Category Manager - Wireless Routers

Eagle Wireless is a connectivity company delivering secure, reliable, and scalable cellular modules and solutions for automotive and IoT applications. With a strong presence in the United States and global R&D teams across North America, Europe, and APAC, Eagle Wireless supports customers worldwide with long-life, compliant, and cyber-secure connectivity products. Focused on trust, supply chain resilience, and regulatory compliance, Eagle Wireless helps OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and IoT innovators deploy connected technologies with confidence in an increasingly complex global environment.

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Eagle Wireless offers medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid vacation and paid parental leave to support you and your family.

We are looking for: Category Manager – Wireless Routers

We are looking for an experienced Category Manager – Wireless Routers to lead sourcing and category strategy for our new Wireless Routers product line. You bring deep segment expertise: you know the supplier landscape (ODMs, chipset vendors, and component suppliers), you understand cost structures and BOM economics, and you have existing relationships across the wireless router / CPE ecosystem. This is a build-from-scratch mandate — you will define supplier strategy, negotiate commercial terms, and establish the cost and quality foundation for a brand-new category at Eagle Wireless.

You will own the Wireless Routers sourcing category end-to-end from day one — a hands-on, single-owner mandate to start, with clear scope to grow the function (and, over time, a team) as the category scales. Day-to-day purchase order execution, expediting, and delivery scheduling are owned by our plant procurement teams; this role is focused on the strategic layer above that.

Two requirements are non-negotiable: (1) several years of hands-on strategic sourcing / procurement experience, and (2) direct experience sourcing wireless routers, CPE, or Wi-Fi networking hardware, including existing ODM and Wi-Fi chipset-vendor relationships.

Applications that do not clearly evidence both will not be considered.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing and Category Strategy:

• Develop and execute the sourcing and category strategy for the Wireless Routers segment
• Identify, qualify, and select ODM and component suppliers (chipsets, RF front-end, PCB, mechanicals, packaging)
• Establish a dual/multi-sourcing strategy to mitigate supply chain risk
• Lead cost modeling and profitability analysis to assess suppliers' cost structures and identify opportunities for cost reduction and value optimization
• Conduct competitive bidding processes to ensure the selection of the best suppliers based on quality, price, delivery, and service performance

Supplier Relationship Management:

• Own the strategic supplier relationship: performance scorecards, quarterly business reviews, and escalation ownership for cost, quality, and capacity issues
• Represent the category in senior-level supplier business reviews and executive escalations

Cost Management:

• Lead commercial negotiations on pricing, BOM cost breakdowns, payment terms, and contracts
• Build and maintain cost benchmarks and should-cost models for router platforms
• Establish Cost-Down and Design-to-Cost principles for the category

Category & Product Strategy:

• Own category strategy across the product lifecycle — from initial sourcing and supplier selection through NPI and cost-downs — partnering with plant procurement teams on execution and delivery
• Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Engineering, Quality, and Program Management on RFQs and new product introductions
• Ensure supplier and category compliance with industry regulations, certifications (e.g. FCC, CE, Wi-Fi Alliance), and quality standards

Market & Industry Insight:

• Monitor component market trends, allocation risk, and pricing movements (e.g. Wi-Fi chipsets, memory, RF components) and translate them into sourcing action
• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes affecting the wireless networking and consumer electronics sectors
• Perform market analysis to track competitor offerings and pricing strategies to maintain a competitive edge

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with Sales, Marketing, and Product Development teams to ensure sourcing strategies align with market demands and customer requirements
• Provide strategic sourcing input and guidance for new product development and portfolio management

Sourcing Analytics & Reporting:

• Prepare regular reports on category performance, supplier metrics, cost savings, and other key performance indicators
• Use data-driven insights to guide decision-making and continuously improve category strategy xhyhwjd

Job Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on strategic sourcing / procurement experience, of which at least 3 years sourcing wireless routers, CPE, or Wi-Fi networking hardware (general category-management or non-procurement backgrounds are not a fit for this role)
• Existing, direct working relationships with router / CPE ODMs and Wi-Fi chipset vendors — be prepared to name the specific ODMs and chipset vendors you have personally sourced from
• Strong command of BOM costing, cost breakdown negotiation, and should-cost analysis
• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Experience with ERP/procurement systems (e.g. SAP, NetSuite)
• Willingness to travel internationally to Asia for supplier visits (approx. 20–30%)
• Fluent English

Nice to Have

• Experience in automotive or IoT wireless module procurement
• Existing network with ODMs such as Sercomm, Arcadyan, Askey, Gemtek, Compal, or Wistron NeWeb
• Familiarity with Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 chipset roadmaps (Qualcomm, MediaTek, Broadcom)

What We Offer

• The opportunity to build a new product category from the ground up
• Preference to be given to candidates in Cleveland Ohio location who are able to work on-site; hybrid candidates / other geographies to be considered if hiring out of Cleveland not possible
• Competitive salary and benefits package
• A fast-growing, international environment with direct customer and supplier exposure