Head of Supplier Growth
The mission
The US needs to reindustrialize. Defense programs and hardware startups run on custom mechanical parts, and most of those parts come from small machine shops. The industrial base everyone talks about rebuilding is thousands of these small businesses.
A 15-person shop has the owner answering the phone, programming the machines, and chasing payments before lunch. Quoting RFQs that never convert, compliance flowdowns, net-60 terms - all of it lands on the owner. Of course the best shops guard their time, it's a rational response to how the industry is built. They have more choice than ever, and they decide who they pick up the phone for.
We believe the key to rebuilding American manufacturing is to make these shops win. Jiga is building the layer that finds capacity, qualifies it, and moves work across the network without the red tape and handoffs that stall programs today.
With AI, that layer is buildable now, and whoever builds it becomes the way America ramps production.
Our supply base is an indispensable part of the product. A curated network of partners where shops treat us as a key customer, often their best customer. This role is about owning that network commercially and turning it into won business for the shops and for Jiga.
The role
You'll own supplier development and business development on the supply side. You know our supply base deeply, build strategic deals with key suppliers, and help them develop and acquire business through Jiga. When a large customer opportunity shows up, you know which shops in the network fit, or which new ones to bring on board, and you orchestrate the deal.
This is a commercial role, and a key one for the company. It pairs our world-class AI and supplier data with relationship and trust-building skills. You own how our partners grow and win additional business.
You'll work directly with the CEO, COO, sales, and supply chain teams, and shape how the network looks: who's in it and who gets which opportunities.
How we treat suppliers
The network works because shops win by being in it:
We bring them business. POs, repeat programs, and customers they couldn't reach on their own
We take the administrative and compliance load. One customer instead of ten procurement departments to manage
We treat them as true partners. Site visits, joint planning, training, honest feedback, and priority on work that fits what they're great at
We don't throw unverified RFQs at them, and we treat their time and margins respectfully
We appreciate ambition and excellence, and we trust our partners fully
We pay them quickly and on time
Every shop that grows with us adds capacity to the American industrial base
What you'll do
Know every key shop in the network: what they run, what they're certified for, where they're strongest, and what work actually fits them
Build strategic deals with key suppliers: reserved capacity, committed volume, stocked materials, priority access on choke points like finishing and long-lead materials
Match opportunities to the right shops and coach them on winning. When a customer needs to scale a program, decide which network suppliers (or new ones) should win it and orchestrate the deal with the sales team
Source against gaps: map forecasted demand to supplier coverage and bring on the shops we'll need before we need them
Develop the best suppliers into power partners: help them win early opportunities, grow repeat volume, and invest in the relationship through site visits, joint planning, and training
Own the process that keeps our read on each shop current (capabilities, capacity, relationship strength) so matching and coverage decisions help suppliers win
Work with sales on what helps us win more business
You're a fit if you
Understand the machine shop's world. You've spent years working with machine shops and know how they think, what makes them win, and what makes them walk away
Can read a shop on the hard aspects (machines, certifications, inspection, capacity) and the soft ones (who runs it, how they run their business, how they communicate, whether they'll grow with us)
Have natural commercial instincts. You've structured deals and built relationship capital that turned into revenue
Know aerospace and defense manufacturing, and what a defense program expects from its supply base
Build trust with shop owners. They take your call, tell you the truth about capacity, and stretch for you on strategic opportunities
Are a US citizen based in the US or a Green Card holder (ITAR)
Bonus points if you
Bring existing machine shop supplier relationships
Used to run an aerospace and defense mechanical supply chain
Come from a business development or sales background
This role is not for you if
You're looking for an operational role. This is a business development one
You treat suppliers as vendors to squeeze on price
You need a mature playbook. You'll write this one
Our culture
We're a remote-first company. We don't count hours, we measure performance. We trust our team to deliver. We hate micromanagement and unproductive meetings.
We play online games together, encourage hard questions, and fly everyone out once a year for a week-long offsite in a beautiful location (previous offsites: Spain, Greece, Albania).
Why join us
Real impact - Whether our suppliers grow and our customers ship depends on the network you build
Ownership - Own the commercial side of the supply base with full autonomy
Growth - Series A, growing exponentially year over year
Culture - Autonomy, honesty, speed, and a no-BS environment
Mission - Help rebuild American manufacturing capacity and strengthen national security
Flexibility - Fully remote, async-first, results-oriented (with travel to shops and customers)