Senior Buyer / Global Supply Chain Manager

Foundry Robotics • Emeryville, CA

1d • $150,000 - $220,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Foundry Robotics is hiring a senior supply chain leader to own procurement end to end, from purchasing for active customer programs to building the supplier base, sourcing strategies, and processes needed to scale. The role combines hands-on purchasing for high-mix, low-volume electromechanical builds with strategic supplier development, negotiation, risk management, and AS9100 supplier controls. The position works closely with production, quality, program management, and customers’ engineering teams and is 100% in-person at the Emeryville, California office.

The successful candidate will help establish procurement processes and tools, support customer builds and a new factory build-out, and develop a domestic-first, defense-ready supply base. The role requires a founder mentality: ownership, speed, sound judgment, and comfort working through ambiguity while maintaining quality.

Requirements

• At least 7 years of procurement, purchasing, or supply management experience for electromechanical hardware, including at least 3 years in a senior buyer, commodity manager, or supply manager role.
• Experience in a contract manufacturer (EMS/CM) or high-mix, low-volume production environment.
• Hands-on purchasing across multiple commodities, including electronic components, PCBAs, cable/harness, and machined and sheet-metal parts.
• Working knowledge of AS9100 or ISO 9001 purchasing requirements, including supplier approval, flow-downs, FAI, traceability, and counterfeit-parts prevention.
• Familiarity with ITAR/EAR and DFARS requirements, and willingness to work on export-controlled programs.
• U.S. person status required for ITAR work.
• Proven negotiation results on price, lead time, and terms, and experience building supplier relationships from scratch.
• Strong ERP/MRP skills, such as NetSuite, Odoo, Epicor, or similar, and advanced spreadsheet skills.
• Ability to read engineering drawings and BOMs and discuss specifications with engineers.
• Bias for action, ownership of outcomes, ability to thrive with ambiguity, and ability to move quickly without compromising quality.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, medical device, or autonomy hardware.
• Background building a supply chain function at an early-stage startup or a new factory.
• Established network of domestic machine shops, harness houses, PCBA suppliers, and authorized distributors.
• Experience sourcing robotics and automation components, such as servos, actuators, cameras, grippers, and industrial PCs, or capital equipment.
• Knowledge of DFARS 252.225 specialty metals, 252.246-7007/7008 counterfeit-part rules, NIST 800-171/CMMC flow-downs, and Buy American/TAA.
• Component obsolescence and lifecycle management experience, such as SiliconExpert or Z2Data.
• Certifications such as CPSM, CSCP, or APICS CPIM.
• Interest in using software and AI to automate procurement workflows, such as quote parsing, BOM scrubbing, and supplier scoring.
• Bachelor's degree in supply chain, business, or engineering, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Own purchasing for high-mix, low-volume electromechanical builds, including electronics, cable and harness, machined and sheet-metal parts, fasteners, motors, sensors, and consumables.
• Convert customer BOMs and quotes into purchase orders with complete requirements and flow-downs, including quality clauses, DFARS/ITAR, certifications, FAI, and special processes.
• Manage expedites, shortages, and allocation calls so NPI and production builds start on schedule.
• Manage customer-furnished material and customer-directed suppliers alongside company purchases.
• Maintain accurate purchasing data in the ERP, including lead times, pricing, approved sources, and open purchase order status.
• Build and maintain the Approved Supplier List; evaluate, qualify, and onboard suppliers in accordance with the AS9100 Purchasing procedure.
• Develop a domestic and allied-nation supply base that supports defense customers and onshoring goals.
• Negotiate pricing, LTAs, blanket orders, consignment, and VMI programs to support speed and cost.
• Track supplier performance, report it at Management Review, and drive supplier corrective action requests with Quality.
• Identify single-source, obsolescence, and geopolitical risks and establish alternate sources.
• Prevent counterfeit parts by purchasing through authorized channels and enforcing traceability and C of C requirements.
• Partner with the Head of Quality on supplier audits, source inspection, and nonconformance disposition.
• Ensure compliance with ITAR/EAR, DFARS specialty-metals and cybersecurity flow-downs, and country-of-origin rules.
• Help select and configure procurement tools, MRP logic, and supplier portals as the company grows.
• Provide cost and lead-time data for DFM and quoting, and flag long-lead or hard-to-source parts during quote review.
• Support the supply plan for the new factory build-out, including robotic cell components and capital equipment.
• Write procurement playbooks and mentor future buyers and planners.

Benefits

• Equity-based compensation for eligible roles, subject to Board of Director approval.
• Comprehensive health coverage.
• Dental coverage.
• Vision coverage.
• Generous PTO.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed