Director of Supply Chain

Job Description

Job Description

Unusual Machines is a U.S.-based drone and drone parts company focused on the small and First-Person View (FPV) segments of the drone market. Our brands - Rotor Riot, Fat Shark, Rotor Lab and - coming soon - Upgrade Energy - are some of the most respected names in FPV and have helped shape the industry through e-commerce, product development, and a deep connection with the pilot community.

We're expanding into enterprise and defense - bringing our obsessive attention to performance, design, and U.S.-based manufacturing into high-stakes environments like search and rescue and military innovation. With several of our products already approved by the Defense Innovation Unit, we're solving procurement issues for customers who demand speed, agility, and compliance.

If you love working at the intersection of community, content, and cutting-edge technology, you'll feel right at home here.

The Director of Supply Chain will build and lead the global sourcing, procurement, material planning, warehouse operations, logistics, and supplier performance capabilities required to support rapid growth. This leader will develop a resilient and compliant supply base, translate approved demand into executable material plans, and ensure production and new product introductions have the right components at the right time and cost.

Who You Are

• A Global Procurement Leader: You have a strong record of developing category strategies, building supplier networks, and negotiating complex commercial agreements for technical hardware.
• A Team Builder: You are passionate about managing, mentoring, and expanding high-performing teams of buyers, material planners, and logistics staff.
• A Complex Hardware Expert: You have deep technical comfort working with electronics, PCBAs, semiconductors, motors, batteries, mechanical components, optics, and other drone hardware.
• A Systems Thinker: You build scalable processes, reliable planning disciplines, and data-driven systems that turn complexity into clear execution.
• A Risk Mitigator: You identify weak links early, quantify exposure, and implement practical sourcing and inventory strategies that protect production continuity.

What You'll Do

Sourcing, Procurement, and Planning

• Lead Procurement and Planning: Directly manage and develop buyers and material planners while establishing clear priorities, operating rhythms, performance expectations, and succession plans.
• Build Global Sourcing Strategies: Develop category and supplier strategies for electronics, PCBAs, semiconductors, motors, batteries, mechanical components, optics, and other critical drone hardware.
• Negotiate Commercial Agreements: Lead negotiations covering price, payment terms, lead times, capacity, minimum order quantities, non-cancellable commitments, warranties, and supply assurance.
• Build a Resilient Supply Base: Qualify, develop, and diversify suppliers; establish dual-source and contingency plans; and maintain visibility to geopolitical, capacity, financial, and component risks.
• Lead Material and Supply Planning: Translate the approved demand plan into executable purchasing, material, and capacity plans through the SIOP process. Maintain disciplined MRP parameters, priorities, and exception management.
• Drive Supplier Performance: Establish scorecards and operating reviews focused on quality, cost, delivery, responsiveness, capacity, and corrective-action closure.

  Compliance & Strategic Roadmapping

• Engineering-Led Compliance: Partner with Engineering during the design phase to ensure that compliance is designed into the product from day one. Support engineering workflows to keep hardware development aligned with regulatory standards.
• Certification Submissions: Oversee and support documentation and submission processes for critical compliance certifications, including Blue UAS and FCC regulations.
• Create Sourcing Roadmaps: Develop and maintain forward-looking lifecycle plans for our Bill of Materials (BOM). Map out the current BOM, define what it will look like tomorrow, and build a strategic path toward full domestic sourcing and production.
• Ensure Compliant Sourcing: Support country-of-origin controls, supplier traceability, customs requirements, and applicable ITAR, EAR, NDAA, and customer-specific sourcing requirements.

Warehouse, Logistics, and Production Flow

• Oversee Warehouse Operations: Lead and optimize daily warehouse operations, inventory control, spatial utilization, and safety standards.
• Manage Shipping & Logistics: Direct all inbound and outbound shipping, freight forwarding, customs clearance, and domestic/global logistics networks.
• Ensure Material Flow: Collaborate directly with the Production and Manufacturing teams to establish seamless material flow from the warehouse to the factory floor, preventing bottlenecks and keeping assembly lines moving efficiently.

Systems and Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Engineering & Operations: Collaborate with Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Product teams from prototype through production to ensure sourcing readiness, manufacturability, qualification, and controlled changes.
• Manage Inventory and Working Capital: Set inventory policies and safety-stock targets that balance continuity of supply with inventory turns, cash requirements, and excess and obsolete exposure.
• Strengthen Systems and Controls: Optimize NetSuite and related planning tools, master data, purchasing workflows, reporting, and transaction discipline to improve accuracy and scalability.

What You'll Bring

• Supply Chain Leadership: Ten or more years of progressive supply chain, procurement, or operations experience, including at least five years leading sourcing, purchasing, planning, or logistics teams.
• Global Procurement Expertise: A strong record of building global supplier networks, negotiating complex agreements, improving commercial terms, and delivering measurable cost and lead-time improvements.
• People Leadership: Direct experience coaching and developing buyers, material planners, and warehouse/logistics personnel in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Technical Hardware & Compliance Depth: Experience sourcing complex electro-mechanical products in aerospace, defense, robotics, electronics, drones, or another regulated hardware environment. Familiarity with compliance standards like Blue UAS, FCC, and NDAA is highly preferred.
• Planning and ERP Capability: Hands-on command of MRP, supply planning, inventory controls, and ERP systems. NetSuite experience is strongly preferred.
• Cross-Functional Execution:  Demonstrated ability to work effectively with Engineering, Quality, Production, Finance, and Product teams to align compliance and material flow.
• Analytical Judgment: Ability to turn incomplete demand and supplier information into clear priorities, quantified risks, and practical recovery plans.
• Educational Background: A Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or a related field is preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.

Measures of Success

• Continuity & Flow: Improve material availability, optimize factory material flow, and reduce shortages, expedites, and production interruptions.
• Sourcing Roadmaps: Successfully draft and execute strategic BOM roadmaps that steadily transition the company toward compliant, domestic production.
• Supplier & Regulatory Results: Improve on-time delivery, quality, and lead times while securing necessary Blue UAS and FCC certifications.
• Planning & Warehouse Discipline: Establish reliable SIOP inputs, accurate MRP data, and tight inventory controls across warehouse operations.
• Risk Reduction: Create clear category strategies, supplier risk maps, compliant sourcing paths, and qualified backup sources for critical components.

Compensation - $140,000 - 180,000

Benefits

• Equity 
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Benefits
• 401(k)
• Generous PTO
• Paid Holidays
• Daily Catered Lunches

We are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

Unusual Machines participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.

Candidates must be a US Citizen or permanent resident to be eligible for employment