Manager, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain

Job Description

Job Description

Merlin (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company building a non-human pilot to deliver full-stack autonomy for any aircraft from takeoff to touchdown. The Merlin Pilot autonomy system powers a growing range of aircraft and mission profiles and has been proven through hundreds of autonomous flights from Merlin's global flight test facilities, including Kerikeri, New Zealand; Smithfield, Rhode Island; and soon, Bedford, Massachusetts. Headquartered in Boston, Merlin is expanding its organization to accelerate the development and deployment of its autonomy platform, helping customers solve some of aviation's most pressing challenges, from pilot shortages to improving flight safety. Backed by some of the world's leading investors prior to its public listing, Merlin continues to advance the certification and commercialization of autonomous flight across commercial and defense aviation. 

About You:

You’re a sourcing leader who thrives where strategy meets execution. You’ve owned categories across hardware, software, and services, and you know how to turn a sourcing plan into signed agreements, resilient supply, and measurable savings. You’re equally comfortable building a category strategy and negotiating the contract that brings it to life.

You care about the suppliers behind the product, and hold them to a high bar. You focus on performance, spot supply risk before it becomes a program risk, and keep the work moving in a regulated aerospace and defense environment where compliance and audit-readiness aren’t optional. You are a partner to Engineering, Program Management, Supplier Quality, Finance, and Legal, and you earn trust by keeping supply continuous, costs competitive, and procurement clean.

Responsibilities:

• Run end-to-end sourcing for assigned spend, from supplier sourcing and tender issuance through proposal evaluation, award recommendation, contract finalization, and ERP execution.
• Build and execute category strategy across direct and indirect spend (airborne hardware, engineering software, contract labor, flight test assets, certification partnerships), backed by market analysis and should-cost modeling.
• Drive competitive sourcing by designing tenders against defined award criteria to expose cost, capability, and schedule differences, and make the business case for competing scopes that have stayed sole-source.
• Manage the supply base by rationalizing toward best-in-class suppliers, separating qualification-driven constraints from incumbency, and bringing in new suppliers to reduce single-source exposure.
• Negotiate contracts (master pricing agreements, NRE/development agreements, SOWs, and software licenses with embedded and redistributable rights) while ensuring executed agreements precede supplier work and maintaining compliance with Merlin policy, ITAR/EAR, and FAR/DFARS requirements.
• Maintain audit-ready purchase files, including price and cost analysis, sufficient for internal audit, external audit, and government review.
• Engage cross-functionally with Engineering and Program Management upstream on specs and make-or-buy decisions, join design reviews and change control boards, support clear-to-build reviews, and partner with Quality on supplier qualification and performance management.
• Mitigate supply risk (long-lead items, obsolescence, capacity limits), establish category baselines and measurement methodology, and report on KPIs such as spend under management, competitive award rate, savings, cycle time, and single-source exposure.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, Economics, or a similar field
• 6+ years of experience in commodity management, sourcing, or procurement.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience within the aviation or aerospace industry, including commercial aviation, defense aerospace, space, MRO, airline, or aerospace OEM and supplier environments.
• Demonstrated ownership of complete tender cycles for medium-to-high value, long-term contracts, from sourcing strategy through award, contract finalization, and ERP execution.
• Proficiency interpreting and negotiating risk in terms and conditions, including the judgment to determine when to escalate to Legal.
• Working knowledge of the compliance requirements governing aerospace and defense procurement, including U.S. import and export controls (ITAR and EAR) as they affect supplier selection, technical data exchange, and international sourcing, and government contract flow-downs under FAR and DFARS.
• Technical proficiency with ERP systems and analytical tools, with advanced Microsoft Office skills (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), and strong analytical, quantitative, and problem-solving ability.
• Experience with a government contracting ERP (Deltek Costpoint, SAP, or similar) is strongly preferred.
• Proactive approach with clear and effective verbal and written communication, and the adaptability to manage deadline pressure, ambiguity, and change.

Nice to Have:

• Master's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Economics, Business, Mathematics, or Statistics.
• An industry-recognized certification in supply chain or project management (CPSM, CIPS, CSCP, PMP).
• Familiarity with AS9100 and the certification environment suppliers deliver into, including FAA or EASA airworthiness approvals, DO-178C and DO-254 for airborne software and hardware, and the associated supplier data and first-article requirements.
• Experience sourcing both hardware and software for the same product, particularly licensed software, tool chains, or certification artifacts that form part of an airworthiness approval.
• Experience in an early-stage aerospace or autonomy company, or supporting a certifiable autonomy program (UAM, UAV, or optionally piloted aircraft).
• Experience sourcing and scaling a supply chain for a startup or small program team.
• Experience working across a multi-site or international supply base.
• Private pilot license, or hands-on aircraft experience alongside the commercial skill set.

The compensation range provided is reflective of base salary only , and is a good-faith estimate based on a wide range of factors. The actual offer will be determined by a variety of factors including the candidate's qualifications, skills, experience, education, and training. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Merlin's total compensation package. Additionally, Merlin offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees.

This position is based on-site at Merlin HQ in Boston, MA.

Once you’re here, you’ll enjoy a variety of on-site perks designed to make your workday enjoyable and convenient. These include catered lunches featuring a rotating menu of delicious options, an assortment of snacks to keep you fueled throughout the day, and a selection of beverages, including coffee, tea, and other drinks, to keep you refreshed.

Our goal is to create an environment where you can thrive both professionally and personally.

Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment. We also offer a top-notch benefits package (health, dental, life, flexible paid time off, and 401k with match) and work/life integration. Being part of the Merlin team allows you to become part of a small team that supports professional development while working together to achieve our mission.

Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military service or obligation or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.

At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future. 

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to: View email address on ziprecruiter.com

Merlin Labs does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.