Procurement & Supply Chain Manager

AIM•Seattle, WA

20h•Onsite

About The Position

AIM is deploying autonomous machines at a pace that requires purpose-built supply chain infrastructure — not just good vendor relationships. We are looking for a Procurement & Supply Chain Manager who thrives in fast-moving, hardware-intensive environments and who will own the end-to-end sourcing and materials function for our growing deployment program. You will be the connective tissue between our hardware engineering team and the physical components that make our machines work. That means chasing down part numbers before they are needed, mapping supplier risk before it becomes a shortage, and building the procurement systems that let AIM move from dozens of units to hundreds without breaking stride. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role. You will not be handed a mature supplier program or a fully staffed team. You will build it — and in doing so, you will directly shape AIM's ability to deliver on its deployment commitments.

Requirements

5+ years in procurement, supply chain, or materials management in a hardware-intensive company
Demonstrated experience sourcing across multiple component categories — ideally spanning both mechanical/structural hardware and electronics
Track record of building or significantly improving procurement processes, not just executing against established ones
Experience managing supplier relationships and negotiating volume contracts
Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where the process does not yet exist
Experience managing the procurement transition from development to production: knowing when to prioritize fast-turn, low-volume fulfillment for engineering iteration versus when to shift into production-scale supplier relationships with negotiated pricing — and keeping both tracks active simultaneously

Nice To Haves

Startup or early-stage experience — you have built functions, not just filled them
Experience procuring compute hardware, embedded systems, or specialized electronics (AI accelerators, edge compute, PCBs)
Familiarity with heavy equipment, industrial automation, construction tech, or adjacent hardware industries
Experience managing third-party kit assembly or contract manufacturing partners
International shipping, customs, and freight experience

Responsibilities

Own sourcing across the full AIM hardware BOM: structural steel and mounting hardware, wiring harnesses, printed circuit boards, compute modules, sensors, and ancillary electronics
Partner closely with our hardware engineering team to stay ahead of spec changes, new part requirements, and evolving BOMs — you chase them, they don't chase you
Qualify and maintain approved vendor lists with secondary sources for all high-risk or single-sourced components
Run a dual-track supplier strategy across the hardware lifecycle: maintain fast-turn, low-volume relationships for engineering development (1–3 unit turns with short lead times) while simultaneously building production-scale supplier relationships with negotiated pricing — so that when a part moves from prototype to production, the transition is frictionless and the commercial terms are already locked
Own inventory posture against forecasted deployment demand — model lead times against committed delivery dates and flag exposure before it becomes a crisis
Build and maintain a procurement calendar tied to program milestones
Implement safety stock policies that balance cash efficiency with deployment reliability
Develop and own strategic relationships with key suppliers — pricing, allocation priority, terms, and continuity
Proactively identify geopolitical, concentration, and lead-time risk across the supply base and propose mitigation before exposure becomes a problem
Lead contract negotiations for volume commitments, payment terms, and NDA/IP protections where applicable
Identify and manage third-party contractors for kit pre-assembly work, reducing reliance on internal headcount for repetitive staging tasks
Define quality standards, acceptance criteria, and assembly specs for outsourced kitting operations
Maintain relationships with freight forwarders, customs brokers, and shipping agents to support domestic and international deployments
Manage expediting for time-critical shipments; build import/export compliance capability appropriate to AIM's footprint