Senior Supply Engineer — Strategic Automotive Sourcing

Knightscope; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 165,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Stock options

Paid time off

Job summary

Knightscope seeks a Senior Supply Engineer to own strategic supplier relationships powering hardware programs, including the K7 robot and K1/H1 platforms. You will build multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreements and manage top-30% suppliers from Sunnyvale HQ.

This senior IC role requires automotive supplier development cadence, tooling investment experience, and strong cyber/compliance knowledge to ensure secure, high-quality components across production ramps.

Qualifications

• 10+ years as a senior engineer with strategic supplier engineering in low-volume, high-complexity programs.
• Automotive industry background with APQP, PPAP, IATF 16949, ISO 26262 familiarity.
• Experience sourcing and qualifying low-volume molded parts at production scale (composites, SMC/RIM, injection-molded).
• Transitioning from prototype manufacturing to production tooling and coordinating DFM with designers.
• Familiar with catalog sourcing tools (McMaster-Carr, Digi-Key) and reducing catalog dependency as volumes grow.
• Understanding of TAA/BABA compliance and country-of-origin documentation; software supply chain security frameworks (NIST 800-171, CMMC, SBOM).
• On-site Sunnyvale; travel 15–25%.

Responsibilities

• Build the commercial framework with compliant master purchase agreements and offshore stocking terms.
• Provide rapid technical escalation with top-30% suppliers and enable hot-fix and failure analysis within hours.
• Lead the two-step handoff of BOM lines to direct Knightscope ownership and reduce external consulting spend.
• Coordinate co-marketing and reference partner programs with design leadership.
• Wean catalog parts to volume-sourced alternates while protecting production ramp responsiveness.
• Own embedded subsystem supplier strategy across AI compute and vision ecosystems.
• Drive supplier cyber compliance and software supply chain security via contract language and monitoring.

Skills

Strategic supplier engineering

Low-volume / high-complexity programs

Automotive supplier cadence (APQP/PPAP

Sourcing & supplier qualification

DFM coordination

NIST 800-171 / CMMC / SBOM familiarity

Education

Engineering degree (Mechanical preferred)

Tools

McMaster-Carr catalog

Digi-Key catalog

Job description

Knightscope seeks a Senior Supply Engineer to own strategic supplier relationships powering hardware programs, including the K7 robot and K1/H1 platforms. You will build multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreements and manage top-30% suppliers from Sunnyvale HQ.

This senior IC role requires automotive supplier development cadence, tooling investment experience, and strong cyber/compliance knowledge to ensure secure, high-quality components across production ramps.