What are the responsibilities and job description for the Supply Chain Manager position at BIRNS OCEANOGRAPHICS INC?
SUMMARY
The Supply Chain Manager is an exempt, leadership-level role with full accountability for stabilizing, correcting, and sustaining supply chain performance in a subsea manufacturing environment. This position exists to resolve material availability failures, enforce execution discipline, and ensure the business meets production schedules and customer delivery commitments.
This role exercises independent judgment, sets departmental strategy, and directs the work of procurement, buying, and shipping/warehouse functions. The Supply Chain Manager is responsible for outcomes—not merely oversight—and is expected to take decisive, proactive, cost-effective supply chain acquisition, and corrective action when supply performance, supplier reliability, or internal execution falls short. This role ensures the timely delivery of products to our customers.
This position oversees the procurement of materials and services to support BIRNS’ manufacturing operations, and implements strategies to provide materials and services meeting requirements for quality, cost, and availability, and is responsible to negotiate and secure best and cost-effective pricing to reduce costs.
DIRECT REPORTS
- Procurement Manager
- Senior Buyer
- Shipping, Warehouse and Distribution Personnel
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The following is a framework of the essential duties and responsibilities for this role. Other duties may be assigned based on business needs.
Executive Accountability & Leadership:
- Exercise independent discretion and judgment in planning, prioritizing and directing supply chain operations.
- Establish department objectives, performance standards, and corrective action plans aligned with business needs.
- Allocate resources, set priorities, and resolve escalated supply issues without day-to-day supervision.
- Lead, evaluate, and hold direct reports accountable for measurable performance outcomes.
Supply Chain Stabilization & Turnaround:
- Assume full ownership of material availability and supply continuity across all programs.
- Immediately identify and correct gaps contributing to missed production schedules or customer delivery failures.
- Serve as the single point of accountability for supply risk, shortages, and supplier non-performance.
- Implement short-term recovery actions and long-term structural fixes.
Procurement & Supplier Performance Control
- Direct procurement strategy, sourcing decisions, and supplier negotiations.
- Establish and enforce supplier performance standards for lead time, quality, delivery, and responsiveness.
- Actively manage high-risk, long-lead, and single-source suppliers with mitigation and contingency plans.
- Replace, escalate, or renegotiate with suppliers that fail to meet business requirements.
Buying Execution & Inventory Discipline
- Oversee buying activities to ensure purchase orders support production demand and delivery commitments.
- Enforce inventory controls to prevent shortages, excess inventory, and obsolescence.
- Ensure ERP/MRP data accuracy and disciplined planning inputs.
- Drive inventory turns and working capital improvements without compromising production readiness.
Shipping, Warehouse & Distribution Oversight
- Ensure accurate, compliant, and timely receipt and shipment of materials and finished goods.
- Enforce operational discipline, safety, and organization in warehouse environments.
- Ensure on-time customer shipments and adherence to export and regulatory requirements relevant to subsea manufacturing.
Performance Management & Continuous Improvement
- Define, track, and report key supply chain KPIs.
- Implement corrective action plans when metrics fall below acceptable levels.
- Lead process improvements to strengthen planning, execution, and accountability across the supply chain.
Cross-Functional Authority
- Partner with Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, Finance, and Program Management to align supply execution with business priorities.
- Provide leadership input on make/buy decisions, capacity planning, and risk assessments.
- Support new product introductions and engineering changes with proactive supply readiness.
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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or aptitude required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 10–15 years of progressive supply chain experience in a manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated leadership over procurement, buying, and logistics/warehouse functions.
- Proven ability to correct underperforming supply chains and stabilize material flow.
- Strong negotiation, supplier management, and decision-making skills.
- Experience using ERP/MRP systems.
- Ability to lead with authority and accountability in high-pressure environments.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience in subsea, oil & gas, aerospace, defense, or other engineered/regulated manufacturing.
- Experience managing long-lead, custom, or engineered components.
- Knowledge of export compliance and international logistics.
- Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement training.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Ownership & Accountability.
- Decisive Leadership
- Risk Anticipation & Mitigation
- Operational Rigor
- Data-Driven Execution
- Supplier Confrontation & Recovery
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Competency required for a Supply Chain Manager includes proficient leadership, strong communication skills, and adept problem-solving abilities to guide teams, communicate with stakeholders, and overcome supply chain challenges efficiently.
Process Expertise: Understanding of the specific production processes and equipment used in the facility.
Quality Control: Ability to maintain and enforce quality standards.
Safety Awareness: Ensuring a safe working environment and adherence to safety regulations.
Problem-Solving: Identifying and addressing production issues and process improvements.
Inventory Management: Managing materials and inventory effectively.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ability to read and comprehend technical documents such as work instructions, technical instructions, computer data, and procedure manuals. Basic written language skills are required, including the ability to document and to communicate effectively via email. Good verbal language skills are required, including the ability to speak clearly and effectively to other employees as individuals or groups. Skills in “active listening” are strongly desired, i.e., giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, without interruption.
SOCIAL SKILLS
Aptitude to demonstrate harmonious interpersonal interactions with others of different backgrounds.
Collaboration: Ability to interact with others as a contributing member of a close-knit team.
Teamwork: Ability to work collaboratively with individuals of different backgrounds and interests.
Accountability: Taking ownership of one's work, including responsibility for complete and accurate work.
Resilience: Staying composed and focused under pressure and dealing with unexpected challenges.
Safety Awareness: Prioritizing safety by following safety protocols and recognizing potential hazards.
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
Aptitude to add and subtract two-digit numbers and to multiply and divide with 10’s and 100’s and perform basic mathematical operations using units of time, pressure, temperature, weight measurement, volume, and distance.
REASONING ABILITY
Aptitude to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with practical problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations. Ability to interpret instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
COMPUTER SKILLS
Ability to comfortably use computer software as applicable to the role and responsibilities of the work. Must be competent in Windows environment. Ability to learn any new or additional software or hardware products as required by BIRNS in the future. Proficiency in supply chain management software like M1, Oracle or SAP solutions to facilitate planning, forecasting, and optimization. Proficiency in ERP/SCM software and tools.
GENERAL
Self-starter, able to work independently, able to work under pressure, comfortable interacting with all employee levels in the company, including leadership, and able to work cross-functionally within departments and within the company to accomplish objectives, results oriented.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, use hands to finger, handle, for tooling and small electrical contacts, reach with hands and arms to place/replace products. The employee is occasionally required to walk, stoop, or crouch. The employee is occasionally required to talk or hear the "open" timers and other equipment. The employee must regularly lift and/or move tooling and components weighing up to 10 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move items weighing up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities include close vision for assembly, color vision for quality checks, and depth perception, plus the ability to adjust focus when shifting gaze back and forth between computer screens.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee may encounter while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to an environment typical of a small light manufacturing office. Employee may be occasionally exposed to airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals. The noise level is usually moderate.
TRAVEL
Estimated 0% travel required. This is to serve as an estimate and may change according to business need.
**NO RECRUITERS