Head of Supply Chain & Manufacturing Strategy

Skydio•San Mateo, CA

2d•$229,500 - $302,500

About The Position

Skydio is seeking a leader to develop the strategy for domestic drone manufacturing and the stable, compliant supply chains that support it. The role will spearhead the SkyForge initiative, helping determine where manufacturing investment goes, which components to onshore first, which suppliers to develop, and which capabilities to bring in-house. It will navigate evolving U.S. requirements related to secure domestic drone supply chains, component origin, supplier eligibility, market access, and import duties. The position combines regulatory engagement, supply chain and manufacturing strategy, supplier development, make-versus-buy analysis, product compliance risk management, and multi-tier traceability. The role will work across Regulatory, Manufacturing Engineering, Global Supply Managers, Program Leads, Trade Compliance, Finance, and hardware engineering, and regularly brief leadership on SkyForge progress and decisions involving capital allocation. It reports to the Head of Hardware Operations and is an individual-contributor position at hire, with the possibility of building a small team as the program grows.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in supply chain, manufacturing operations, commodity management, or operations strategy, including at least 3 years in a regulated hardware environment where sourcing decisions carried legal or contractual consequences.
Experience influencing component and supplier selection during design, through NPI, design reviews, supplier-of-record decisions, or approved vendor list decisions.
Credibility with both sourcing organizations and factories, including fluency in capacity, tooling, yield, and supplier qualification.
Accountable ownership of a multi-tier country-of-origin, supplier compliance, or trade compliance program.
A make-versus-buy or vertical integration analysis personally built and defended, including capital expenditure and ramp assumptions.
A track record of turning technical findings into executive decisions and changing engineering or sourcing decisions without formal authority.
FAA Part 107 certification within the first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged for all Skydio employees and required for certain positions.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of NDAA §889/§848, country-of-origin and substantial-transformation analysis, Buy American domestic-content tests, or DFARS and FAR flow-downs.
Background in in-house manufacturing, UAS, aerospace and defense, defense electronics, or EMS and contract manufacturing.
Commodity experience in batteries and cells, motors and magnetics, imaging or thermal sensors, or PCB and PCBA.
Experience standing up a production line or bringing an outsourced process in-house.
Experience with a Blue UAS or Green UAS submission, or a DCMA or DCSA assessment.
Experience developing domestic or allied-country suppliers from scratch.

Responsibilities

Work with the regulatory team to understand current regulations and policy direction, and engage with key partners involved in setting policy.
Determine which capabilities and technologies to onshore, vertically integrate, or pursue through partnerships to build robust, compliant supply chains.
Set priorities with commodity teams for securing and onshoring supply across critical commodities.
Decide whether to develop suppliers, bring work in-house, or design around supply constraints when a domestic or allied supply base does not exist.
Assess which production should be brought into U.S. facilities and build make-versus-buy cases with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Finance.
Maintain a live, evidence-backed assessment of each product line against applicable regulations, translating risks into schedule, revenue, and cost implications for leadership.
Work with Global Supply Managers and hardware engineering during NPI to set supplier-of-record decisions and incorporate regulatory screening into design reviews.
Establish bill-of-materials traceability to tier three and beyond, including country of origin and chain of custody, across purchased and in-house components.
Identify actions that jointly advance compliance, tariff, and domestic-content goals, and pursue opportunities to bring domestic sourcing to cost parity with traditional supply chains.
Provide regular leadership briefings on SkyForge progress and inform capital-allocation decisions.