Supply Chain Manager in Hereford

The company: We are a profitable, fast-scaling defence-tech startup - operating on the extreme edge of innovation in the evolving domain of Unmanned Systems / Drones. Our world-class team of Engineers, Technicians and Tacticians are delivering solutions deemed impossible by many, for some of the most complex and challenging problems in the Drones / UAS space. With strong revenue growth, a loyal customer base, and an ambitious scaling plan, we are entering an exciting new phase of growth — and this is a rare opportunity to join at the moment it matters most.

The role: We build and integrate drones for real-world operations. Our advantage comes from moving fast, understanding users, and finding the best available technology before others do. The Supply Chain Manager owns our ability to find, assess, source and secure the best components for our platforms. That means identifying the right suppliers, getting the right price, reducing lead times, understanding quality and reliability, and making sure engineering, production and operations have what they need when they need it. This is not a passive procurement role. Our supply chain is part of the product. Radios, cameras, batteries, flight controllers, motors, ESCs, payloads, antennas, datalinks, airframes and embedded compute all shape performance in the field. The person in this role needs to be curious, commercially sharp, technically literate and relentless at finding better options.

The Supply Chain Manager works from our operational requirements backwards. They exist to answer and execute against: What components do our platforms need to perform better, cost less and scale faster? Who are the best suppliers, and how do we secure them before others do? Where are our lead-time, cost, quality and single-source risks? How do we turn supplier performance into product advantage? How do we build a supply chain that supports millions of pounds of sales and live operational delivery?

What you will do:

• Source the best available components for our drone platforms, including radios, cameras, batteries, motors, ESCs, flight controllers, antennas, payloads, compute modules, cabling, connectors and airframe parts.
• Build and maintain a strong view of the supplier landscape across the UK, Europe, US and Asia.
• Find better, cheaper, faster or more resilient alternatives to current components.
• Use our ERP system to maintain a live database of approved suppliers, component options, pricing, lead times, minimum order quantities, quality issues and commercial terms.
• Proactive and regular supplier health checks.
• Work with engineering and operations to understand which components matter most to platform performance, reliability and cost, which may result in the development and owning of supplier relationship management plans and/or category management plans.
• Help us make clear trade-offs between cost, availability, performance, reliability, exportability and ease of integration.
• Support rapid prototyping by sourcing new parts quickly and intelligently.
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, lead times, warranty terms and supply commitments with strategic suppliers.
• Create backup options for critical components so we are not dependent on a single fragile supplier.
• Work with production to make sure parts are available ahead of build schedules and shortages are managed before they become delivery problems.
• Support bills of materials, component costings, spares provisioning, forward stock planning and replenishment for deployed systems.
• Be responsible for ensuring auditable supply chain documents (orders, contracts, contract variations etc) are recorded within our ERP system.
• Support compliance, export-control and NDAA-style supply-chain checks where required.

Essential skills/experience:

• Experience in supply chain, procurement, sourcing, production, manufacturing or technical buying.
• Strong commercial instinct: able to secure better pricing, better terms and better service from suppliers.
• Technically literate enough to understand components, specifications, datasheets and engineering trade-offs.
• Comfortable reviewing terms and conditions and NDAs against key risk areas.
• Comfortable working with engineers, production teams, finance and senior leaders and ability to translate between the technical vocab of each group.
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail and the discipline to maintain supplier trackers, cost models, bills of materials and purchasing records.
• Good judgement under pressure: able to distinguish urgent from important, and cheap from good value.
• Persistent and resourceful: willing to go beyond the obvious supplier or the first answer.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain supply-chain risk, cost and trade-offs in plain English.
• High ownership, pace and resilience; comfortable operating in a fast-moving startup where the answer may not yet exist.

“Nice to have”/desirable skills:

• Experience in drones, robotics, defence, aerospace, electronics, automotive, telecoms or hardware manufacturing.
• Knowledge of drone components, including flight controllers, radios, cameras, batteries, motors, ESCs, antennas, payloads and embedded compute.
• Experience sourcing from international suppliers and managing long-lead or fragile supply chains.
• Experience with ERP, inventory or procurement systems.
• Understanding of export controls, restricted components, NDAA compliance, dual-use technology or defence procurement.
• Experience working with contractual agreements in a sector which often has complex flow down obligations (defence, aerospace, health etc).
• Experience supporting rapid prototyping or low-volume, high-complexity production.
• Existing supplier network across drone, electronics, RF, composite, battery or manufacturing sectors.

Compensation: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, company stock options, private healthcare (family plan), life insurance, 35 days annual leave (including bank holidays).