Buyer/Purchaser, Senior

Essential Duties

Sourcing & Procurement (Primary)

• Source and purchase the full robotics bill of materials: custom electronics and PCB assemblies, CNC-machined metal parts, actuators and motors, cable assemblies, cameras and sensors, and supporting COTS hardware.
• Hunt down hard-to-find and allocated electronics — NVIDIA Jetson modules, GPUs, image sensors — through authorized distribution, direct manufacturer relationships, and carefully vetted secondary-market channels, managing counterfeit risk and allocation constraints.
• Run the quote-to-PO cycle: solicit and compare quotes, negotiate pricing, payment terms, and lead times, place purchase orders, and track and expedite deliveries against build schedules.
• Own vendor selection within our trade-compliance constraints: build and maintain a non-Chinese supply base with a strong preference for US vendors, verifying country of origin down to the component level where required.

Building the Purchasing Function

• Define the company's purchasing processes from scratch: PO workflow and approvals, vendor onboarding and qualification, receiving and inspection handoff, and spend tracking.
• Select and stand up purchasing tooling — from spreadsheets that actually work today to an ERP/MRP system that supports production volumes.
• Build and maintain the approved vendor list; work with engineering on part numbering, BOM hygiene, and approved alternates.
• Give the company visibility: report on spend, open orders, lead-time risk, and cost trends so engineering and leadership can plan around reality.

Scaling to Production

• Transition the supply base from prototype and small-run buys to production purchasing: qualify vendors for volume, establish second sources for critical parts, and negotiate volume pricing, blanket orders, and scheduled releases.
• Plan procurement against production build schedules — long-lead items ordered early, safety stock on allocation-risk parts, and no line-down surprises.
• Work with engineering on BOM health for production: component lifecycle and end-of-life monitoring, alternate qualification, and cost-down opportunities as volumes grow.

Compliance & Risk

• Procure within ITAR constraints and maintain the documentation to prove it: country-of-origin records, vendor certifications, and traceability appropriate for defense customers.
• Screen the supply chain against prohibited-source requirements (e.g., NDAA Section 889 covered entities) and keep Chinese-origin content out of the product.
• Protect against counterfeit components — buy through authorized channels by default, and apply rigorous vetting (testing, escrow, documentation) when the secondary market is the only option.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of procurement/purchasing experience for physical hardware products — robotics, defense, aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, or similar electromechanical systems.
• Proven ability to source scarce and allocated electronics: you have found parts others couldn't (GPU modules, embedded compute, image sensors, or similar), and you know the authorized-distribution landscape, the broker market, and how to avoid counterfeits.
• Experience buying across our categories: custom PCB assemblies, machined metal parts, actuators/motors, cable assemblies, and cameras or sensors.
• Experience supporting a product transition from prototype/low-volume to production purchasing — vendor qualification, volume negotiation, and lead-time planning.
• Track record of building or substantially defining purchasing processes, not just executing within an established system.
• Self-sufficient as a department of one: you set your own priorities, close your own loops, and don't need a manager to unblock you.
• Strong negotiator with vendors of all sizes — from Fortune 500 distributors to two-person machine shops.
• US person (citizen or lawful permanent resident) — required for ITAR compliance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a defense or ITAR-regulated environment; working familiarity with NDAA Section 889, country-of-origin verification, and government customer flow-downs.
• Experience selecting or implementing an ERP/MRP system at a growing hardware company.
• Existing relationships with electronics distributors (Arrow, Avnet, Digi-Key, Mouser, etc.), embedded-compute vendors, and domestic machine shops or contract manufacturers.
• Experience with formal supplier qualification, supplier audits, or purchasing in an AS9100/ISO 9001 environment.
• Early-stage startup experience — comfortable with ambiguity, thin process, and building the airplane while flying it.