Manager, Supplier Development Engineering (Starship)

MANAGER, SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERING (STARSHIP)

This Manager will own the supplier development engineering function for the Starship program—building and leading a team of engineers responsible for proactively eliminating reliability risks, engineering a scalable supply chain, developing a technically excellent vendor base, and standing up reliable processes upstream to prevent downstream burden.

This is a senior technical leadership role that requires proactive involvement and influence in aligning design, manufacturing, and supply chain requirements to ensure part conformance and process stability at Starship flight rate. We are looking for a candidate who can set and execute a multi-year supply chain reliability vision, grow and develop managers and individual contributors, identify and resolve systemic risk, and manage senior stakeholders across the Starship program. This role has a unique opportunity to drive program-wide initiatives alongside other Starship leaders, develop creative solutions to drive down cost across the supply base, and lead a high-performing organization to success.

The candidate will develop and lead complex, multi-disciplinary organizations and projects and will be required to dive into ambiguous challenges with a bias towards action. This role requires someone who can create and execute a strategic organizational vision enabling Starship supply chain operations to scale with a high degree of excellence. The candidate will define high-level goals with alignment from cross-functional leadership, cascade those goals through managers and teams, and drive the organization to rapid execution.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Work cross-functionally with other supply chain verticals, engineering leadership, and production management to proactively identify improvement opportunities, implement agile processes, and drive strategic risk mitigation that improves Starship vehicle and engine reliability
• Partner autonomously with engineering and supply chain leadership to drive alignment on design requirements, technical improvements, and simplification of reliable supply chain processes
• Define strategic and tactical goals for the supplier development engineering organization and lead initiatives around those goals to ensure production and engineering stakeholder expectations are met
• Lead supply chain engineering teams to ensure alignment across cost, quality, and delivery goals, with a bias towards continuous improvement as the Starship program plan changes
• Develop standards and expectations to ensure at-rate delivery from suppliers, with strong alignment to leaders in the supply base
• Ensure end-to-end delivery execution from when the part leaves the supplier’s facility to when it arrives at its specified production area
• Facilitate change management on behalf of supply chain, and ensure on-time introduction of conforming parts at rate to support design and production changes
• Identify opportunities for insourcing or outsourcing part manufacturing in order to support rate (drive make vs. buy)
• Represent supplier development engineering in Starship program forums; ensure supply chain has a seat at the table and alignment with Starship program priorities by establishing trust with senior stakeholders
• Drive and motivate managers and teams to ensure all deliverables and expectations are met and executed, with quick decision-making
• Develop reporting procedures and systems to inform and align on reliability progress, help needed, and opportunities for improvement
• Identify and implement process, system, or training improvement projects with tangible results, and effectively delegate execution across the organization
• Track and review established KPIs with managers and teams, and adjust initiatives as needed to drive progress
• Develop and champion cross-functional technical cost-reduction efforts and projects in collaboration with sourcing leadership
• Work autonomously and proactively to resolve a wide variety of potentially ambiguous issues in creative, resourceful ways
• Ensure the organization has both a high-level and granular understanding of quality risk across the Starship program, and drive collaboration to broadly reduce quality risk
• Own the supplier development engineering roadmap for Starship flight hardware, including structures, propulsion, avionics, fluids, and related commodities as assigned
• Build, lead, and scale a world-class supplier development engineering organization, including people managers and individual contributors
• Conduct weekly 1:1s with direct reports (including managers) and collaborate on personal development plans for each member
• Coach managers on hiring, performance management, and developing their teams; hold the leadership bench accountable to results and culture
• Interview and hire candidates for Supply Chain with a strong eye for talent
• Develop a succession plan with leads and managers and effectively manage attrition to ensure business continuity, while growing and developing individual contributors into future leaders
• Embody and radiate best practices in team collaboration, respect, transparency, and team problem solving with a high sense of integrity

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 8+ years of experience working in one or more of the following:
  • Engineering
  • Purchasing
  • Contract negotiation
  • Material or production planning
  • Operations or supply chain management
  • Material cost control
  • Master production scheduling
• 3+ years of experience leading a team with direct reports

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• 10+ years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, technical procurement, or supply chain management
• 2+ years of experience leading people managers or a multi-team organization
• Experience supporting high-rate aerospace, automotive, or similarly complex hardware production programs
• Strong technical understanding of MRP systems
• Experience with BOM management within Teamcenter
• Experience sourcing and managing complex machined components, weldments, structures, and/or other flight-critical hardware
• Highly collaborative team player with impeccable attention to detail and strong verbal, written, and presentation skills
• Excellent problem solving, critical thinking, and troubleshooting skills with a bias for speed without sacrificing quality
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships across disciplines, including with senior engineering, production, and supply chain leadership
• Ability to work independently or collaboratively while managing multiple critical priorities and meeting deadlines in a fast-paced, loosely structured environment
• Advanced skills in MS Excel (ability to create pivot tables or macros, and analyze data)
• Experience with SQL and Power BI
• Conducts all activities with the highest integrity

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as needed
• Ability to travel for work up to 40%