Senior Technical Supply Chain Manager, Satellite Hardware

About the role

You will own the direct supply chain for satellite flight hardware from prototype through production, ensuring that sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment never block the engineers. You will build and maintain the material plan for each spacecraft build, tracking long-lead items, critical-path parts, BOM readiness, inventory status, shortages, and supplier delivery dates with precision. You will source and qualify suppliers for custom and COTS satellite hardware across structures, composites, avionics, mechanisms, harnessing, PCBAs, machined parts, coatings, treatments, and other flight-critical components. You will translate engineering drawings, BOMs, specs, and build schedules into clear RFQ packages and compare suppliers on cost, lead time, quality, capacity, responsiveness, and technical fit. You will negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, expedite options, and production capacity while balancing speed, cost, reliability, and program risk to protect the schedule. You will place and manage purchase orders, track open orders, resolve supplier blockers, and ensure parts arrive when needed for engineering, test, and flight builds without delay. You will partner tightly with engineering, manufacturing, test, and quality to manage design changes, supplier questions, first-article readiness, inspection requirements, and build-critical shortages. You will build the operating system for Reflect's satellite hardware supply chain, including approved supplier lists, lead-time tracking, material-readiness dashboards, PO discipline, shortage reviews, and supplier scorecards. You will identify and reduce single-source, long-lead, and capacity risks through dual sourcing, supplier development, strategic buys, and better build planning to strengthen supply chain resilience. You will be the person engineers trust to take supply chain work off their plate without losing technical context or slowing the build, moving fast and effecting change across the program.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the direct supply chain for satellite flight hardware from prototype through production, handling sourcing, planning, purchasing, and fulfillment.
• Build and maintain the material plan for each spacecraft build, including long-lead items, critical-path parts, BOM readiness, inventory status, shortages, and supplier delivery dates.
• Source and qualify suppliers for custom and COTS satellite hardware across structures, composites, avionics, mechanisms, harnessing, PCBAs, machined parts, coatings, treatments, and other flight-critical components.
• Translate engineering drawings, BOMs, specs, and build schedules into clear RFQ packages and compare suppliers on cost, lead time, quality, capacity, responsiveness, and technical fit.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, expedite options, and production capacity while balancing speed, cost, reliability, and program risk.
• Place and manage purchase orders, track open orders, resolve supplier blockers, and ensure parts arrive when needed for engineering, test, and flight builds.
• Partner closely with engineering, manufacturing, test, and quality to manage design changes, supplier questions, first-article readiness, inspection requirements, and build-critical shortages.
• Build the operating system for Reflect's satellite hardware supply chain, including approved supplier lists, lead-time tracking, material-readiness dashboards, PO discipline, shortage reviews, and supplier scorecards.
• Identify and reduce single-source, long-lead, and capacity risks through dual sourcing, supplier development, strategic buys, and better build planning.
• Visit suppliers when needed to assess capability, recover schedule, resolve technical/commercial issues, and build strong long-term supplier relationships.
• Be the person engineers trust to take supply chain work off their plate without losing technical context or slowing the build.
• Drive material-readiness visibility and execution for spacecraft builds so that critical-path parts are tracked and resolved proactively.
• Conduct supplier performance analysis, manage supplier risk, and execute contingency plans for parts that affect build timelines.
• Collaborate with finance on cost modeling, price trends, and total cost of ownership to support strategic sourcing decisions.
• Support NPI transitions from prototype to production by aligning processes, documentation, and supplier capabilities.
• Maintain rigorous data on part qualification, first-article acceptance, and test traceability for flight hardware.
• Implement lightweight tools and workflows to improve forecasting, PO tracking, and exception management before formal ERP capabilities exist.
• Represent supply chain on cross-functional build reviews, risk reviews, and milestone decisions to keep hardware flowing.
• Champion continuous improvement in supplier quality, on-time delivery, and manufacturability for satellite hardware.
• Maintain compliance with export control and regulatory requirements relevant to aerospace and satellite hardware.
• Communicate status clearly and frequently with stakeholders, escalating risks early and proposing mitigation actions.

Requirements

• You have 5+ years of experience in technical sourcing, hardware supply chain, procurement, material planning, supplier industrialization, manufacturing operations, or NPI for complex hardware.
• You have owned direct supply chain for flight hardware or similarly high-reliability hardware: spacecraft, aerospace, robotics, automotive, defense, medical, energy, or complex electromechanical systems.
• You can read drawings, BOMs, specs, material callouts, tolerances, and finishes well enough to identify manufacturability, cost, lead time, and supply risk.
• You have personally run RFQs, found and qualified suppliers, negotiated quotes, placed POs, tracked delivery, and recovered late or high-risk parts.
• You understand material planning: long-lead tracking, BOM readiness, inventory, shortage management, MRP/ERP systems, purchase orders, work orders, and build schedules.
• You are comfortable operating both strategically and tactically: building supplier strategy in the morning and calling shops, chasing parts, or cleaning up PO issues in the afternoon.
• You communicate crisply with engineers, suppliers, technicians, leadership, and finance; you can push for better decisions without owning design authority.
• You move fast in ambiguous environments and can build lightweight systems before a perfect ERP/process exists.
• You have strong spreadsheet/data skills and ideally experience with ERP/MRP tools, Airtable/Notion-style systems, SQL, PowerBI, or AI tools for supplier research, quote analysis, and material tracking.

Nice to have

• Experience with satellite hardware, ITAR/EAR environments, first articles, supplier quality, aerospace manufacturing, composites, precision machining, PCBAs, harnesses, mechanisms, coatings, or thermal/structural hardware.

Practical notes

• Full-time onsite role based in Hawthorne, California.
• Travel may be required for supplier visits and build support.
• New-hire eligibility verification will be required for hardware-related positions.
• We hire exceptional individuals and consider candidates with highly unusual backgrounds if they demonstrate exceptional ownership.