Supply Chain and Procurement Manager
About this role
Helsing builds artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities to protect and defend democracies and is expanding its operations in the United States. This role serves as the organization's first supply chain hire in the country, functioning as a player-coach who designs supplier strategy while directly handling purchasing tasks. Daily responsibilities involve setting up compliance frameworks, placing purchase orders, and collaborating closely with production, systems engineering, and logistics teams.
The person who succeeds in this position can balance high-level strategy with hands-on execution, possessing familiarity with defense supply chain requirements alongside the willingness to resolve day-to-day shortages. Candidates must be comfortable establishing a procurement function from scratch with a clear path toward building and mentoring a future team. U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance are required.
What you will do
- Place, expedite, and close purchase orders across all production and prototype commodities.
- Identify, qualify, and negotiate with suppliers across electronics, semiconductors, machined parts, and contract manufacturing.
- Implement compliance screening including NDAA, FAR/DFARS flow-downs, ITAR/EAR export controls, and counterfeit-part avoidance.
- Define purchasing processes, approval thresholds, and supplier documentation standards while maintaining procurement data quality within the MRP/ERP system.
- Partner with systems engineering on bills of materials, engineering change orders, and part selection during new product introduction.
- Maintain buffer and last-time-buy strategies for long-lead and sole-source items to manage geopolitical and allocation risks.
What you need
- Bring 7 to 12 years of experience in supply chain, procurement, strategic sourcing, or planning within a hardware manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrate personal ownership of purchase orders, supplier commit dates, and shortage resolution within recent roles.
- Possess working knowledge or rapid mastery of defense compliance standards including NDAA, ITAR/EAR, and FAR/DFARS.
- Act as a hands-on daily user of MRP/ERP systems with the ability to manage demand, planning, and purchasing data independently.
- Maintain comfort working with multi-level bills of materials, technical drawings, and engineering change order workflows.
- Qualify for and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance at the Secret or Top Secret level.
- Hold U.S. Citizenship as a mandatory condition of employment.
Nice to have
- Sourcing high-performance and edge AI compute, semiconductors, cable assemblies, optics, precision machined parts or ruggedized enclosures
- Managing CMs, EMS providers and machine shops, including consigned versus turnkey material models
- Having bought through a real shortage including brokers, allocation, last-time buys, and cross-referencing alternates under schedule pressure
- Prior experience on ITAR-controlled or classified programs and familiarity with CMMC
- Active U.S. Security Clearance at the Secret level or above
- Degree in Supply Chain, Engineering or Business with CPIM, CSCP or CPSM certifications a plus
Benefits
- Insurance coverage including medical and travel
- Flexible paid time off
- Paid holidays
- Remote and/or hybrid work available depending on position
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this role?
Remote and/or hybrid work is available depending on position, subject to the terms and conditions of underlying company plans.
What tools and systems will I use daily?
You will be a hands-on daily user of an MRP/ERP system such as NetSuite, SAP, Odoo, Arena, Duro or similar platforms to run demand, planning, and purchasing.
What does the team structure look like for this position?
This is Helsing's first supply chain hire in the United States, meaning there is no team reporting to you on day one. However, there is a clear path to building a team and mentoring buyers and planners as U.S. volume scales.
How is compensation determined?
The base salary offered to the successful candidate will be determined by a variety of factors including relevant experience, qualifications, education, skill level, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.