory.

You will report to the CEO and partner with engineering, operations, and finance in person in Palo Alto, leading a small but growing procurement function while maintaining tight cost controls and strong supplier partnerships.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in procurement or sourcing in hardware/complex sourcing
• 2+ years leading people and building teams
• Proven record of owning large spend and successful negotiations
• Ability to read BOMs, specs, and datasheets and push back to engineers
• Experience implementing procurement processes and systems (ERP software)
• Willing to work onsite in Palo Alto five days a week

Responsibilities

• Hire, onboard, and develop a procurement and sourcing team
• Set ownership across categories and coach on negotiation and supplier management
• Establish operating rhythm with reviews, spend reporting, escalation paths
• Own sourcing strategy across compute, networking, electrical, mechanical; make vs buy
• Lead high-value negotiations and long-term supply agreements
• Build strategic supplier relationships and scorecards/QBRs
• Own supply risk end to end

Skills

Procurement experience

People leadership

Negotiation

BOM/engineering review

ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, O0

Tools

NetSuite

SAP

Oracle

Odoo

Job description

We're a fast-growing hardware startup in Palo Alto building physical systems that have to actually work which means the parts have to show up, on spec and on schedule. We're hiring our next strategic sourcing team member to own that.

This is a build role. You'll own the supply base and the spend, and you'll also own the shape of the team: who we hire, how we're structured, what "good" looks like, and which processes and systems we put in place before scale makes them mandatory. You'll be senior enough to set strategy and hands‑on enough to run the negotiation yourself when it matters.

You'll report directly to the CEO and partner closely with engineering, operations, and finance — in person, in Palo Alto. Hardware problems get solved faster when everyone is in the same room, and that's how we work.

Build the team

• Hire, onboard, and develop a procurement and sourcing team from a small base. You'll help define the roles before you fill them.
• Set clear ownership across categories, and coach the team on negotiation, supplier management, and technical fluency.
• Establish the operating rhythm: supplier reviews, spend reporting, escalation paths, and the metrics leadership sees.

Own the supply base

• Set sourcing strategy across compute, networking, electrical, and mechanical categories including make vs. buy, single vs. dual source, onshore vs. offshore.
• Lead high‑value negotiations personally: pricing, lead times, payment terms, capacity commitments, and long‑term supply agreements.
• Build strategic relationships with key suppliers, contract manufacturers, and ODMs, and hold them accountable through scorecards and QBRs.
• Own supply risk end to end including allocation, long‑lead components, geopolitical and tariff exposure, single points of failure.
  

About the role

We're a fast-growing hardware startup in Palo Alto building physical systems that have to actually work which means the parts have to show up, on spec and on schedule. We're hiring our next strategic sourcing team member to own that.

This is a build role. You'll own the supply base and the spend, and you'll also own the shape of the team: who we hire, how we're structured, what "good" looks like, and which processes and systems we put in place before scale makes them mandatory. You'll be senior enough to set strategy and hands‑on enough to run the negotiation yourself when it matters.

You'll report directly to the CEO and partner closely with engineering, operations, and finance — in person, in Palo Alto. Hardware problems get solved faster when everyone is in the same room, and that's how we work.

Build the team

• Hire, onboard, and develop a procurement and sourcing team from a small base. You'll help define the roles before you fill them.
• Set clear ownership across categories, and coach the team on negotiation, supplier management, and technical fluency.
• Establish the operating rhythm: supplier reviews, spend reporting, escalation paths, and the metrics leadership sees.

Own the supply base

• Set sourcing strategy across compute, networking, electrical, and mechanical categories including make vs. buy, single vs. dual source, onshore vs. offshore.
• Lead high‑value negotiations personally: pricing, lead times, payment terms, capacity commitments, and long‑term supply agreements.
• Build strategic relationships with key suppliers, contract manufacturers, and ODMs, and hold them accountable through scorecards and QBRs.
• Own supply risk end to end including allocation, long‑lead components, geopolitical and tariff exposure, single points of failure.
  

What we're looking for

• 5+ years in procurement, strategic sourcing, purchasing, or supply chain, with meaningful time in hardware or complex sourcing.
• 2+ years leading people — you've hired, managed, and developed a team, ideally one you built rather than inherited.
• A track record of owning significant spend and closing negotiations you can point to: the terms you won, the cost you took out, the supply you secured.
• Comfort reading BOMs, specs, drawings, and datasheets well enough to push back on an engineer and be right.
• Experience standing up or materially improving procurement process and systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Odoo, or similar), not just operating inside someone else's.
• The judgment to know when to build process and when to just get the part, startups need both.
• Willing and able to work onsite in Palo Alto, five days a week.

Nice to have (but we're flexible)

We care more about how you think, negotiate, and build teams than about your exact background. That said, we'd be especially glad to talk with you if you've led sourcing in one of these areas:

• Compute — servers, GPUs, accelerators, storage, or datacenter hardware
• Networking — switches, optics/transceivers, cabling, or network infrastructure
• Electrical — power distribution, PCBs and PCBAs, connectors, cables and harnesses, passives, or electronic components
• Mechanical — machined parts, sheet metal, castings, injection‑molded parts, fasteners, or contract manufacturing

Also useful: scaling procurement through a period of rapid growth, managing allocation‑constrained or long‑lead supply, international and cross‑border supplier management, or building a procurement function from scratch at an early‑stage company.

Compensation and benefits

Base salary range of $175,000 – $250,000, plus significant equity. Where an offer lands in that range depends on experience, leadership scope, depth in relevant categories, and interview performance.

We also offer:

• Employer funded medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Flexible PTO
• Daily meals and a fully stocked office

We're an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We also consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records consistent with applicable law.