Supply Chain Lead - Aerospace (Copy) (Copy)

AscendArc•Beaverton, OR

5d•$130,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

AscendArc is a seed startup founded to revolutionize the satellite communications industry. We are looking for doers who want to work in a ground-breaking and fast-paced environment. Our success will depend on your energy, skill, and creativity. This role involves developing a revolutionary satellite communications system and offers the opportunity to be an early member of the team with real ownership and the chance to shape how the supply chain runs as the company grows.

Requirements

A demonstrated record of negotiating high-complexity aerospace or high-reliability hardware contracts, and of building supply chain processes rather than inheriting them.
Self-starter: You take ambiguous ownership and run with it. Nobody here will hand you requirements or wait to unblock you; you'll set the direction, make the calls, and keep leadership informed rather than asking permission.
7+ years in supply chain, procurement, or hardware operations, ideally in space, aerospace/defense, or complex hardware startups.
Deep familiarity with space-qualified or high-reliability hardware supply chains: electronics, RF, mechanical, or propulsion.
Fluency in lean supply chain / strategic sourcing practice, and the judgment to know which parts deserve which strategy.
Hands-on experience with ERP/MRP systems and keeping BOM and material data tight.
A clear communicator who works easily across engineering, production, and leadership.
Scrappy, resourceful, and not afraid to roll up their sleeves. Whatever the title says, you're never far from the work.
Legal eligibility to work in the U.S. due to export control regulations (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or refugee/asylee status).

Nice To Haves

Experience standing up or implementing an ERP is a big plus.
Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR obligations as they apply to procurement and supplier management.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end supply chain: strategy, sourcing, procurement, inventory, logistics, and supplier management, and build the function (and eventually the team) as we scale.
Negotiate complex aerospace supply agreements across the full spectrum, from low-volume, high-value space-qualified components (long-lead EEE parts, RF hardware, custom mechanical and structural elements) to high-volume, low-value commodity parts, including pricing, terms, quality flow-downs, and schedule protection.
Lead sourcing and qualification of suppliers, with a sharp eye on the long-lead and single-source items that drive our program schedule.
Apply lean supply chain principles: right-sized inventory, waste elimination, and sourcing and stocking strategies matched to part criticality (strategic buys where lead times demand it, kanban/min-max flow for commodity hardware).
Work directly with engineering and production to translate designs into buildable, sourceable hardware, and push back early when a part choice creates a lead-time, cost, or obsolescence problem.
Drive material alignment to program milestones so build and test teams never get stuck waiting on parts.
Own procurement, inventory, and BOM/material data in our ERP (NetSuite, currently mid-implementation) and help shape how it integrates with our MES. You'll have a real voice in how these systems are configured.
Stand up supply chain processes from scratch that hold up under aerospace quality and compliance expectations (AS9100-aligned practices, counterfeit parts avoidance, source inspection where warranted).
Execute export compliance requirements in the procurement process, including denied party screening, ITAR/EAR flow-downs to suppliers, and coordination with our compliance program.