Strategic Sourcing Manager
pano-ai · San Francisco, California · remote
Help us tackle the growing wildfire crisis with the latest advancements in AI and IoTWho we areThe challenge: Every minute matters in wildfire response. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires—with longer fire seasons, drier fuels, and more extreme weather—new ignitions can spread rapidly, putting communities, critical infrastructure, and ecosystems at risk. Today, many wildfires are first reported by members of the public, meaning it can take valuable time to detect a fire, confirm its location and size, and mobilize responders. Fire agencies need faster, more reliable ways to detect, verify, and pinpoint new ignitions so they can respond quickly and prevent small fires from becoming catastrophic events.
About Pano AI: Pano AI is the leader in AI-powered wildfire detection and intelligence, helping fire professionals detect, respond to, and contain wildfires faster and more safely. Our platform combines advanced hardware, software, artificial intelligence, satellite imagery, and other data sources to provide real-time situational awareness and actionable intelligence. Using a network of ultra-high-definition, 360-degree cameras positioned across high vantage points, Pano AI delivers a real-time view of wildfire activity, enabling faster, more informed decision-making when every second counts.
We are a team of more than 175 people working in a hybrid-remote environment across North America and Australia, with headquarters in San Francisco. Our customers include government agencies, utilities, insurers, and private landowners who rely on Pano AI to help protect people, property, and natural landscapes. Pano AI currently serves customers across the United States, Australia, and Canada, monitoring more than 50 million acres worldwide.
Our values are part of everything we do at Pano AI. They guide how we work together, how we serve our customers, and how we approach our mission.
Impact: As we scale our business, we grow our impact—enabling emergency managers to protect people, infrastructure, and the environment from devastating wildfires.
Service: We serve those who serve, and the teammates beside us.
Trust: We earn trust through integrity, accountability, and an obsession with quality so that our partners can rely on us.
Excellence and Speed: We produce exceptional work quickly because our mission demands both precision and urgency.
Innovation: We apply cutting-edge technology to what we build and how we work.
Our work has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative AI Companies in 2023 and one of the World's Most Innovative Companies in 2026, ranking #1 in Sustainability. We have also been named to TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2025 and recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the top climate technology companies to watch.
Backed by $89 million in funding from leading investors including Giant Ventures, Liberty Mutual Ventures, Tokio Marine Future Fund, Congruent Ventures, Initialized Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and T-Mobile Ventures, we're building technology that helps communities around the world become more resilient to wildfire. Learn more at.
The RolePano AI is hiring a Strategic Sourcing Manager to own sourcing, relationship management, and supplier strategy for a wide range of components, materials, outsourced services, and shipping and logistics partners that support our full-stack solutions.
This is a highly hands-on individual contributor role responsible for identifying and qualifying suppliers, leading competitive sourcing processes, negotiating commercial agreements, managing supplier performance, and developing sourcing strategies that optimize cost, quality, delivery, and supply continuity.
You will partner closely with Hardware, Engineering, Operations, Quality, Finance, and Legal to translate current and future product requirements into sourcing strategies, cost models, and supplier relationships that support Pano’s growth. You will also serve as a key internal resource on market conditions, supplier risks, cost drivers, and global supply chain trends.
The ideal candidate brings strong commercial judgment, experience working with manufacturing and hardware suppliers, and the ability to operate independently in a fast-moving environment.
What you'll do- Develop and execute sourcing strategies for a wide range of commodities, including hardware components and assemblies, outsource professional services, communications partners, shipping and warehousing, and more.
- Identify, evaluate, qualify, and onboard new suppliers based on cost, quality, capability, capacity, delivery, and risk
- Lead competitive sourcing processes, including RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, supplier evaluations, and commercial negotiations
- Negotiate supplier agreements, pricing, lead times, payment terms, and other commercial terms in partnership with Legal and Finance
- Manage supplier relationships and performance across cost, quality, delivery, engineering support, and capacity
- Develop cost models and analyze supplier pricing, market trends, and cost drivers to identify savings and value-creation opportunities
- Partner closely with Engineering and Hardware teams on new product introduction (NPI), including early supplier involvement, sourcing feasibility, and supplier readiness
- Assess supply chain risks, including capacity constraints, single-source dependencies, geopolitical exposure, lead-time risk, and component availability
- Develop mitigation and continuity plans to support supply resilience and product availability
- Support value engineering and cost-reduction initiatives in partnership with Engineering, Operations, and suppliers
- Monitor global supply chain conditions, pricing trends, and supplier market dynamics and communicate potential business impact to leadership
- Support compliance with applicable import, export, and trade requirements, including Pano’s Buy American compliance program
- Drive continuous improvement across the supplier base and sourcing processes
- Serve as a strategic sourcing partner to cross-functional stakeholders while remaining directly accountable for hands-on sourcing execution
What you'll bring- 5+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, supply chain, or supplier management, ideally within hardware, manufacturing, or technology
- Strong experience sourcing and managing suppliers for hardware components, custom assemblies, contract manufacturing, or other complex technical products
- Demonstrated success leading supplier negotiations and managing commercial agreements
- Experience conducting RFx processes and evaluating supplier proposals
- Strong understanding of supplier cost structures, cost modeling, and cost-reduction strategies
- Experience supporting new product introduction (NPI) and partnering closely with Engineering or Product Development teams
- Experience managing global suppliers and working within outsourced manufacturing or EMS models
- Strong analytical, project management, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to assess risk, work through ambiguity, and make data-informed sourcing decisions
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to influence across functions without direct authority
- BA or BS degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field
- Ability to travel up to 10%
- Start-up experience, or experience operating effectively in a fast-paced and evolving environment, is a plus
Final compensation for regular full-time employees is determined by a variety of factors, including job-related qualifications, education, experience, skills, knowledge, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, regular full-time roles are eligible for equity. Benefits are tailored to local market standards and statutory requirements in the employee's country of employment, and may include health coverage, retirement or pension con