Head of Supply Chain

Tutor Intelligence•Watertown, MA

2d•$220,000 - $280,000•Onsite

About The Position

Tutor Intelligence is hiring its first Head of Supply Chain to ensure the supply base can support the company’s growth in building and deploying robots. Reporting to the CTO, this leader will build the supply chain function from the ground up, including its team, supplier base, planning processes, systems, and tools. The role will use data and engineering judgment, establish strong supplier partnerships, participate in new product introduction (NPI) from early design, and drive costs down. The Head of Supply Chain will lead sourcing across mechanical, electrical, and electronic components; supplier development and diversification; contract manufacturing; purchasing and planning; supply chain systems; and logistics and trade. The role will build tools and processes for line-down prevention and recurring cost reduction, including live visibility into build plans, inventory, purchase orders, supplier capacity, shortages, supplier health, landed costs, and savings. The position begins with a small, hands-on group and is expected to build out capabilities in supplier development and engineering in the US and China, contract manufacturing, electronics sourcing, purchasing, planning, and logistics. The company runs a lean core and scales with contractors; the Head of Supply Chain will determine the team’s shape. International travel is approximately 25% of the time. The position is on-site in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Requirements

Experience taking a hardware supply chain from startup to volume production, ideally in robotics or complex electromechanical systems.
Knowledge of electromechanical commodities, including fabricated and cast parts, electronics, motion, and power.
Experience developing suppliers in Asia in person and assessing their ability to scale.
Experience managing contract manufacturers and achieving cost reductions through negotiation and design changes.
Experience leading NPI sourcing from early design through production ramp.
Experience building and leading teams while remaining hands-on.
Strong negotiation skills while maintaining supplier relationships.
Technical ability to challenge engineers on design-for-supply considerations.
Ability to travel internationally approximately 25% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Experience establishing ERP/MRP or supply chain tooling from scratch and knowing when not to.
Experience moving work to contract manufacturers and making the transition successful.
Experience working across US, Canada, and Asia operations.

Responsibilities

Set commodity strategy across mechanical, electrical, and electronic components.
Eliminate single sources for critical components and qualify second sources in Asia and, where appropriate, onshore.
Develop suppliers into partners that can add capacity and grow with the company.
Select and manage contract manufacturers.
Negotiate contracts, pricing, and capacity, and drive quarterly bill-of-materials cost reductions.
Own purchasing end to end.
Translate the build plan into a supply plan, including MRP, long-lead purchases, safety stock, and clear-to-build readiness.
Manage supply chain’s role in the engineering change order (ECO) process, including cost, lead-time, and inventory impacts, cut-ins, and supplier notifications.
Own supply chain systems and determine what to build, buy, or automate next.
Manage inbound freight from Asia and outbound shipping to customers in the US and Canada.
Manage customs, tariffs, landed cost, hazardous-material compliance, and third-party logistics partners.
Build tools and processes for real-time tracking of supplier risk, lead time, and cost.
Create line-down prevention systems with visibility into deployment schedules, build plans, bills of materials, inventory, open purchase orders, supplier capacity, shortages, recovery plans, supplier health, and triggers for expediting, buffers, or second sources.
Build a cost-down engine with should-cost models, true landed cost, a savings pipeline, and early feedback on cost and sourcing risk to design.
Hire and build the supply chain team.
Participate in NPI from the earliest design stages and collaborate with Engineering, Manufacturing, and Quality.
Travel internationally approximately 25% of the time.