Senior Technical Supply Chain Manager, Satellite Hardware

Reflect Orbital; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Retirement plan (401K)

Unlimited PTO

Healthy lunches provided

Job summary

Reflect Orbital is seeking a Senior Technical Supply Chain Manager, Satellite Hardware to own sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment for the hardware going into our satellites. This hands‑on role is embedded with engineering and manufacturing, driving RFQs, long‑lead item management, POs, and material‑readiness for flight builds.

You will build the operating system for supply chain, manage supplier relationships, and balance speed, cost, and program risk while translating technical

Qualifications

• 5+ years in technical sourcing, hardware supply chain, or NPI for complex hardware.
• Owned direct supply chain for flight hardware or high‑reliability hardware.
• Able to read drawings, BOMs, specs, tolerances, and supplier quotes to identify risks.
• Personally ran RFQs, qualified suppliers, negotiated quotes, placed POs, tracked delivery.
• Understands material planning: long‑lead tracking, inventory, shortage management, MRP/ERP.
• Can work strategically and tactically, building supplier strategies and chasing parts.
• Communicates crisply with engineers, suppliers, leadership, and finance.
• Strong spreadsheet/data skills; experience with ERP/MRP, SQL, PowerBI or AI tools.
• Bonus: satellite hardware, ITAR/EAR, aerospace manufacturing, or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Own direct supply chain for satellite flight hardware from prototype to production: sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment.
• Build and maintain material plans per spacecraft, including long‑lead items, critical-path parts, BOM readiness and inventory status.
• Source and qualify suppliers for custom and COTS satellite hardware across structures, avionics, harnesses, PCBAs, and other flight‑critical components.
• Translate drawings/SPECs/build schedules into RFQ packages; compare suppliers on cost, lead time, quality, capacity and fit.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, expedite options, and production capacity with program risk in mind.
• Place and manage POs, track open orders, resolve blockers, and ensure timely delivery for engineering and flight builds.
• Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, test, and quality on design changes and first‑article readiness.
• Build supplier scorecards, lead‑time dashboards, and material‑readiness visibility.
• Identify and reduce single sources and capacity risks through dual sourcing and strategic buys.
• Visit suppliers as needed to assess capability and recover schedule.
• Be the trusted partner to engineers to take supply chain work off their plates without losing technical context.

Skills

Sourcing ownership

Technical supply chain

NPI for hardware

RFQ management

Supplier qualification

PO management

MRP/ERP knowledge

Excel/Spreadsheet

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

SQL

Power BI

Airtable/Notion

ERP/MRP tools

RFQ platforms

Job description

At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.

About the Role

Reflect Orbital is hiring a Senior Technical Supply Chain Manager, Satellite Hardware to own sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment for the hardware that goes into our satellites.

This is a hands‑on senior IC role embedded with engineering and manufacturing. You’ll source suppliers, run RFQs, manage long‑lead parts, place and track POs, resolve shortages, and build material‑readiness visibility for spacecraft builds.

This is direct satellite hardware supply chain — not office, facilities, or generic corporate procurement. Your job is to take supply chain work off engineers’ plates without losing technical context or speed.

Responsibilities

• Own the direct supply chain for satellite flight hardware from prototype/NPI through production: sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment.
• Build and maintain the material plan for each spacecraft build, including long‑lead items, critical‑path parts, BOM readiness, inventory status, shortages, and supplier delivery dates.
• Source and qualify suppliers for custom and COTS satellite hardware across structures, composites, avionics, mechanisms, harnessing, PCBAs, machined parts, coatings, treatments, and other flight‑critical components.
• Translate engineering drawings, BOMs, specs, and build schedules into clear RFQ packages; compare suppliers on cost, lead time, quality, capacity, responsiveness, and technical fit.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, expedite options, and production capacity while balancing speed, cost, reliability, and program risk.
• Place and manage purchase orders, track open orders, resolve supplier blockers, and ensure parts arrive when needed for engineering, test, and flight builds.
• Partner tightly with engineering, manufacturing, test, and quality to manage design changes, supplier questions, first‑article readiness, inspection requirements, and build‑critical shortages.
• Build the operating system for Reflect’s satellite hardware supply chain: approved supplier lists, lead‑time tracking, material‑readiness dashboards, PO discipline, shortage reviews, and supplier scorecards.
• Identify and reduce single‑source, long‑lead, and capacity risks through dual sourcing, supplier development, strategic buys, and better build planning.
• Visit suppliers when needed to assess capability, recover schedule, resolve technical/commercial issues, and build strong long‑term supplier relationships.
• Be the person engineers trust to take supply chain work off their plate without losing technical context or slowing the build.

Ideal Qualifications

• You have 5+ years of experience in technical sourcing, hardware supply chain, procurement, material planning, supplier industrialization, manufacturing operations, or NPI for complex hardware. We care more about demonstrated ownership than years.
• You have owned direct supply chain for flight hardware or similarly high‑reliability hardware: spacecraft, aerospace, robotics, automotive, defense, medical, energy, or complex electromechanical systems.
• You can read drawings, BOMs, specs, material callouts, tolerances, finishes, and supplier quotes well enough to identify manufacturability, cost, lead‑time, and supply risk.
• You have personally run RFQs, found and qualified suppliers, negotiated quotes, placed POs, tracked delivery, and recovered late or high‑risk parts.
• You understand material planning: long‑lead tracking, BOM readiness, inventory, shortage management, MRP/ERP systems, purchase orders, work orders, and build schedules.
• You are comfortable operating both strategically and tactically: building supplier strategy in the morning and calling shops, chasing parts, or cleaning up PO issues in the afternoon.
• You communicate crisply with engineers, suppliers, technicians, leadership, and finance; you can push for better decisions without owning design authority.
• You move fast in ambiguous environments and can build lightweight systems before a perfect ERP/process exists.
• You have strong spreadsheet/data skills and ideally experience with ERP/MRP tools, Airtable/Notion‑style systems, SQL, PowerBI, or AI tools for supplier research, quote analysis, and material tracking.
• Bonus: experience with satellite hardware, ITAR/EAR environments, first articles, supplier quality, aerospace manufacturing, composites, precision machining, PCBAs, harnesses, mechanisms, coatings, or thermal/structural hardware.

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.

We are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.

Benefits

Reflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.

• Broad choice of medical/dental/vision coverage, Reflect covers 100% of each base‑policy
• Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K
• Unlimited paid time off, two‑weeks per year encouraged
• Healthy lunches provided daily

Equal Opportunity

Reflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.