Supply Chain / Procurement (Buyer-Planner)
Infrastructure for the Autonomous Era · First in. First up.
On-site · Austin, TX
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A hardware delivery lives or dies on parts arriving on time. You own the long-lead items and keep the build fed. When the schedule is measured in months, the difference between hitting the date and missing it often sits in your inbox, and you are the person who makes sure it lands early.
First Order Effects (FOE) is building America's Infrastructure Prime for the robotic era. Autonomous ships, drones, and robots are rewriting how the world moves, fights, and builds - but none of them work without infrastructure to power them, connect them, and launch and recover them. That's what we build.
Our team comes from SpaceX, Anduril, Saronic, Lockheed Skunk Works, Forterra, and Fuse Energy. Before founding FOE, we built satellite ground stations that closed a national comms gap in days, deployed multi-megawatt power systems at commercial speed, and shipped autonomous surface vessels into Navy fleet production. We've built infrastructure at lightspeed before - now we're applying that playbook to an entire company.
Own procurement of long-lead items: LFP cells, inverters, generators, and container and structural hardware.
Build the supplier base, negotiate, and manage lead times, purchase orders, and delivery.
Plan material against the build and delivery schedule and flag risk early.
Keep the bill of materials, cost, and inventory honest.
Run procurement or supply chain for hardware, ideally low-volume, high-mix, or new product introduction.
Manage and negotiate with suppliers.
Read bills of materials and work directly with engineers.
Experience sourcing batteries, power equipment, or steel and aluminum fabrication.
A background in defense procurement, DFARS, or ITAR-aware sourcing.
A track record standing up MRP or ERP at an early company.
$100,000–$250,000 base + founding-team equity sized for the role + benefits. If you're an outlier, we'll pay like it.
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR/EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; active clearance not required.
FOE is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with FOE is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Sovereignty is built, not declared — come build it with us.
Compensation Range: $100K - $250K
