Founding Lead Supply Chain Engineer
Pillar Space · Los Angeles, CA · hybrid
USD 185,000 to 275,000 per year
FOUNDING LEAD SUPPLY CHAIN ENGINEER
Equity: 0.3% – 1% depending on experience
ABOUT US
We're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible — high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.
ROLE OVERVIEW
We are seeking a Lead Supply Chain Engineer to own the supply base behind our spacecraft from first principles — the suppliers, parts, and processes that turn our designs into flight hardware, on time and at the quality flight demands.
This is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only build and run the supply chain for our first vehicles, but also help build the supply chain team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to source flight-grade hardware at speed.
This is not a narrow purchasing role. You will be the primary technical point of contact between our engineers and our suppliers across machined and fabricated structures, propulsion components, electronics and harnesses, and procured flight units — finding and qualifying suppliers, introducing new parts at their shops, driving out cost and lead time, and owning the root cause when something goes wrong. You will partner closely with design, manufacturing, and quality on manufacturability and sourcing decisions, and make tradeoffs across cost, lead time, quality, supplier risk, and schedule.
The ideal candidate has direct experience with aerospace supply chains, manufacturing processes, supplier quality, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have taken real hardware from released drawing to delivered part through a supply base, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and act with high agency and urgency in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Own the supply chain for flight and ground hardware, from early sourcing strategy through new product introduction, production, delivery, and sustaining support.
- Act as the primary technical point of contact with suppliers for critical components — machined and fabricated parts, castings and forgings, composites, propulsion components, PCBs and assemblies, harnesses, and procured flight units — and own the risk they carry to the program.
- Build the supply base from scratch: identify, assess, and onboard suppliers through technical audits, capability and capacity reviews, qualification activities, and process capability validation.
- Own new product introduction at suppliers: first articles, qualification of new parts, drawing and process changes, and transfers between suppliers.
- Drive cost, lead time, and quality improvements from first principles — break down design, material, and process choices to find step-change gains in yield, cost, and schedule.
- Identify and qualify alternative manufacturing methods (e.g., additive, castings, forgings, machining, sheet metal) where they cut cost or lead time without compromising flight quality.
- Influence design and sourcing decisions early, giving engineers data-driven input on manufacturability, cost, lead time, and supplier risk before designs are released.
- Lead make-versus-buy trades and vertical integration decisions with engineering and manufacturing.
- Own root cause and corrective action for supplier issues: lead cross-functional investigations, apply structured problem-solving, and make sure fixes are permanent across the supply base.
- Manage long-lead and single-source risk through dual-sourcing strategies, buffer stock, last-time buys, and schedule protection for critical-path hardware.
- Establish supplier quality requirements: purchase order quality clauses and flowdowns, first article inspection, source and receiving inspection, certificates of conformance, and special process controls.
- Set up material traceability, counterfeit parts prevention, and export-control (ITAR/EAR) compliance across the supply base.
- Select and stand up supply chain systems and tools: ERP/MRP, purchasing workflows, supplier scorecards, and on-time delivery and quality metrics.
- Negotiate pricing, terms, and long-term agreements with key suppliers, and build relationships that hold up under schedule pressure.
- Provide technical leadership across sourcing, supplier quality, supplier development, purchasing, and logistics efforts.
- Help hire, manage, mentor, and develop supply chain engineers and buyers as the team grows.
- Establish supply chain processes: supplier selection and approval, the approved supplier list, supplier nonconformance handling, and verification discipline appropriate for flight-grade hardware.
- Help define sourcing strategy, procurement budgets, and the supply plan for the first vehicles and the ramp to production.
- Work closely with avionics, propulsion, structures, mechanical, manufacturing, quality, test, and finance to close sourcing gaps and deliver flight hardware on schedule.
- Work closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term supply chain and manufacturing strategy.
- Represent the supply chain function in design reviews, supplier visits and audits, customer conversations, investor diligence, and program planning as needed.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline (e.g., mechanical, aerospace, materials, industrial, or electrical).
- 8+ years in supply chain engineering, supplier quality, manufacturing, or process engineering roles for aerospace, defense, or other high-reliability hardware.
- Prior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing teams.
- Demonstrated ability to take complex hardware from released drawing through supplier qualification, first article, and production delivery.
- Strong fundamentals in manufacturing processes, materials, GD&T, and engineering drawings.
- Hands-on experience qualifying suppliers and running new product introduction at supplier facilities.
- Experience with supplier quality processes such as first article inspection (e.g., AS9102), PPAP, and APQP.
- Experience leading root cause and corrective action investigations with structured methods (e.g., 8D, 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, fault trees).
- Experience with aerospace quality systems (e.g., AS9100, ISO 9001, NADCAP special processes).
- Experience negotiating with suppliers and managing cost, lead time, and capacity for critical components.
- Strong written and verbal communication, and the ability to work credibly with engineers, technicians, executives, and suppliers.
- Ability to work independently with limited direction, act with urgency in ambiguous and high-pressure environments, and drive problems to resolution.
- Ability to make practical tradeoffs across cost, lead time, quality, supplier risk, and mission schedule.
- Ability to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning engineering, manufacturing, quality, test, and finance.
HIGHLY VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
We do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.
- Demonstrated flight heritage — hardware you sourced or brought up at suppliers that has flown.
- Experience leading supply chain, supplier quality, or supplier development teams.
- Experience