Strategic Sourcing Lead, Warehouse Robotics

Menlo Ventures; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Skild AI is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Lead to own the supply chain and procurement strategy for their warehouse robotics platform. This role involves building a resilient supply chain, transitioning from prototype to production, and managing supplier relationships. Candidates should have extensive strategic sourcing experience, preferably in hardware products. The position offers a base salary range of $160,000 to $250,000 USD, reflecting the importance of this role in the company's growth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain management for hardware products.
• Direct experience with electromechanical components, PCBAs, and high-performance compute systems.
• Strong supplier relationships across motors, actuators, sensors, PCBAs, compute, or robotics hardware ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Own sourcing strategy and supplier execution across the full robot BOM.
• Lead the transition from prototype and in-house manufacturing toward contract manufacturing.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, allocation, and commercial agreements.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Supplier negotiation

Supply chain management

Capacity planning

Job description

Company Overview

At Skild AI, we are building the world's first general purpose robotic intelligence that is robust and adapts to unseen scenarios without failing. We believe massive scale through data‑driven machine learning is the key to unlocking these capabilities for the widespread deployment of robots within society. Our team consists of individuals with varying levels of experience and backgrounds, from new graduates to domain experts. Relevant industry experience is important, but ultimately less so than your demonstrated abilities and attitude. We are looking for passionate individuals who are eager to explore uncharted waters and contribute to our innovative projects.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Strategic Sourcing Lead to own supply chain and procurement strategy for our warehouse robotics platform as we scale from prototype to production. You will help build a resilient global supply chain across electromechanical systems, compute, PCBAs, and structural hardware while partnering closely with engineering and manufacturing teams.

This role is ideal for someone who has successfully scaled complex hardware products and brings deep supplier relationships across motors, actuators, sensors, compute, and contract manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Own sourcing strategy and supplier execution across the full robot BOM, including actuators, motors, sensors, compute modules, PCBAs, harnessing, and mechanical assemblies
• Lead the transition from prototype and in‑house manufacturing toward contract manufacturing, including CM selection, qualification, onboarding, and operational scaling
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, allocation, and commercial agreements to support aggressive cost, quality, and production targets
• Build and expand strategic supplier relationships to unlock pricing advantages, engineering support, and supply continuity
• Partner closely with mechanical, electrical, firmware, and compute engineering teams to drive design for manufacturability, supply chain resilience, and cost optimization
• Develop multi‑source strategies for critical components and proactively mitigate allocation, geopolitical, and single‑source risks
• Own BOM cost targets as the platform scales from pilot builds to large‑scale deployment
• Support NPI and production ramp activities with suppliers and manufacturing partners across Asia Pacific and other global regions
• Establish sourcing processes, metrics, and supplier performance management frameworks appropriate for a rapidly scaling robotics organization

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain management for hardware products
• Proven track record taking hardware products from prototype through production ramp at scale
• Direct experience with electromechanical components, PCBAs, and high‑performance compute systems
• Experience transitioning products from in‑house builds to contract manufacturing
• Strong supplier relationships across motors, actuators, sensors, PCBAs, compute, or robotics hardware ecosystems
• Demonstrated success negotiating pricing, lead times, allocation, and commercial agreements
• Experience in robotics, warehouse automation, autonomous systems, drones, industrial automation, or related hardware industries
• Familiarity with NPI, DFM/DFA, and manufacturing scale‑up workflows
• Experience sourcing constrained or allocation‑sensitive compute platforms (e.g., NVIDIA, Qualcomm, AMD)
• Comfortable operating in a fast‑moving, high‑ownership environment with international travel, primarily across Asia Pacific

Base Salary Range: $160,000 — $250,000 USD