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Airbound is building next-generation drone delivery technology to fundamentally reduce the cost of goods movement. The company is developing the world's most efficient aircraft from the ground up, targeting delivery costs of 10 paise/km versus the current ₹100/km industry standard.
As Global Supply Manager, you will own the commercial strategy for hardware procurement, sitting at the intersection of engineering and business. This is a strategic role that requires both technical fluency and commercial acumen to build a supplier ecosystem for a product category that barely exists today.
Key responsibilities include:
**Supplier Selection & Roadmap**: Own supplier decisions across mechanical, composite, and electronic commodities. Identify and qualify suppliers, run structured sourcing events, and build a long-term roadmap with deliberate diversification across vendor count, geography, and regulatory regimes to prevent single points of failure.
**Cost Strategy & Negotiation**: Develop and execute cost strategies leveraging volume and forward production plans. Run quarterly negotiation cycles, structure multi-part and multi-year deals, and hold suppliers to committed cost-down curves.
**Should-Cost & Commercial Analysis**: Build bottoms-up cost models down to material, cycle time, tooling, yield, and margin. Challenge quotes line by line and identify process changes or design tweaks that unlock savings. Qualify alternate processes where commercially viable.
**Engineering Partnership**: Work closely with design and manufacturing engineering to intercept cost at the design stage. Translate design intent into commercial consequence and flag expensive choices before they're frozen. Ensure supplier selection aligns with engineering milestones.
**Risk & Compliance**: Own supply risk on constrained inputs, map single-source exposure and lead-time risk, and navigate export controls, end-use documentation, licensing, and import compliance—particularly critical given the regulatory complexity of aerospace materials.
**Reporting & Executive Communication**: Own cost roadmaps, spend visibility, and supplier performance reporting. Present cost positions and sourcing decisions to leadership and investors with rigorous analysis.
The role is based in Hoskote, Bangalore (company headquarters) and requires in-office presence with alternate Saturday work schedules.
**REQUIREMENTS**
Must-Have:
- 5–8 years in strategic sourcing, global supply management, or commodity management, ideally from a fast-paced startup, hardware-centric company, or complex manufacturing environment where you owned both deal and delivery
- Outstanding, structured negotiation skills with ability to build leverage from volume, credible alternates, and genuine understanding of supplier cost structure; ability to close terms that survive multiple years
- Comprehensive understanding of international supply landscape: tier-1 producers, capacity distribution, raw material pricing dynamics, and how trade policy, export controls, and duties shape procurement
- Existing network of suppliers, mills, converters, distributors, agents, and freight partners you can call directly
- Mechanical or technical acumen strong enough to negotiate on manufacturing process and design fundamentals, not just price; BE/BTech in Mechanical, Industrial, or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent
- Ability to toggle between strategic thinking and detail execution; comfort operating independently in dynamic, high-pressure environment
Good-to-Have:
- Experience in aerospace, automotive, or heavy industrial manufacturing
- Cross-border sourcing experience under regulatory constraint
