Sourcing Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Description

As a Sourcing Manager at Impulse Space, you will own sourcing and supplier management activities for complex hardware, materials, and services critical to spacecraft development and production. You will partner closely with engineering, quality, planning, manufacturing, and program teams to develop sourcing solutions that balance cost, quality, delivery, and technical risk.

This role is responsible for managing strategic suppliers, leading complex competitive sourcing efforts, negotiating commercial terms, resolving difficult supply-chain problems, and driving measurable improvements in supplier performance. You will also identify alternate sources, mitigate supply risk, and provide guidance to junior members of the sourcing team.

Responsibilities

• Own sourcing, procurement, and supplier execution for assigned commodities, products, or programs from initial requirements through delivery
• Manage suppliers by serving as the primary commercial point of contact for performance, capacity, cost, and contractual matters
• Lead complex RFQs and supplier-selection activities by evaluating cost, lead time, technical capability, capacity, quality, and compliance
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, minimum-order quantities, tooling arrangements, intellectual-property provisions, and other commercial terms
• Develop negotiation strategies using cost analysis, market intelligence, historical pricing, demand forecasts, and supplier-performance data
• Partner with engineering and manufacturing teams to source development and production hardware in support of aggressive program schedules
• Collaborate with Supply Chain Engineering to evaluate and qualify suppliers against technical, quality, regulatory, and business requirements
• Monitor supplier performance against cost, quality, delivery, and responsiveness expectations; lead recovery and corrective-action efforts when performance falls short
• Lead cost-reduction and value-improvement initiatives through competitive sourcing, should-cost analysis, volume leverage, design collaboration, and commercial negotiations
• Maintain accurate purchasing, sourcing, and supplier data within ERP, procurement, and related business systems
• Resolve delivery, quality, invoice, and contractual issues while maintaining accountability and productive supplier relationships
• Support the development and implementation of sourcing processes, tools, metrics, and standard work
• Mentor Sourcing Specialists and Purchasing Coordinators by providing guidance on supplier management, negotiations, purchasing practices, and issue resolution
• Travel to supplier locations as needed to support qualification, negotiations, production readiness, performance recovery, and relationship development

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, Operations, Finance, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in sourcing, procurement, supply chain, supplier management, or a related function
• Demonstrated experience independently managing suppliers and complex procurement activities
• Experience leading competitive RFQs, evaluating supplier proposals, and negotiating commercial terms
• Demonstrated experience identifying supply-chain risks and developing actionable mitigation or recovery plans
• Demonstrated experience working with ERP, MRP, procurement, or inventory-management systems
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret pricing, demand, lead-time, and supplier-performance data
• Ability to communicate effectively and influence decisions across engineering, quality, manufacturing, planning, finance, and program teams

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Masters degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Material or Production Planning, or a related field
• Demonstrated experience supporting aerospace, defense, automotive, or another high-reliability manufacturing environment
• Demonstrated experience sourcing commodities such as machined components, raw materials, PCB/PCBA, composites, propulsion hardware, electrical components, or commercial off-the-shelf hardware
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes, technical drawings, bills of material, and engineering change control
• Demonstrated experience with supplier qualification, source inspections, audits, corrective actions, or supplier-performance improvement
• Demonstrated experience using cost models, should-cost analysis, total-cost-of-ownership analysis, or supplier financial assessments
• Demonstrated experience negotiating long-term agreements, blanket purchase orders, tooling agreements, or complex statements of work
• Familiarity with AS9100, ITAR, EAR, and aerospace quality and regulatory requirements
• Advanced proficiency in Excel; experience with SQL, Power BI, or other analytical and visualization tools is a plus
• Demonstrated ability to mentor or train junior sourcing and purchasing professionals
• Ability to travel up to 15%

Additional Information:

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options , and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan .

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.