Senior Category Manager, Sensors / Optics

Senior Category Manager, Sensors / Optics

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century's most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril's family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

About The Job

The Senior Category Manager, Sensors / Optics (internally known at Anduril as a Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager), is the domain expert for the sensor / optics commodities for Anduril Industries. This is a proactive, high-impact role in securing critical components, materials, and services that power our products. This role will be responsible for developing new supplier and new sourcing partnerships that can be incorporated into new products, as well as existing products to improve their technologies, cost, and quality. There is broad internal cross functional partnership to evaluate supplier opportunities, while ensuring commercial agreements, intellectual property, and statement of works are accurate and well established prior to pipelining.

What You'll Do

• Develop and execute category strategies for sensors / optics focusing on cost reduction, quality improvement, and supply chain resilience
• End-to-end responsibility for delivering quality parts, when needed, at the right cost
• Act as the sourcing expert for sensors / optics manufacturing
• Lead RFI / RFQ / RFP and strategic sourcing process for sensors / optics
• Own the business relationship with external Contract Manufacturing and responsible for continuity of supply, risk management, cost negotiations, and NPI to MP operation execution
• Partner with the Engineering team and Contract Manufacturers to influence technical design specs and customize product and manufacturing requirements
• Perform detailed analysis of quote submissions based on cost breakdown from data. Deep dive into every element of the supply chain and make data-driven decisions based on TCO
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to support prototype requirements, execute against build milestones, and lead sourcing activities
• Influence CM's manufacturing processes and CapEx and technology decisions
• Negotiate key agreements with suppliers to establish best-in-class pricing, quality, flexibility, delivery, payment, warranty, and service terms
• Collaborate internally, negotiate the right tradeoffs, solicit cooperation and resolve problems, and advance new supplier or product offerings
• Provide strong technical direction within the specific commodities, by evaluating and guiding product strategy throughout the product lifecycle
• Manage and lead the operations effort of developing new and adaptations of existing technologies for Anduril
• Develop & execute commercial agreements to properly reflect the expectations of project, which include fixed and variable costs, lead-times, schedules, manufacturing capacities, etc
• Conduct regular technology reviews to Executive staff and management
• Own the supplier performance management of their respective commodities, which includes key delivery, quality, cost, and innovation metrics
• Act as the primary escalation for their respective commodity

Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and / or training, critical skills, and / or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including :

Anduril is an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. The Anduril team is made up of incredibly talented and unique individuals, who together are disrupting industry norms by creating new paths towards the future of defense technology. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, Veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law, including those with a criminal history, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the CA Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. We actively encourage members of recognized minorities, women, Veterans, and those with disabilities to apply, and we work to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all applicants throughout the interview process. If you are someone passionate about working on problems that have a real-world impact, we'd love to hear from you!