About Ultra

Overview

What You'll Do

• Find, vet, and set up new supplier and contract-manufacturer relationships across our parts base, at home and internationally
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, and lead times — and revisit them as volumes grow
• Develop and deepen existing relationships through regular reviews, supplier scorecards, and quick resolution of cost and delivery issues
• Travel to China and other destinations to meet suppliers face-to-face, qualify new partners, and build out a resilient global supply base

• Place purchase orders and track them to keep builds on schedule — or make it fast and easy for the manufacturing team to place orders themselves
• Run RFQs and turn new product introductions (NPI) and BOM changes into clean sourcing and buying decisions in partnership with the manufacturing and hardware teams
• Own inventory accuracy and the demand/forecasting signals that drive purchasing — approached software-forward, with tooling and automation rather than manual spreadsheets wherever possible
• Build the purchasing workflows, approvals, PO tracking, and the tooling behind them so ordering and planning stay simple as we scale
• Manage lead times and costs against targets, and proactively flag and mitigate supply risk on single-source and long-lead parts

• Book transport for inbound parts when needed and keep shipments moving to the door
• Track shipment status and get ahead of delays before they hit the build schedule
• Coordinate international shipping, imports, and customs so parts clear cleanly and predictably

• Set and enforce quality expectations with suppliers, and catch issues before parts reach the line
• Track supplier quality performance over time and drive corrective action when parts fall short
• Partner with the hardware team on incoming inspection criteria and specs so what we order is what we get

Who You Are

• Highly operational and detail-oriented — you bring order to a tangle of parts, vendors, POs, and lead times
• An owner, not an executor — when something is unsourced, mispriced, delayed, or about to run out, you've already moved on it
• Software-forward — you reach for tooling and automation before headcount, and you're comfortable building lightweight systems (or working alongside AI agents) to run the function at scale
• Scrappy, resourceful, and energized by fast-paced, high-autonomy environments where you're building the process as you run it
• A strong relationship-builder who's comfortable negotiating and working across cultures and time zones
• You think in cost, speed, and reliability — and know how to balance all three under real deadlines

Experience and Skills

• 5+ years owning procurement, sourcing, and/or supply chain in a hardware or manufacturing environment — or less, if you pair real procurement instinct with unusually strong systems and software fluency
• Strong supplier management: finding and qualifying vendors, negotiating pricing and payment terms, and building long-term relationships
• A track record of making ordering and purchasing run smoothly — POs, approvals, and the systems behind them (ERP/MRP, PLM, or equivalent)
• Comfort with inventory management and demand/forecasting, and a bias toward building tooling to keep counts accurate at speed rather than managing them by hand
• Familiarity with inbound logistics: booking freight, tracking shipments, and working through international shipping, imports, and customs
• Experience holding suppliers to a quality standard — inspection, scorecards, and corrective action
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally, including to China, to develop the supply base
• Bonus: experience with contract manufacturing or scaling sourcing beyond in-house production
• Bonus: Mandarin or other relevant language skills for working directly with overseas suppliers