Job Details

Company Description

Inspired Flight's Purpose Statement says it all - Conserving resources, creating jobs, and saving lives by innovating the American drone manufacturing. Founded in San Luis Obispo, California our entirely U.S. based team designs, builds and supports highly capable and flexible drone platforms for both commercial and government customers.

Our purpose driven team exemplifies our Core Values. We are:

Collaborative: We harness the collective intelligence and energy of our team to surpass individual potentials and achieve shared goals.

Resilient: We approach obstacles with flexibility and creativity, supporting one another to stay focused, resourceful, and determined.

Diverse: We place a high value in people of all heritages, genders, sexual orientations, and points of view to spark innovation and solutions, enriching our work environment and outputs.

Continuously Improving: We are committed to ongoing learning and innovation by always seeking ways to enhance our processes, products, and personal expertise.

Underlying all of this is our deeply rooted belief that the cutting-edge aerial tools we create are advancing an industry that is good for people, good for our planet and good for the United States of America.

Location

This is an in-office position for hire at Inspired Flight's HQ in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Job Description

The Supply Chain Manager & Buyer owns the end-to-end supply chain execution for Inspired Flight, ensuring materials and components are available to support manufacturing and customer deliveries. This role manages sourcing, purchasing, supplier performance, lead times, and inventory health across UAV platforms, subassemblies, spares, and accessories. You'll be hands-on in daily buying while also building the systems and supplier relationships needed to scale reliably.

This role will report directly to the Operations Manager within the Operations department. This is a prime opportunity for a highly motivated and creative professional that thrives in a high-growth environment and is looking for career development and advancement.

Typical Responsibilities:

Supply Planning & Material Readiness

• Translate production schedules, forecasts, and bookings into actionable supply and material readiness plans for aircraft builds, spares, and strategic customers.
• Maintain uninterrupted material availability to support weekly and monthly production targets, ensuring alignment with delivery commitments.
• Identify shortages early and drive mitigation through expedites, alternate sourcing, re-prioritization, or safety stock recommendations.
• Partner closely with Operations and Engineering on long-lead material planning, supplier capacity discussions, risk management, and future scaling needs.

Purchasing / Buying

• Execute purchasing for mechanical, electrical, avionics, composites, and COTS components.
• Create, place, and manage POs; confirm pricing, delivery, terms, and compliance requirements.
• Track order status daily; follow up on delays; coordinate receipts and discrepancy resolution.
• Maintain accurate purchasing data in ERP/MRP (prices, lead times, MOQs, supplier info).

Sourcing & Supplier Management

• Qualify, evaluate, and onboard new suppliers through structured RFQ, capability review, and approval processes.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, and supply terms that support cost targets, reliability, and delivery performance.
• Develop and maintain supplier scorecards for OTD (on-time delivery), quality, responsiveness, and cost stability.
• Lead supplier corrective actions for quality or delivery issues, ensuring rapid containment and long-term preventive measures.
• Support dual-sourcing, alternate-part validation, and risk-reduction strategies for critical components and long-lead subsystems.

Inventory, ERP/MRP, and Process Control

• Own inventory health: min/max levels, safety stock, turns, and accuracy.
• Coordinate and/or lead cycle counts, root cause inventory variances, and improve storage/kitting flow.
• Keep BOMs, part metadata, and planning parameters clean and current in ERP/MRP.
• Create standard work for procurement processes, supplier communication, PO approval flows, and material staging practices.

Logistics, Compliance & Cross-Functional Support

• Coordinate inbound logistics, transportation routing, and delivery scheduling with suppliers and carriers.
• Support import/export requirements, documentation compliance, certifications, and country-of-origin accuracy.
• Collaborate with Quality on inspection readiness, traceability requirements, NCRs, and supplier RMA workflows.
• Partner with Engineering to implement ECOs and support NPI transitions, ensuring seamless material changes at suppliers and within ERP/MRP.

Success Metrics (KPIs)

• Material availability / shortage rate vs. production plan
• Supplier on-time delivery (OTD) and lead time adherence
• Supplier quality performance (PPM / defect rate)
• Inventory accuracy and turns
• Purchase price variance / cost reduction results
• Long-lead risk coverage and dual-source progress

You'll excel in this role if you have:

• Experience in UAV, aerospace, defense, or other regulated hardware manufacturing environments, especially within small or scaling companies where processes are still maturing and flexibility is key.
• Hands-on experience supporting NPI and industrialization of electro-mechanical products, where BOMs evolve quickly, suppliers must be developed, and materials readiness directly influences build schedules.
• Comfort working in NetSuite for purchasing, inventory control, BOM accuracy, and item/part management, and the ability to help refine processes as the company scales.

Education/Experience Requirements:

• 5-8+ years in supply chain, procurement, or buying for hardware manufacturing.
• Proven experience managing suppliers and executing purchases in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems, BOMs, lead times, and inventory control.
• Comfortable reading technical drawings/specs and coordinating with Engineering.
• Demonstrated negotiation, problem-solving, and vendor communication skills.
• High attention to detail with strong follow-through and prioritization habits.
• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).

Salary & Benefits Offered

• $75k-$105k DOE
• Unlimited Paid Time Off
• World Class Health, Dental, Vision Insurance Plan
• 401k w/ 6% company match
• Equity Stock Options
• Quarterly Team Bonus Plan

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 may need to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Inspired Flight is deeply committed to building a workplace where inclusion is not only valued, but prioritized. We pride ourselves on being an equal opportunity employer that seeks to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, or expression, family status, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, neurodiversity, age, or veteran status, or any other non-merit based or legally protected grounds.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.