Strategic Sourcing and Procurement Manager
Bright Machines
Operations
San Francisco, CA, USA
USD 170k-220k / year
Posted on Feb 3, 2026
RETHINK MANUFACTURING
The only way to ignite change is to build the best team. At Bright Machines®, we’re innovators and experts in our craft who have joined together to create a new category of manufacturing that will help transform the industry. We believe software and data are the answer, thoughtfully applied to solve our customers’ unique challenges. Through intelligent automation, we give factories newfound flexibility, scalability, and resilience. We deliver products to meet the demands of today while building a platform to take advantage of what comes next.
Working with us means you’ll have the opportunity to make lasting, impactful changes for our company and our customers. If you’re ready to apply your exceptional skills to create the factory of the future, we’d love to speak with you.
ABOUT THE ROLE
A Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Manager at Bright Machines strengthens and scales our procurement and supplier management capabilities. This role exists to build foundational supplier programs, improve procurement execution, and raise the bar for how sourcing and buying support engineering, manufacturing, and program delivery.
This is a senior individual contributor and people leadership role and a key partner to the Director of Supply Chain. You will operate with significant autonomy, owning critical supplier-facing systems while also rolling up your sleeves to execute when needed. This role is well-suited for someone who can move fluidly between strategy, process design, and hands-on buying in a fast-moving startup environment.
Key responsibilities would be:
- Supplier Management & Governance
- Strategic Sourcing & Buying
- Procurement Process Improvement
- People & Interface Management
- Systems, Data, and Automation
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING
- Design and implement a comprehensive supplier management program, including onboarding standards, qualification criteria, and performance expectations
- Build and own supplier scorecards across quality, delivery, cost, and responsiveness; lead QBRs and define escalation paths for performance gaps
- Partner with Quality, Engineering, and Operations on factory audits, capability assessments, and supplier risk evaluations
- Lead strategic sourcing initiatives for key commodities and suppliers, including supplier selection and negotiations
- Step in as a hands-on buyer as needed to support execution, continuity, or peak workload periods
- Establish sourcing standards and best practices that improve consistency without slowing the business
- Assess procurement and planning workflows end-to-end; identify gaps, inefficiencies, and failure modes, and implement improved processes
- Define and deliver clear-to-build procurement readiness reporting for major programs, providing leadership with accurate visibility into material status, risks, and mitigation actions
- Partner closely with Planning, Operations, Finance, and Program Management to improve execution outcomes and drive initiatives requiring sustained focus
- Directly manage San Francisco–based procurement and logistics roles, while providing best-practice guidance to buyers and planners without formal reporting-line authority
- Maintain clear separation of ownership and accountability for the Guadalajara supply chain team, reporting to the Mexico-based Supply Chain Manager
- Improve procurement visibility through better use of systems, data, and reporting; identify and drive automation of manual or error-prone workflows
- Partner with internal teams to pilot tools and approaches that improve efficiency, scalability, and control
WHAT YOU WILL BRING
- 8–12+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain roles in manufacturing or technology environments
- Proven experience building or materially improving supplier management programs
- Strong understanding of procurement operations, negotiations, and execution tradeoffs
- Demonstrated ability to drive process improvement in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Comfortable operating at multiple levels, from detailed execution to system design
- Clear communicator with strong cross-functional instincts
IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU HAD
- Experience supporting automated manufacturing, robotics, or complex assemblies
- Exposure to supplier audits, factory qualifications, or global supply bases
- Experience leveraging data, automation, or AI-enabled tools to improve procurement workflows
- Experience with NetSuite or similar ERP systems
BE EMPOWERED TO CHANGE AN INDUSTRY
Bright Machines is a next-generation, AI-enabled manufacturer focused on data center infrastructure assembly operations. Bright Machines uses its proprietary AI-based robotics and software to assemble AI infrastructure hardware products (i.e., data center servers) for hyperscalers and leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). With its new AI factory, Bright Machines addresses increasing market demands for computing power due to the surge of AI and the U.S. national mandate to reshore manufacturing by building data center infrastructure at scale with higher quality and shorter time-to-market.
Bright Machines is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an integration center in Guadalajara, Mexico. The company has been recognized as one of Forbes’ AI 50, awarded “Best AI-based Solution for Manufacturing” by AI Breakthrough, named a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum, and highlighted by several other leading technology and innovation organizations.
170000 - 220000 USD a year