About You and The Role 

Does the prospect of a society-altering challenge—owning global commodity strategy and driving end-to-end supply chain outcomes for a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic aircraft system—sound like the type of work that gets you out of bed in the morning? Can you cut through complexity, competing priorities, and high-stakes negotiations to deliver breakthrough sourcing results that balance cost, quality, risk, and scalability? Are you undeterred by the authority and responsibility that comes with leading strategic supplier relationships and commodity leadership in a mission-critical, high-visibility position? If this excites you, you’re who we’re looking for!

This is an in-person role based out of our HQ in South San Francisco requiring 20-30% travel to manage critical global suppliers and partners in North America, Asia, Europe, and other key regions.

What You'll Do 

In this highly visible role, you will own the end-to-end strategy and execution for fasteners, consumables, adhesives, and related off-the-shelf components. You will convert a fragmented portfolio of OTS parts and suppliers into a strategically managed commodity by creating enterprise-wide standards, consolidating spend and operations, improving commercial leverage, and delivering measurable cost savings. You will serve as the primary supplier interface and collaborate closely with Engineering, Supplier Industrialization, Material Planning, Quality, Manufacturing Operations, and Strategic Sourcing leadership.

• Develop and execute the global commodity strategy for fasteners, consumables, adhesives, and related OTS parts, balancing cost, quality, availability, risk, and scalability.
• Transform a transactional, highly fragmented OTS category into a strategic sourcing space through supplier consolidation, demand aggregation, and part standardization.
• Build a comprehensive view of category spend, SKU usage, supplier overlap, pricing, and demand to identify and prioritize cost-saving and operational consolidation opportunities.
• Partner with Engineering to rationalize and standardize fasteners and consumables across products and programs, reduce unnecessary part proliferation, and influence designs toward preferred components and suppliers.
• Lead supplier consolidation and sourcing initiatives that improve commercial leverage, reduce administrative complexity, streamline ordering and replenishment, and strengthen continuity of supply.
• Design, implement, and scale Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs with strategic suppliers, including min/max levels, replenishment triggers, point-of-use inventory, inventory ownership, service-level expectations, and performance metrics to improve material availability while reducing on-hand inventory and transactional workload.
• Drive measurable total-cost savings through competitive bidding, pricing negotiations, volume aggregation, should-cost analysis, alternative sourcing, value engineering, and inventory optimization.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with suppliers to support production and development builds, serving as the primary point of contact for operational and commercial issues.
• Define and track supplier KPIs including on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness, inventory accuracy, and cost performance; conduct regular supplier reviews and drive corrective actions for performance deviations.
• Create, manage, and track purchase orders to ensure timely and accurate delivery of materials, while improving ordering discipline and reducing transactional burden through scalable processes.
• Identify and mitigate supply risks including late deliveries, quality issues, capacity constraints, single-source exposure, and obsolescence; monitor supplier readiness for upcoming builds and escalate risks with clear recovery plans.
• Support cost tracking and reporting by monitoring supplier pricing, purchase-order spend, savings realization, and BOM impact.
• Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, Planning, Supplier Industrialization, and Production to ensure supplier readiness and alignment with program milestones.
• Support change management activities including part transitions, specification updates, supplier onboarding, and migration to preferred or standardized components.

What You'll Bring

• You have a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, Business, or a related discipline.
• You have 2+ years of experience in Purchasing, Supply Chain, Commodity Management, Supplier Management, or Engineering, or 1+ year with a Master’s degree.
• You have experience managing suppliers in a manufacturing environment; experience with fasteners, adhesives, consumables, MRO, or similar OTS categories is preferred.
• You can develop a fact-based commodity strategy from fragmented spend, part, supplier, and demand data and translate it into an executable sourcing roadmap.
• You bring excellent analytical, negotiation, and problem-solving skills with a strategic mindset, hands-on approach, and strong sense of urgency.
• You have strong written and verbal communication skills and a collaborative, team-first mindset.
• You are proficient in Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Word.

Major Bonuses

• Experience creating a strategic commodity from a decentralized or transactionally managed OTS, hardware, consumables, or MRO category.
• Proven success consolidating fragmented suppliers and operations while delivering measurable cost savings, improved service levels, and reduced supply-chain complexity.
• Experience leading fastener or hardware standardization and preferred-part initiatives in aerospace, robotics, electronics, automotive, renewable energy, or other advanced manufacturing industries.
• Experience implementing or managing Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Kanban, point-of-use replenishment, vending systems, or automated inventory management programs, including defining inventory parameters, supplier responsibilities, service levels, and performance metrics.
• Experience managing complex global supply chains, international suppliers, import/export regulations, and international trade practices.
• Proven success negotiating large or complex contracts and commercial agreements.
• Strong strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire and influence teams without direct authority.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing business needs, product designs, production priorities, and technologies.
• Multilingual proficiency is a plus.

What Else You Need To Know

This role will require travel 10-20% of the time to critical global suppliers, partner facilities, and key stakeholder meetings. The starting cash range for this role is $121,800 - $251,000. Please note that this is a target, starting cash range for a candidate who meets the minimum qualifications for this role. The final cash pay for this role will depend on a variety of factors, including a specific candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, working location, and projected impact. The total compensation package for this role may also include: equity compensation; discretionary annual or performance bonuses; sales incentives; benefits such as medical, dental and vision insurance; paid time off; and more.

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!