Head of Supply Chain

America is critically deficient in production of defensive munitions- we currently produce shipborne interceptors in the few hundreds per year while our adversaries are producing offensive threats in the tens of thousands per year. Furientis was started to help solve this problem- introducing a new class of cost-effective, high production rate, interceptor missiles. We're seeking motivated individuals who internalize this problem and are eager to apply their past experience in similar industries (aerospace, defense, automotive/racing, robotics) and out of the box thinking to solve this problem for the US and its allies.

About The Role

We are looking for a head of supply chain who will own the commercial side of every supplier relationship that touches our hardware. That covers motor hardware, avionics and seeker components, machined parts, raw materials, and capital equipment for the Mojave build line. Engineering owns the technical side: spec, qualification, DFM. You own the contract, the terms, the lead time, the cost, and the second-source strategy. You will report to the CEO and work directly with every engineering team.

This is a hands-on role for the first year. Buying needs to happen this week and the long-term partnership work needs to happen at the same time. We are not staffed to wait on a process

The most valuable thing you can do is take supply-chain bottleneck identification off the engineering team's plate. Engineers can name a bottleneck, but rarely have time to build the case for what to do about it. Is the right move to find a second source, redesign the part out, or pay the cost and move on. That work is yours.

You set up shipping, receiving, and inventory and you own the function. You are not the person moving boxes day to day. That load is shared across the team.

What You'll Do

• Stand up the day-to-day purchasing function. Process today is as fast as possible; you own how that evolves with the company
• Own the commercial relationship with every supplier in the BOM. Engineering leads technical qualification and DFM; you are the buyer of record, the contract owner, and the escalation path on lead time and price
• Build long-term partnerships with the suppliers that matter most. Identify the few who deserve real time and energy and starve the rest
• Surface the supply chain bottlenecks the engineering team is hitting and put together the data so the team can see clearly whether a bottleneck should be second-sourced or designed out
• Own the BOM in NX and Teamcenter. Vendor codes, lead times, costs, second sources, ITAR status. The BOM is the single source of truth and it lives with you
• Negotiate commercial terms: pricing, lead time, payment terms, NRE, warranty. Work with outside counsel on the contract paper when needed
• Own ITAR, TAA, and Buy American flow-downs on supplier agreements. Defense-specific compliance is your problem, not engineering's
• Set up shipping, receiving, and inventory for the LA HQ and Mojave sites. Pick tools and processes simple enough that anyone on the team can run a shipment when needed
  
  
  

Skills We're Hiring For

• B.S. in a technical or business discipline (engineering, supply chain, operations, business)
• 8 years owning the supply chain or strategic sourcing function for a hardware product that ships in low-to-medium volume
• Fluency with BOM management in PLM and ERP systems and with the data discipline a multi-tier hardware BOM requires
• Track record of negotiating with both small specialty suppliers and large defense or aerospace incumbents, and winning on terms and lead time
• Worked closely enough with hardware engineers to know when to push back on a design choice that is going to bite the supply chain six months out
• Fluency operating with agentic coding tools (Claude Code or equivalent). We expect operations to use AI for vendor research, contract review, BOM hygiene, and spend analysis the same way engineering uses it for design and analysis
  
  
  

Bonus Points For

• Defense, missile, or space hardware experience with the supplier base we will be buying from
• Stood up a supply chain function from scratch at a pre-Series-B hardware startup
• ITAR, TAA, Buy American, and FAR or DFARS flow-down experience on supplier agreements
• Hands-on experience sourcing energetic-material or other ITAR-controlled single-source items
• Capital equipment procurement for a build line or test facility
• Out-of-domain background that gives you cost intuition without dragging legacy-prime habits with you (automotive, EV, semicap, robotics, high-volume consumer electronics)
  
  
  

Eligibility & Logistics Location: On-site at our Los Angeles, CA HQ; remote work is not available. Monthly weekend travel for test events and supplier engagements. Clearance: A clearance is not required for this position. Must be a U.S. Person.

Equal Opportunity & Export Compliance Furientis is an equal-opportunity employer. To comply with U.S. export control laws, employment is contingent on eligibility to access export-controlled information.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.