{"id":3206728,"url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer","title":"Founding Lead Supply Chain Engineer","company":{"id":4398852,"name":"Pillar Space Systems","domain":"pillarspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/pillar-space-systems","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Los Angeles, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":185000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AS9100","optional":false},{"name":"Design of Experiments","optional":false},{"name":"GD&T","optional":false},{"name":"Statistical Process Control","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T21:42:27Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-25T00:12:50Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":12,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":12},"description":"Founding Lead Supply Chain Engineer\nEquity: 0.3% - 1% depending on experience\nAbout Us\nWe're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible - high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.\nRole Overview\nWe are seeking a Lead Supply Chain Engineer to own the supply base behind our spacecraft from first principles - the suppliers, parts, and processes that turn our designs into flight hardware, on time and at the quality flight demands.\nThis is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only build and run the supply chain for our first vehicles, but also help build the supply chain team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to source flight-grade hardware at speed.\nThis is not a narrow purchasing role. You will be the primary technical point of contact between our engineers and our suppliers across machined and fabricated structures, propulsion components, electronics and harnesses, and procured flight units - finding and qualifying suppliers, introducing new parts at their shops, driving out cost and lead time, and owning the root cause when something goes wrong. You will partner closely with design, manufacturing, and quality on manufacturability and sourcing decisions, and make tradeoffs across cost, lead time, quality, supplier risk, and schedule.\nThe ideal candidate has direct experience with aerospace supply chains, manufacturing processes, supplier quality, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have taken real hardware from released drawing to delivered part through a supply base, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and act with high agency and urgency in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.\nKey Responsibilities\nOwn the supply chain for flight and ground hardware, from early sourcing strategy through new product introduction, production, delivery, and sustaining support.\n\nAct as the primary technical point of contact with suppliers for critical components - machined and fabricated parts, castings and forgings, composites, propulsion components, PCBs and assemblies, harnesses, and procured flight units - and own the risk they carry to the program.\n\nBuild the supply base from scratch: identify, assess, and onboard suppliers through technical audits, capability and capacity reviews, qualification activities, and process capability validation.\n\nOwn new product introduction at suppliers: first articles, qualification of new parts, drawing and process changes, and transfers between suppliers.\n\nDrive cost, lead time, and quality improvements from first principles - break down design, material, and process choices to find step-change gains in yield, cost, and schedule.\n\nIdentify and qualify alternative manufacturing methods (e.g., additive, castings, forgings, machining, sheet metal) where they cut cost or lead time without compromising flight quality.\n\nInfluence design and sourcing decisions early, giving engineers data-driven input on manufacturability, cost, lead time, and supplier risk before designs are released.\n\nLead make-versus-buy trades and vertical integration decisions with engineering and manufacturing.\n\nOwn root cause and corrective action for supplier issues: lead cross-functional investigations, apply structured problem-solving, and make sure fixes are permanent across the supply base.\n\nManage long-lead and single-source risk through dual-sourcing strategies, buffer stock, last-time buys, and schedule protection for critical-path hardware.\n\nEstablish supplier quality requirements: purchase order quality clauses and flowdowns, first article inspection, source and receiving inspection, certificates of conformance, and special process controls.\n\nSet up material traceability, counterfeit parts prevention, and export-control (ITAR/EAR) compliance across the supply base.\n\nSelect and stand up supply chain systems and tools: ERP/MRP, purchasing workflows, supplier scorecards, and on-time delivery and quality metrics.\n\nNegotiate pricing, terms, and long-term agreements with key suppliers, and build relationships that hold up under schedule pressure.\n\nProvide technical leadership across sourcing, supplier quality, supplier development, purchasing, and logistics efforts.\n\nHelp hire, manage, mentor, and develop supply chain engineers and buyers as the team grows.\n\nEstablish supply chain processes: supplier selection and approval, the approved supplier list, supplier nonconformance handling, and verification discipline appropriate for flight-grade hardware.\n\nHelp define sourcing strategy, procurement budgets, and the supply plan for the first vehicles and the ramp to production.\n\nWork closely with avionics, propulsion, structures, mechanical, manufacturing, quality, test, and finance to close sourcing gaps and deliver flight hardware on schedule.\n\nWork closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term supply chain and manufacturing strategy.\n\nRepresent the supply chain function in design reviews, supplier visits and audits, customer conversations, investor diligence, and program planning as needed.\n\nBasic Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in an engineering discipline (e.g., mechanical, aerospace, materials, industrial, or electrical).\n\n8+ years in supply chain engineering, supplier quality, manufacturing, or process engineering roles for aerospace, defense, or other high-reliability hardware.\n\nPrior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing teams.\n\nDemonstrated ability to take complex hardware from released drawing through supplier qualification, first article, and production delivery.\n\nStrong fundamentals in manufacturing processes, materials, GD&T, and engineering drawings.\n\nHands-on experience qualifying suppliers and running new product introduction at supplier facilities.\n\nExperience with supplier quality processes such as first article inspection (e.g., AS9102), PPAP, and APQP.\n\nExperience leading root cause and corrective action investigations with structured methods (e.g., 8D, 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, fault trees).\n\nExperience with aerospace quality systems (e.g., AS9100, ISO 9001, NADCAP special processes).\n\nExperience negotiating with suppliers and managing cost, lead time, and capacity for critical components.\n\nStrong written and verbal communication, and the ability to work credibly with engineers, technicians, executives, and suppliers.\n\nAbility to work independently with limited direction, act with urgency in ambiguous and high-pressure environments, and drive problems to resolution.\n\nAbility to make practical tradeoffs across cost, lead time, quality, supplier risk, and mission schedule.\n\nAbility to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning engineering, manufacturing, quality, test, and finance.\n\nHighly Valuable Experience\nWe do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.\nDemonstrated flight heritage - hardware you sourced or brought up at suppliers that has flown.\n\nExperience leading supply chain, supplier quality, or supplier development teams.\n\nExperience managing engineers in a startup, aerospace company, defense contractor, launch company, or other high-reliability technical environment.\n\nExperience building a supply chain from zero for a startup or new program.\n\nExperience with machining, castings, forgings, sheet metal, additive manufacturing, composites, and special processes such as heat treat, plating, welding, and NDT.\n\nExperience sourcing spacecraft components: propulsion valves, tanks, and regulators; structures; solar cells and batteries; PCBs and PCBAs; harnesses; and procured units such as star trackers, reaction wheels, and radios.\n\nExperience with EEE parts procurement, screening and upscreening, counterfeit prevention (e.g., AS5553, AS6174), and obsolescence management.\n\nExperience with statistical methods such as design of experiments, SPC, Six Sigma, and process capability analysis.\n\nExperience with ITAR/EAR compliance, DFARS flowdowns, and government contract requirements in the supply chain.\n\nExperience with ERP/MRP, PLM, or manufacturing execution systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Arena, ION).\n\nExperience with source inspection, receiving inspection, and metrology (e.g., CMM, CT scanning).\n\nExperience with cost modeling, should-cost analysis, and design-to-cost programs.\n\nExperience scaling from prototype quantities to production rate, including capacity planning with suppliers.\n\nExperience with international sourcing and logistics, including hazardous materials shipping for batteries and propellants.\n\nExperience in early-stage startups, small high-performing teams, or environments where engineers must own broad technical scope.\n\nExperience recruiting, interviewing, closing, and onboarding exceptional technical talent.\n\nWho You Are\nYou are an exceptional supply chain engineer with strong fundamentals and the ability to reason from first principles.\n\nYou are a technical leader who raises the bar for the people around you.\n\nYou have managed, mentored, or led engineers before and know how to create clarity, accountability, and momentum in ambiguous environments.\n\nYou are comfortable owning large, ambiguous, mission-critical problems without waiting for detailed direction.\n\nYou can move fluidly between drawings, supplier shop floors, the receiving dock, negotiations, team leadership, and system-level tradeoffs.\n\nYou own problems end to end. You don't pass blame; you dig into the details and stay on it until the problem is solved.\n\nYou are not just interested in placing orders; you want to stand on the supplier's floor, understand how the part is made, and make it better, cheaper, and faster.\n\nYou challenge the status quo, and you act with urgency when the schedule is on the line.\n\nYou are willing to learn unfamiliar domains quickly and deeply, whether that means propulsion, avionics, materials, electronics manufacturing, export control, or finance.\n\nYou have strong opinions loosely held. You can defend a technical position, accept feedback, change course when the system demands it, and make appropriate tradeoffs in support of the mission.\n\nYou are collaborative, low-ego, and rigorous.\n\nYou want founding-level ownership and are motivated by building a company, not just completing assigned tasks.\n\nYou are excited to help build not only the product, but also the engineering organization behind it.\n\nAdditional Requirements\nThis role is on-site at our facility; remote work is not considered.\n\nWillingness to work extended hours, including some nights and weekends, when critical deadlines require it.\n\nAbility to travel domestically and internationally to suppliers, up to 30% of the time.\n\nBenefits\nHealth Insurance - We cover the full base premium for Blue Shield's Bronze plan. If you would like more coverage, you can upgrade to the Gold plan and cover the difference in premium. You are also welcome to add dependents and a spouse to your plan.\n\nDental & Vision - We cover the base premiums for both dental and vision through Guardian. Coverage for dependents and a spouse is available as well.\n\n401(k) - We offer a 401(k) with a 4% company match.\n\nEquity - You will receive meaningful equity in the company, so you sh...","description_format":"text","description_chars":13062,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance","Unlimited PTO"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Supply Chain"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-24T13:26:12Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":75,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.828,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":12,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:2","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-10-25T02:34:03Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-25T02:34:03Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":3920,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-26T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4398852},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4398852"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-supply-chain-engineer"}]}