Supply Chain Manager (UK) in Glasgow

Simera Sense is a leading provider of Earth observation camera solutions for the global small satellite market. Committed to excellence and innovation, we deliver superior products and services to our worldwide customer base. Are you ready to shape the future of advanced engineering? We are looking for a dynamic and forward‑thinking Supply Chain Manager to join our high‑tech engineering team and drive excellence across our global operations.

In this role, you will lead the end‑to‑end supply chain function, optimising processes, strengthening supplier partnerships, and ensuring the seamless flow of materials that power our cutting‑edge technologies. If you thrive in a fast‑paced, innovation‑driven environment and are passionate about building resilient, efficient supply chains, we would love to meet you.

Job Purpose

Ensures the reliable, timely, and compliant availability of components, materials and services, management of internal inventories and shipment of finished products by leading the supply chain function, optimising supplier and internal processes, and enabling mission‑critical production outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Key Supply Chain Cost and Inventory Controls: Control of inventory levels and stock obsolescence. Management of the cost of purchasing production components, supplies, services and equipment. Management of the cost of supply‑chain resources.
• Communication & Stakeholder Management: Provide internal stakeholders with clear visibility of supply chain health, risks, and mitigation plans. Prepare supply chain performance and other inputs for team, programme and management reviews. Build trust across teams by ensuring transparency, reliability, and responsiveness.
• Strategic Supply Chain Leadership: Develop and execute a supply chain strategy for the UK manufacturing facility aligned with engineering, production, and mission delivery objectives. Translate product roadmaps and mission schedules into supply chain capability plans, ensuring readiness for rapid scaling. Anticipate internal bottlenecks and proactively adjust sourcing, inventory, production and logistics plans to support company growth and programme timelines. Ensure appropriate supply‑chain resources, systems and processes are available to meet the company’s overall strategy.
• Production & Inventory Planning: Plan production to ensure customer (internal and external) demand is met in a timely and efficient manner. Drive accurate material requirements planning (MRP) based on engineering BOMs, production schedules, and mission timelines. Ensure availability of long‑lead items and critical components, balancing availability, inventory value, turnover and obsolescence. Maintain strict batch control, serialisation, and traceability processes aligned with aerospace and space‑industry standards. Robust control of all inventories: components; intermediate assemblies; work‑in‑progress; finished goods; stores.
• Shipping and Logistics: Manage all inbound and outbound shipping, stores and inventory functions. Manage international shipments including customs, duties and export controls.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration & Alignment: Collaborate with Engineering, Quality, and Production to ensure supply chain decisions support technical requirements and mission goals. Facilitate cross‑functional reviews for supplier readiness, manufacturability, change control, and risk mitigation. Ensure clear communication of requirements, timelines, and constraints across departments to maintain alignment and accountability.
• High‑Precision Component & Material Management: Oversee the planning, procurement, and traceability of components—ensuring they meet stringent technical and regulatory specifications. Ensure internal teams adhere to proper configuration management, documentation, and material handling standards required in space‑grade manufacturing.
• Internal Supplier Performance Oversight: Collaborate with Engineering and Quality teams to ensure internal acceptance criteria and technical standards are well understood, documented, and consistently applied. Ensure timely internal sign‑off processes (FAIs, test reports, quality checks) to prevent delays in production. Close internal feedback loops on supplier performance, NCRs, deviations, and change requests, ensuring lessons learned are captured and acted upon.
• Risk Management & Contingency Planning: Identify and communicate risks associated with component availability, obsolescence, supplier constraints, and internal readiness. Lead cross‑functional mitigation efforts, such as redesign options, buffer strategies, alternative sourcing, and schedule adjustments. Maintain internal risk logs and ensure dependencies between functions are clearly mapped and actively managed.
• Process Optimisation & Continuous Improvement: Champion supply chain process integration across engineering, production, and programme systems (ERP, PLM, quality systems). Develop and support the efficient integration of the supply‑chain of the different group companies and locations. Identify inefficiencies in internal workflows and drive initiatives to improve planning accuracy, documentation quality, throughput, and cross‑team accountability. Implement KPIs and dashboards to monitor internal supply chain performance and support data‑driven decisions.
• Compliance, Governance & Internal Standards: Ensure supply‑chain team follow industry‑specific compliance requirements (e.g., ECSS, ISO 9001, AS9100, ITAR/EAR where applicable). Maintain high internal discipline around controlled documents, supplier data packages, audits, and quality records. Support internal readiness for customer audits, industry certifications, and mission assurance reviews.
• Team Leadership & Direction: Build, lead, and develop the supply chain team, setting clear priorities and building capability in technical, operational, and supplier‑facing skills. Drive high performance through structured feedback, accountability, and resource allocation that aligns with mission‑critical programme needs. Cultivate a collaborative, solution‑driven culture with strong communication, disciplined workflows, and adherence to aerospace‑grade process standards.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management, Industrial Engineering, Logistics, or a related technical/engineering field.

Required Experience

Minimum Required Experience 5–10 years of progressive experience in supply chain, procurement, materials management, or operations within a high‑technology engineering or manufacturing environment. Experience must include:

• Managing high‑precision, high‑quality components (e.g., aerospace, defence, space systems, electronics, optics, medical).
• Working with technical and quality teams on specifications, drawings, BOMs, and qualification processes.
• Planning and procurement of long‑lead, high‑value components with high traceability and compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated track record in supplier management, including sourcing, performance oversight, NCR/DR handling, and contract negotiation.
• Experience with ERP/PLM systems and data‑driven supply chain planning.

Recommendations

• Experience with the electronics manufacturing industry.
• Exposure to regulated, standards‑driven industries (AS9100, ISO 9001, ECSS or similar).
• Experience in a supervisory or team‑lead capacity.
• Experience in a start‑up environment, setting up processes and building a small team.

What we offer

• The opportunity to work in the fast‑growing space industry.
• Niche global market for optical payloads for microsatellites.
• Cutting‑edge technology at your fingertips.
• A competitive salary.
• A friendly working environment.

Ready to make an impact? Apply now by submitting your CV.