Procurement Specialist

Procurement Specialist, Systems & Supplier Operations

Subcritical Systems Inc.

About Subcritical Systems Inc.

Subcritical Systems, Inc. is a venture-backed startup in Austin, Texas building the accelerator driven systems and the only US commercial manufacturer of accelerator cavities. What Space X did for rockets, we plan to do for accelerator cavities and commercialize across applications of power production, medical isotopes, semiconductors and waste transmutation.

We are in the process of building the Energy Amplifier — a novel nuclear fission system in which a particle accelerator drives a subcritical core, making meltdown physically impossible for clean power production. Due to its inherent safety, our system has a more streamlined licensing process. Our founding team includes successful entrepreneurs with a track record of building several multibillion dollar companies in deep-tech, and scientists who were leading U.S. national labs with deep experience in accelerator & nuclear technologies.

We are actively hiring to expand our team as we work toward licensing, regulatory submissions, and construction of our first energy amplifier. More information is available at subcritical.com.

About the Role

SSI is building its procurement function from the ground up, and this is the hire that builds it. The Procurement Specialist, Systems & Supplier Operations will own the full sourcing and supplier management lifecycle — from vendor qualification and RFQ execution through PO issuance, expediting, and program closeout — for complex technical equipment, engineered components, fabrication packages, and industrial services critical to the Energy Amplifier program.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering and operations, partnering directly with the Chief Engineer, Director of Operations, and program leadership to translate technical requirements into buying packages and ensure procurement status is visible against schedule-critical milestones. You will report to the Director of Operations and work closely with teams across Accelerator, Nuclear, Deployment, and Regulatory.

The right candidate is someone who has built procurement infrastructure in a project-heavy technical environment, is comfortable working from a blank sheet, and takes personal ownership of the operating model — not just the transactions.

Key Responsibilities

Sourcing & Procurement Execution

• Own sourcing of goods and services across direct materials, engineered components, fabrication, construction-related packages, specialty vendors, and critical spares.
• Run RFQs/RFPs, coordinate competitive bidding, maintain bid tabs, support commercial comparisons, and drive award recommendations through to contract execution.
• Establish and operate supplier onboarding and qualification workflows, including vendor master data, compliance checks, insurance and certification tracking, and approved-vendor status.

Systems & Process Build

• Design and implement SSI's procurement operating model: supplier database, intake forms, approval routing, sourcing event templates, PO request flow, expediting tracker, document repository, and supplier scorecards.
• Select, configure, and own the procurement software stack — standing up at minimum: supplier onboarding, sourcing/RFQ workflows, contract visibility, PO and receipt tracking, document control, and supplier performance reporting.
• Bring working knowledge of enterprise procurement platforms (SAP Ariba, Oracle Procurement, Coupa, Agiloft CLM, or equivalents) and implement a right-sized version appropriate to SSI's stage.

Program Integration & Expediting

• Partner with engineering, operations, and quality to translate scope packages, BOMs, and fabrication drawings into complete buying packages.
• Maintain a critical equipment tracker covering long-lead items, with promised dates, document due dates, manufacturing milestones, logistics status, risks, and escalation pathways.
• Manage vendor documentation follow-up, logistics status, and procurement package closeout including lessons learned and handoff to operations.

Supplier Performance & Reporting

• Own a supplier scorecard structure covering quality, schedule adherence, responsiveness, documentation completeness, commercial compliance, and risk flags.
• Produce a weekly procurement dashboard covering open RFQs, cycle times, award pipeline, long-lead package status, supplier risks, PO aging, documentation gaps, and top escalations.
• Maintain spend visibility and real-time reporting across the full procurement function.

Who You Are

• 5 years of procurement or supply chain experience in a project-heavy technical environment: energy, oil and gas, EPC, industrial manufacturing, power generation, or similar.
• Demonstrated track record in RFQ/RFP execution, supplier negotiations, category or package sourcing, supplier qualification, PO workflows, and order expediting.
• Strong technical literacy — comfortable working directly with engineering specifications, BOMs, fabrication drawings, scope packages, and long-lead equipment lists without needing translation.
• Experience implementing or configuring a procurement system or P2P workflow from a low-maturity baseline; understands how enterprise source-to-pay platforms are structured.
• Ownership mindset: you build the system and work in it. No hand-offs to a team below you — this is a builder role, not a manager role.
• US citizen or permanent resident (nuclear facility access requirement).

Nice to Have

• Prior procurement experience in nuclear, national laboratory, or accelerator/particle physics environments.
• Hands-on experience with SAP Ariba, Oracle Procurement, Coupa, Procurify, or Agiloft CLM.
• Procurement certification (CPSM, CSCP, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with NRC, DOE, or equivalent regulatory supply chain requirements.
• Experience with vendor document management for capital equipment programms.

Important Notes

This role is based in Brownsville, TX, where SSI's 40-acre Energy Amplifier facility is under development. Candidates based in Austin, TX will be considered with a defined travel cadence to site.

Employment type: Full-time.

Compensation: Competitive base salary ISO option grant from SSI's ESOP pool benefits.

Start: Immediate.