Supply Chain Lead, Vega - unspun

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Supply Chain Lead to join our team. In this role, your primary responsibility will be developing and implementing strategies for efficient sourcing, managing, and producing complex hardware subassemblies for our industrial 3D weaving machine. We’re looking for someone with a strong background in managing supply chains for industrial machinery from the prototype phase to early production.

In this role, you will act as the key link between engineering, operations, and manufacturing, managing relationships with external CM partners and setting timelines for internal stakeholders. We’re looking for someone who has done something similar to this before, and someone who is excited about the risks and rewards of joining a startup.

About Us

unspun is a robotics and digital apparel company, with a mission to reduce global carbon emissions by 1% through automated, localized, and intentional manufacturing.

Included in Time's Best Inventions & Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, unspun aims to rapidly transition the trillion-dollar apparel world into one that is more intentional, inclusive, and efficient by focusing on the overlap between sustainability and profitability.

We’ve developed a proprietary and patent-pending technology at the crossroads of 3D printing and automated textile manufacturing. By skipping the flat 2D fabric stage, we can additively build custom apparel products from the ground up- straight from yarn to final product. If additive manufacturing, industrial automation, and synchronized systems of hundreds of sensors & actuators gets you excited, we’d love to talk!

About You

As the first Supply Chain Lead on unspun’s Engineering Operations team, you will play a critical role in designing and implementing our Vega scale-up strategy. You probably have a few battle scars from facing the challenges of scaling hardware in the past, and are jazzed to work in the turbulence of early-stage development. You are not discouraged by the never-ending fight against entropy, and have plenty of experience optimizing processes, keeping costs under control, and ensuring product quality. You're comfortable using data to make decisions and setting clear expectations for everyone involved. You're efficient when communicating at a high level, but not afraid to jump into the weeds with internal teams across engineering, operations, and manufacturing. You probably have a track record of building and holding strong relationships with suppliers, and are known for thinking a few steps ahead.

What You’ll Do

• Own the overall supply chain strategy for Vega as we scale from Beta to Production level machines.
• Source and qualify suppliers to set up scaled manufacturing and reliable OTS sourcing processes.
• Work closely with contract manufacturers to ensure alignment on production schedules, quality standards, and delivery timelines.
• Develop and manage successful global supplier relationships.
• Build scalable processes and trust with the engineering, manufacturing, logistics, and global operations teams.
• Identify potential risks and ensure compliance with relevant regulations, promoting sustainable and ethical sourcing practices.
• Help build and grow the unspun Engineering Operations team, fostering a collaborative and high-performance work environment.

Ideal Qualities

• 5+ years of proven experience in manufacturing for a real product from early prototype designs to the first mass production phases.  
• A track record of bringing up production lines and shipping large (ie, not solely consumer electronics) hardware.

• Experience working with advanced robotics systems and industrial manufacturing equipment.
• Excellent analytical and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical teammates.
• A high sense of ownership, urgency, and drive.
• Someone who is excited to work in close collaboration with the unspun product development team to meet our external contract deliverables.
  
  

Bonus Points

• Excitement for weaving, carbon reduction, deep tech, or all of the above!
• Demonstrated technical leadership experience within cross-functional engineering projects.
• Knowledge of applicable regulations and standards for capital equipment and machinery, including safety, environmental, and industry-specific compliance requirements.
• Experience in the EU markets/ textile industries.

If you don't meet all of the requirements listed above, but can make up for it with a voracious passion to learn how to do so, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Benefits

The salary range for this role is $138,000 - $168,000 USD, annually, plus 0.05% - 0.08% equity.

Benefits include:

• self-regulated vacation policy
• comprehensive (gold & platinum) health/dental/vision insurance
• company sponsored 401k and HSA or FSA
• monthly gym membership or relevant online education grant of up to $150/month
• pre-tax commuter benefits
• incentive stock options

Our philosophy

We won’t roll our eyes if your socks don’t match. We get it. But then, if you spend those extra few minutes in the morning matching your socks and shirt, we get that too. Our workspaces are sometimes spotless and sometimes chaotic, and we celebrate messy exploration. We work through complex problems but generate simple and elegant solutions. We strive to look at things differently, and never do anything solely because “that’s the way it’s always been done.”

We’re a team of designers and engineers, industry-veterans and serial entrepreneurs, artists and developers. We’re aspiring chess masters and climbers, bakers and photographers. Originally spun out of Stanford and the University of Colorado, we now call the Bay Area home, with strong ties to Hong Kong. We are looking for teammates who share our desire to work on ambitious problems and leave the world better than we found it.

unspun is an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to being a diverse team that reflects a broad range of background, thought, and experience. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, status as an individual with a disability, status as protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristics. Women, minorities, and people from underrepresented backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.