The Purpose

• The Commodity Manager’s role is to optimize supply chain schedule, cost, risk, and quality on a long term, global scale. The Commodity Manager understands Total Cost of Ownership, and creatively marshals internal and external resources in support of the big picture. This individual is a critical influencer of the engineering teams as a commodity and market expert, and uses strategic sourcing and financial analysis tools to manage the world’s best suppliers in support of Hyperloop One objectives. The Commodity Manager owns sourcing and make/buy decisions for a specific commodity, and educates the Hyperloop One organization on market trends, leading suppliers, and technology roadmaps.
• The Commodity Manager also has a vision of how to improve sourcing processes to better enable Hyperloop One to operate more efficiently and quickly. The Commodity Manager will be very process-oriented and able to adapt to a quickly changing environment. The individual in this position will apply proven communication, strategic sourcing, analytical, and creative problem-solving skills to enhance Hyperloop One performance and resolve business issues by leveraging a global supply base.

The Role

• Act as the primary strategic sourcing expert raw materials focused primarily on market analysis and improving Total Cost of Ownership.
• Conduct comprehensive analysis, including strategic direction, market and industry position, capabilities, capacity, supply risk, production environments, and supply requirements to determine optimal sourcing strategies
• Own the costed bill of materials for purchased components for raw materials, and co-lead executive cost reviews
• Own and drive the make/buy process for the raw materials value stream throughout the product production lifecycle
• Develop a long-term commodity specific sourcing strategy and drive execution, coordinating cross-functionally to ensure project success; successfully execute associated tactical and strategic objectives on a global platform.
• Investigate, evaluate, and recommend new and/or alternate sources of supply as necessary to support cost reduction requirements, reduce risk, and/or to improve supplier performance; move business to preferred suppliers by rationalizing those that do not meet expectations. 
• Create, review, and/or approve purchase orders up to authorized limits in support of production customer requirements
• Interpret technical requirements and identify the best value supplier through strategic sourcing activities
• Adhere to all supply chain policies, procedures, guidelines and instructions including those regarding the procurement of materials, intellectual property, and export compliance
• Independently negotiate short and long-term agreements internally and externally at high levels or with persons of influence frequently; train others on negotiation best practices
• Create or review statements of work, prepare bidders lists, and manage the quote process
• Purchase in both MRP and project/purchase requisition oriented type environments under departmental guidelines
• Create, manage, track, and report on quantified and qualified metrics and key performance indicators in support of internal objectives and as a basis to monitor and influence all aspects of commodity performance.
• Develop, monitor, and report on risk mitigation strategies
• Prepare and present commodity specific sourcing strategies to senior management

The Candidate

• Be a market expert in raw materials and will have a strong associated supplier network
• Exhibit advanced negotiation skills
• Work well under pressure and in with exceptionally tight deadlines
• Have a blend of both technical and business experience with a strong background in manufacturing, design, supply chain, or finance
• Possess excellent judgement and the ability to make and execute on decisions for the holistic betterment of the company with little oversight
• Demonstrate integrity, respect, commitment to excellence, collaboration, creativity, and agility
• Exhibit strong customer service skills and an entrepreneurial spirit
• Effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment
• Have a vision of the big picture, be able to socialize the vision across the organization, obtain buy-in from key stakeholders, and translate the vision into actionable tasks
• Ability to communicate ideas in both a technical and user-friendly language
• Possess remarkable problem-solving skills, with a bias for speed; ability to address problems with a positive, creative, collaborative approach, always keeping the customer experience in mind
• Have exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, and experience in presenting complex ideas to executive level audiences
• Have strong relationship building skills, and the ability to interact and work effectively with all levels of personnel and influence key stakeholders to get things done and set proper expectations 
• Ability take ownership and assignments of projects from beginning to end and capable of self-checking work produced for completeness and accuracy
• Understand advanced market influences (forecast of indices, labor, geopolitical, emerging markets, etc.) and be adept at integrating those influences into strategies

Required Minimum Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in the field of Supply Chain, Engineering, Business, Finance or other related field, and 5+ years’ related work experience in a manufacturing environment
• Demonstrated high stakes negotiation skills
• Extensive knowledge of global sourcing trends and best practices
• Demonstrated ability to manage medium/complex projects containing unknowns and risks requiring quick adjustment to planning and activity to ensure goals are achieved.
• Demonstrated ability to develop supplier strategies aimed at the development of a long-term viable supply base
• Working knowledge of how to read blueprints/drawings, interpret specifications and review statements of work
• General understanding of the Uniform Commercial Code, U.S. Government FAR, DFARS and ITAR requirements.
• General understanding of enterprise quality system functionality (e.g., ISO 9000, AS9100, TS16949, etc.).
• General understanding of ERP systems and MRP logic
• Demonstrated project management skills

Preferred Experience

• Certifications preferred: A.P.P., C.P.M., CPSM, CSCP, CPIM.
• Previous experience in a start-up or high growth environment
• Previous experience sourcing for raw materials
• Exceptional technical and cost knowledge of raw materials commodity
• Experience with financial control systems or cost accounting structures
• SQL or other analytical tools