Strategic Operations & Supply Chain Leader, Robotics

Tennant • Eden Prairie, MN

42d • $151,000 - $241,700

About The Position

With more than $1B in revenue, Tennant Company is a globally recognized leader in the cleaning equipment industry. For the past 150 years, we have been passionate about developing and manufacturing innovative and sustainable solutions for our customers. At Tennant Company, we are committed to stewardship and creating a cleaner, safer and healthier world. With manufacturing, operations and sales, service, and support functions across the globe, your journey at Tennant can take you places you never expected. Position Overview We are seeking a visionary and highly execution-focused Strategic Operations & Supply Chain Leader to define and execute the end-to-end flow of robotics materials and components-from supplier partnerships through prototype builds to production ramp-up. The role blends operational rigor with startup agility, ensuring that innovation moves seamlessly from concept to market-ready robotics systems. This pivotal leadership role ensures the supply chain infrastructure, sourcing partnerships, manufacturing readiness, and materials planning processes align with the Venture's aggressive growth, cost, and quality objectives. The leader is accountable for managing strategic robotics supplier relationships, driving "buy vs. make" decisions for robotics components and finished goods, and ensuring supplier readiness for all product launches. Collaboration with core supply chain and core manufacturing is essential in this role. Success is measured by on-time availability for robotics components, a global robotic material plan, and ensuring manufacturing plants are prepared to launch new products.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, engineering, or related field is required; a Master's or MBA is preferred.
• Experience: Minimum 10+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, supply chain, or operations leadership-preferably in robotics, automation, or complex electro-mechanical systems. Proven track record of building and scaling supplier ecosystems from concept to volume production is essential.
• Strategic Acumen: Deep understanding of manufacturing processes, global logistics, and cost modeling. Proven capability to see ahead to future possibilities and translate them into breakthrough strategies.
• Technical Mastery: Strong program management skills, with experience in supplier relationship management and negotiation.
• Collaboration & Leadership: Excellent communication and influence skills across cross-functional and matrixed environments. Proven ability to Direct Work effectively and Develop Talent.

Responsibilities

• Supply Chain Strategy & Leadership: Develop the end-to-end supply chain strategy for the Robotics Product Line, translating the Venture's business objectives into clear sourcing and manufacturing requirements. Own and drive the strategy for unique suppliers and high-cost components specific to robotics.
• Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management: Identify, qualify, and onboard new robotics suppliers and manufacturing partners globally. Lead supplier selection and contracting processes, ensuring compliance with Venture and Core Business standards. Manage supplier partnerships for outsourced ("buy") robotics products and components.
• Design for Supply Chain & Make/Buy Decisions: Collaborate with Engineering, Operations, and Program Management to define make/buy decisions and ensure design-for-supply-chain principles are embedded early in product development.
• Demand & Material Planning Oversight: Oversee demand forecasting and materials planning to ensure supply continuity for production and service. Implement robust SIOP (Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning) processes for robotics.
• New Product Development (NPD) & Manufacturing Launch Engineering: Direct NPD robotic manufacturing engineers responsible for pilot builds, process development, and transition to scalable production. Create launch readiness frameworks to validate manufacturability, cost, and supply assurance for each new robotics platform.
• Team Leadership & Collaboration: This is a people leadership role responsible for building, mentoring, and developing a high-performing multidisciplinary team across supply chain operations, materials planning, and NPD launch engineering. Foster collaboration across Product Development, Strategic Partnerships, and Program Management to accelerate go-to-market timelines. Represent operations and supply chain considerations in venture portfolio and executive reviews.

Benefits

• A comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, disability, life insurance, paid time off, and voluntary benefits!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Industry: Machinery Manufacturing
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees