Supply Chain Lead (m/f/d)

Role overview

We are hiring a Supply Chain Lead to establish and run the company’s end-to-end supply chain from the prototype stage all the way to high-volume manufacturing. In this role, you will take ownership of supplier discovery, evaluation, onboarding, relationship management, and the systems needed to make procurement and supply chain operations scalable.

You will partner closely with engineering and hardware teams to turn technical needs into sourcing plans, and you will help define the workflows, tools, and operating frameworks for the function as it grows.

Key responsibilities

• Manage the complete procure-to-pay flow for all robot component families, such as mechanical assemblies, actuators, electronics, sensors, and custom hardware.
• Run structured RFI, RFQ, and RFP processes to find, screen, and qualify suppliers based on technical fit and performance standards.
• Take suppliers from onboarding and contract finalization through first-article approval and readiness for serial production, including the setup of quality agreements and controls.
• Develop long-term supplier partnerships using KPI tracking, scorecards, formal reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Work with engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams to keep sourcing aligned with product development schedules, production plans, and bill-of-material changes across robot generations.
• Reduce spend through clean-sheet analysis, should-cost modelling, and strong negotiation while protecting product quality.
• Support supplier industrialization and production ramp-up through capacity planning, tooling readiness, demand and supply planning, and resilient dual or alternative sourcing approaches.
• Use AI-enabled tools, analytics, and modern procurement systems to improve speed and operating efficiency.

Candidate profile

We are looking for someone with 6 to 10+ years of experience in supply chain management, ideally spanning both fast-moving, high-volume sectors such as automotive and high-growth businesses. You should have helped bring products from prototype into mass production and owned supplier industrialization, ramp-up, and production readiness.

You should bring direct experience working with engineering and manufacturing teams through design changes, yield issues, and scaling constraints. Hands-on sourcing exposure to electromechanical parts such as actuators, motors, gearboxes, sensors, custom electronics, PCBAs, wire harnesses, and precision-machined parts is important.

This role also suits someone with a strong builder mindset who has created a supply chain function, or a major part of one, from the ground up. You should know how to introduce the right processes for the company’s stage without overcomplicating early operations, while still designing systems that can scale.

Commercial strength is essential, including negotiation capability, clean-sheet costing, should-cost modelling, and the ability to structure supplier agreements that safeguard price, quality, IP, liability, and delivery.

About the company

The company is working to become a global leader in physical AI, grounded in Europe’s strong robotics tradition. It was founded by entrepreneurs with experience scaling digital products and advanced robotics, and is supported by senior leaders from leading AI research labs and industrial technology companies.

Its mission is to build versatile and trustworthy embodied AI for physical work. The team combines deep expertise in AI and mechatronics with a fast-moving execution culture, focused on solving labor shortages by delivering robots that are safe, secure, and built to automotive-grade standards for durability and scale.

The business is well funded, operating in semi-stealth mode, and currently building out its core team.

Equal opportunity statement

The company is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. It is committed to maintaining an inclusive environment for all builders.