Supply Chain Engineer

Socket.dev; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Edgerun is seeking a Supply Chain Engineer to source and qualify prototyping vendors and build the network of factories for volume production. You will align with engineers to ensure manufacturability and drive cost reductions while maintaining schedule.

You will own supplier relationships from RFQ to delivered parts, inspect factories in person, and push for domestic or near-shoring options to accelerate timelines. This role is on-site in Palo Alto.

Qualifications

• 4+ years sourcing and qualifying new manufacturing partners for a physical product.
• Working knowledge of CNC, metal 3D printing, PCBA and SMT, composites, or soft goods manufacturing.
• Comfortable reading drawings and specs, and talking DFM directly with suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Source and qualify prototyping vendors: metal 3D printing, short batch PCBA, CNC machining, and other processes as we need them
• Build out and vet factories for production scale across aluminum and titanium, mass CNC, SMT lines, composites, and soft goods
• Understand our designs well enough to know what is manufacturable, what is expensive, and what changes at volume
• Negotiate pricing and terms, and find new options that take cost out
• Own supplier relationships from first RFQ through delivered, qualified parts
• Walk factory floors and judge capability yourself, not from a spec sheet

Skills

Sourcing

Vendor qualification

DFM communication

Negotiation

Factory evaluation

Tools

CNC machining

Metal 3D printing

PCBA/SMT

Composites

Soft goods

Job description

Edgerun's mission is to remove civilization-level physical constraints limiting the human body. We believe a future where humans keep pushing into the unknown is far better than one where we send machines in our place. That starts on the battlefield, doubling what a soldier can carry and how far they can carry it.[ ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FfNn5h7uHIaPQwmC7Bj9x9wp1KHwUZpl1WIoktic-k8/edit?usp=sharing)Read more about our mission [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FfNn5h7uHIaPQwmC7Bj9x9wp1KHwUZpl1WIoktic-k8/edit?usp=sharing).

SUPPLY CHAIN ENGINEER

As a Supply Chain Engineer, you will be responsible for finding and qualifying the partners who build the world's most advanced powered exoskeleton. You will work with a talented team of accomplished engineers to line up prototyping partners so the team never waits on parts, and build out the network of factories that takes us to volume. You should thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where you adapt quickly and love to solve hard problems.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Source and qualify prototyping vendors: metal 3D printing, short batch PCBA, CNC machining, and other processes as we need them
• Build out and vet factories for production scale across aluminum and titanium, mass CNC, SMT lines, composites, and soft goods
• Understand our designs well enough to know what is manufacturable, what is expensive, and what changes at volume
• Negotiate pricing and terms, and find new options that take cost out
• Own supplier relationships from first RFQ through delivered, qualified parts
• Walk factory floors and judge capability yourself, not from a spec sheet

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 4+ years sourcing and qualifying new manufacturing partners for a physical product
• Working knowledge of CNC, metal 3D printing, PCBA and SMT, composites, or soft goods manufacturing
• Comfortable reading drawings and specs, and talking DFM directly with suppliers

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• A track record of new supplier development, not just managing existing vendors
• Experience qualifying US factories specifically
• Time at a contract manufacturer or a manufacturing-as-a-service company
• A strong negotiator who consistently gets better pricing and better terms
• Sourcing for a hardware startup that had to move fast and build domestically
• Industrial or hardware product development background. Robotics experience is not required

HOW WE WORK

• Hardware on real operators in real field conditions within weeks of concept, not years
• Small team, one owner per category, nobody owning a slice of someone else's problem

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Full time and in person in Palo Alto
• Travel to supplier sites
• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed