Global Supply Manager, Hardware & Consumables

Skills this role screens for

About the role

About Zipline

Zipline is the world’s largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world’s largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products.

Our customers include the world’s largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we’ve built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe.

We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people’s lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds.

About You and The Role

Does the prospect of a society-altering challenge—owning global commodity strategy and driving end-to-end supply chain outcomes for a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic aircraft system—sound like the type of work that gets you out of bed in the morning? Can you cut through complexity, competing priorities, and high-stakes negotiations to deliver breakthrough sourcing results that balance cost, quality, risk, and scalability? Are you undeterred by the authority and responsibility that comes with leading strategic supplier relationships and commodity leadership in a mission-critical, high-visibility position? If this excites you, you’re who we’re looking for!

This is an in-person role based out of our HQ in South San Francisco requiring 20-30% travel to manage critical global suppliers and partners in North America, Asia, Europe, and other key regions.

The work

What You'll Do

In this highly visible role, you will own the end-to-end strategy and execution for fasteners, consumables, adhesives, and related off-the-shelf components. You will convert a fragmented portfolio of OTS parts and suppliers into a strategically managed commodity by creating enterprise-wide standards, consolidating spend and operations, improving commercial leverage, and delivering measurable cost savings. You will serve as the primary supplier interface and collaborate closely with Engineering, Supplier Industrialization, Material Planning, Quality, Manufacturing Operations, and Strategic Sourcing leadership.

• Develop and execute the global commodity strategy for fasteners, consumables, adhesives, and related OTS parts, balancing cost, quality, availability, risk, and scalability.
• Transform a transactional, highly fragmented OTS category into a strategic sourcing space through supplier consolidation, demand aggregation, and part standardization.
• Build a comprehensive view of category spend, SKU usage, supplier overlap, pricing, and demand to identify and prioritize cost-saving and operational consolidation opportunities.
• Partner with Engineering to rationalize and standardize fasteners and consumables across products and programs, reduce unnecessary part proliferation, and influence designs toward preferred components and suppliers.
• Lead supplier consolidation and sourcing initiatives that improve commercial leverage, reduce administrative complexity, streamline ordering and replenishment, and strengthen continuity of supply.
• Design, implement, and scale Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs with strategic suppliers, including min/max levels, replenishment triggers, point-of-use inventory, inventory ownership, service-level expectations, and performance metrics to improve material availability while reducing on-hand inventory and transactional workload.
• Drive measurable total-cost savings through competitive bidding, pricing negotiations, volume aggregation, should-cost analysis, alternative sourcing, value engineering, and inventory optimization.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with suppliers to support production and development builds, serving as the primary point of contact for operational and commercial issues.
• Define and track supplier KPIs including on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness, inventory accuracy, and cost performance; conduct regular supplier reviews and drive corrective actions for performance deviations.
• Create, manage, and track purchase orders to ensure timely and accurate delivery of materials, while improving ordering discipline and reducing transactional burden through scalable processes.
• Identify and mitigate supply risks including late deliveries, quality issues, capacity constraints, single-source exposure, and obsolescence; monitor supplier readiness for upcoming builds and escalate risks with clear recovery plans.
• Support cost tracking and reporting by monitoring supplier pricing, purchase-order spend, savings realization, and BOM impact.
• Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, Planning, Supplier Industrialization, and Production to ensure supplier readiness and alignment with program milestones.
• Support change management activities including part transitions, specification updates, supplier onboarding, and migration to preferred or standardized components.

Also

What You'll Bring

• You have 2+ years of experience in Purchasing, Supply Chain, Commodity Management, Supplier Management, or Engineering, or 1+ year with a Master’s degree.
• You have experience managing suppliers in a manufacturing environment; experience with fasteners, adhesives, consumables, MRO, or similar OTS categories is preferred.
• You can develop a fact-based commodity strategy from fragmented spend, part, supplier, and demand data and translate it into an executable sourcing roadmap.
• You bring excellent analytical, negotiation, and problem-solving skills with a strategic mindset, hands-on approach, and strong sense of urgency.
• You have strong written and verbal communication skills and a collaborative, team-first mindset.
• You are proficient in Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Word.

Nice to have

Major Bonuses

• Proven success consolidating fragmented suppliers and operations while delivering measurable cost savings, improved service levels, and reduced supply-chain complexity.
• Experience leading fastener or hardware standardization and preferred-part initiatives in aerospace, robotics, electronics, automotive, renewable energy, or other advanced manufacturing industries.
• Experience implementing or managing Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Kanban, point-of-use replenishment, vending systems, or automated inventory management programs, including defining inventory parameters, supplier responsibilities, service levels, and performance metrics.
• Experience managing complex global supply chains, international suppliers, import/export regulations, and international trade practices.
• Proven success negotiating large or complex contracts and commercial agreements.
• Strong strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire and influence teams without direct authority.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing business needs, product designs, production priorities, and technologies.
• Multilingual proficiency is a plus.…