Sustaining Program Manager — Consumer

Socket.dev; San Bruno (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits

Equity potential

Job summary

Mill is seeking an experienced Sustaining Program Manager to own the day-to-day program management of Mill's Consumer hardware line as it scales from launch into steady-state production.

You will drive sustaining engineering, supply chain activities end to end, engineering changes (ECOs), cost-down initiatives, and alternate-supply qualification, while aligning with engineering, quality, supply chain, legal and finance partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of program or operations program management experience in hardware, consumer electronics, or appliances.
• Experience managing contract manufacturers/EMS partners from mass production through end of life, including PO, pricing, and cost-variance management.
• Experience leading engineering change orders (ECOs) and coordinating cross-functional approvals and rollout.

Responsibilities

• Sustaining Program Ownership: Own end-to-end program management for live Consumer products, running the Sustaining Core review and maintaining a tiered priority list across launch-risk, supply-stability, and cost-down workstreams.
• Engineering Change Management: Drive ECOs from proposal through approval, requalification, and production cutover, coordinating timing with contract manufacturers to avoid disruption.
• Contract Manufacturer & Supply Chain Oversight: Hold accountability for CM/supplier execution, partnering with Head of Manufacturing and Head of Supply Chain.
• Finance Partnership: Act as the point of contact for Finance on COGS projections and variances, keeping cost models and forecasts current.
• End-of-Life & Inventory Risk Management: Lead EOL planning and dead-stock risk analysis to minimize financial exposure.
• Cost-Down Leadership: Lead cost-down and alternate-supply qualification initiatives cross-functionally from idea to implementation.

Skills

Program management

Hardware experience

Contract manufacturers

Cross-functional leadership

Financial acumen

Education

BS in Engineering/Operations

Job description

Mill is a waste prevention technology company reimagining what it means to eliminate waste, starting with food. We build smart systems and infrastructure for homes, businesses, and municipalities that transform food scraps from landfill-bound waste into valuable resources, including chicken feed. Tens of thousands of Mill’s residential food recyclers are already helping households divert millions of pounds of food scraps every year, paving the way for our upcoming launch of Mill Commercial—the industry’s first end-to-end solution for managing, understanding, and preventing food waste in commercial environments (e.g. grocery, restaurants, food services). At Mill, we are passionate about building easy-to-use, beautifully designed technologies that keep food in the food system and out of landfills.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Sustaining Program Manager to own the day-to-day program management of Mill's Consumer hardware line as it scales from launch into steady-state production. You will take ownership of our sustaining engineering and supply chain activities end to end, driving engineering changes, cost-down and alternate-supply qualification, and daily execution with our contract manufacturers, while keeping engineering, quality, supply chain, retail, legal, and finance partners aligned. You will run our recurring Sustaining Core review, maintain our prioritized sustaining project list, and be the go-to person for program status, cost, and risk across our live Consumer products.

Key Responsibilities

• Sustaining Program Ownership: Own end-to-end program management for our live Consumer products, running the recurring Sustaining Core review and maintaining a tiered priority list spanning launch-risk, supply-stability, and cost-down workstreams.
• Engineering Change Management: Drive ECOs from proposal through approval, requalification, and production cutover, coordinating timing with contract manufacturers to avoid disruption to in-flight builds and inventory.
• Contract Manufacturer & Supply Chain Oversight: Hold overall program accountability for CM and supplier execution, partnering closely with the Head of Manufacturing and Head of Supply Chain, who own the direct supplier relationship and day-to-day execution.
• Finance Partnership — Serve as the point of contact for Finance on the accuracy of COGS projections and actuals, proactively flagging and reconciling variances so cost models and financial forecasts stay current.
• End-of-Life & Inventory Risk Management: Lead end-of-life planning and decisions for sustaining SKUs, including dead-stock and excess-and-obsolete (E&O) inventory risk analysis, to inform product transition timing and minimize financial exposure.
• Cost-Down Leadership — Lead cost-down and alternate-supply qualification initiatives (materials, suppliers, tooling) cross-functionally with Engineering, Product, Marketing, and other partners, sequencing work against business priority and driving from idea to implementation.
• Cross-Functional Alignment & Risk Management: Serve as the central point of contact and overall owner across engineering, quality, manufacturing, supply chain, and finance, proactively surfacing risks and ensuring the right operational leads are driving them to resolution.
• Executive Reporting — Deliver clear, regular updates on program health, budget, and risk to leadership via our Consumer program reviews.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of program or operations program management experience in hardware, consumer electronics, or appliances, including direct ownership of sustaining/post-launch programs.
• Proven experience managing contract manufacturers/EMS partners from mass production through end of life, including PO, pricing, and cost-variance management.
• Experience leading engineering change orders (ECOs) and coordinating their cross-functional approval and rollout.
• Strong cost and financial acumen, comfortable owning COGS tracking, budget variance, and cost-down initiatives.
• Excellent cross-functional communication skills, with experience running recurring program reviews and reporting program status to leadership.
• Ability to prioritize and sequence a broad portfolio of concurrent sustaining projects under resource constraints.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally (including Mexico/Asia) to support build events as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical background in mechanical engineering, with familiarity with manufacturing processes such as metal stamping, injection molding, or tooling qualification.
• Spanish fluency and experience working with Mexico-based suppliers. Or Chinese fluency and experience with Asian suppliers.
• Experience with kitchen, thermal, or other consumer appliances.
• Education & Experience
• BS degree desired (Engineering, Operations, or related field); MS or MBA a plus.
• Why Join Us?
• This is an opportunity to own a critical, highly visible function at a fast-growing hardware company — keeping our Consumer products running smoothly for the customers who already rely on them, while helping build the sustaining processes that will scale as our portfolio grows.
• The estimated base salary range for this position is $185k to $210k, which does not include the value of benefits or a potential equity grant. A wide range of factors are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets, market conditions, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and business and organizational needs. At Mill, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role.