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Zoox is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Manager for Direct Procurement to lead the company's strategic sourcing initiatives and third-party partnerships. In this role, you will be responsible for understanding cross-functional business needs, identifying and evaluating potential suppliers and partners, issuing RFQs, negotiating key commercial terms and pricing, managing supplier relationships, and identifying cost reduction opportunities.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead procurement and partnership initiatives for vehicle direct materials including interiors, structural components, and advanced hardware
- Engage proactively with stakeholders across engineering, operations, manufacturing, strategy, finance, and design to develop and execute a 3-5 year business and technology roadmap supporting vehicle development and autonomous ride-hailing service
- Develop supply chain and partnership footprint with a long-term strategic perspective
- Manage day-to-day partnership execution including milestone adherence, change order management, quality assurance, and cost control; build supplier performance assessments
- Conduct supplier, industry, and market research to inform sourcing decisions
- Drive cost transparency and build total cost of ownership models
- Ensure optimal contract coverage in partnership with engineering and legal teams
- Build and maintain strategic relationships with key suppliers as primary commercial contact
- Review, analyze, and finalize supplier quote packages
- Support internal stakeholders on supplier selection and management
- Identify sourcing alternatives through benchmarking, competitive quotes, and requirement changes
You should possess expertise in electronics, powertrain, chassis, body, safety systems, EV charging, fleet maintenance, or capital equipment, with the ability to operate independently and influence cross-functional teams.
Requirements:
- 4+ years of experience in partnership development and/or purchasing in a hardware product environment
- Bachelor's degree
- Strategic sourcing, financial and business opportunity analysis skills
- Comfort with legal frameworks and contract negotiation (development, supply, licensing, and service agreements)
- Excellent communication skills with ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders including C-level, engineering, legal, finance, manufacturing, and logistics
- Excellent analytical skills
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills
Bonus qualifications include demonstrated ability to work in team environments, identify and drive process improvements, self-starter mentality with adaptability and problem-solving skills, ability to manage multiple tasks independently, and strong organizational skills.
