Supply Chain & Logistics Manager in San Jose, California at A1J Technologies LLC

Position Summary

The Supply Chain & Logistics Manager is responsible for leading and optimizing A1J Technologies' procurement, supplier management, material planning, inventory control, receiving, logistics, outside processing coordination, and shipping functions to support manufacturing operations and customer delivery commitments.

As A1J transitions from a traditional precision machining job shop into a scalable Tier 1 supplier supporting commercial aerospace and defense customers, this position is critical to establishing a disciplined, reliable, and cost-effective supply chain infrastructure.

The Supply Chain & Logistics Manager is accountable for ensuring that materials, tooling, components, and outsourced services are available at the required time, in the correct quantity, and in compliance with applicable customer, engineering, and quality requirements.

This position oversees material flow from supplier procurement and receipt through inventory storage, manufacturing support, outside processing, and final shipment, while maintaining accurate ERP transactions, material traceability, and inventory controls.

The successful candidate must demonstrate strong manufacturing supply chain leadership, supplier development capabilities, inventory management expertise, logistics coordination, and the ability to establish standardized processes that improve on-time delivery, operational efficiency, and cost performance.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Supply Chain Leadership & Organizational Development

• Lead and manage purchasing, supplier management, receiving, inventory control, material handling, logistics, and shipping functions within the assigned organizational structure.
• Establish departmental roles, responsibilities, accountability, and standardized operating procedures.
• Develop a proactive supply chain organization focused on material availability, inventory accuracy, supplier performance, cost control, and manufacturing support.
• Establish clear communication and escalation processes for material shortages, supplier delays, inventory discrepancies, and logistics issues.
• Develop employee performance expectations, training requirements, cross-training plans, and departmental KPIs.
• Ensure appropriate staffing, workload distribution, and operational coverage to support manufacturing requirements.
• Promote continuous improvement, accountability, and collaboration across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, Planning, and Sales.

2. Purchasing & Procurement Management

• Direct procurement activities for raw materials, tooling, consumables, equipment-related supplies, and outside processing services.
• Develop sourcing strategies that balance material availability, quality, supplier reliability, cost, and manufacturing lead-time requirements.
• Establish purchasing procedures, approval requirements, and procurement controls.
• Oversee supplier RFQs, purchase order issuance, supplier acknowledgments, and delivery commitments.
• Negotiate supplier pricing, lead times, payment terms, and commercial agreements.
• Ensure purchase orders accurately communicate material specifications, revisions, quantities, delivery requirements, and applicable quality clauses.
• Establish processes to monitor open purchase orders, overdue supplier commitments, and material shortage risks.
• Identify alternate suppliers and mitigate single-source dependencies and long-lead material risks.
• Support purchasing requirements for new product introductions, engineering changes, and customer expedite requests.
• Coordinate purchasing priorities with the Master Scheduler and Manufacturing leadership.

3. Supplier Performance & Development

• Develop and maintain supplier performance monitoring processes covering on-time delivery, quality, cost, responsiveness, and lead-time reliability.
• Establish supplier scorecards and conduct periodic supplier performance reviews.
• Identify underperforming suppliers and coordinate corrective actions and recovery plans.
• Develop strategic supplier relationships that support A1J's aerospace and defense manufacturing requirements.
• Evaluate supplier capabilities, capacity limitations, and business continuity risks.
• Coordinate with Quality on supplier qualification, approved supplier status, supplier audits, and supplier corrective actions.
• Ensure alternate sourcing decisions comply with applicable customer and quality requirements.
• Support long-term supplier development initiatives to improve supply reliability and reduce operational risk.

4. Material Planning & Manufacturing Support

• Partner with the Master Scheduler to align material availability with planned manufacturing start dates and customer delivery commitments.
• Monitor material requirements, inventory availability, open purchase orders, and supplier lead times.
• Identify material shortages before they affect scheduled manufacturing operations.
• Establish shortage reporting and escalation procedures to support proactive recovery.
• Coordinate material availability for urgent jobs, engineering changes, and high-priority customer orders.
• Support manufacturing readiness reviews to ensure required materials and purchased services are available before job release.
• Coordinate with Engineering to validate material specifications, quantities, and purchasing requirements.
• Provide Operations leadership with visibility into critical shortages, material lead-time constraints, and procurement risks.
• Develop material planning practices that support production flow while minimizing unnecessary inventory.

5. Inventory Management & Material Control

• Establish and maintain standardized inventory management procedures for raw materials, purchased components, consumables, and other controlled inventory.
• Implement inventory identification, storage, location control, transaction accuracy, and material traceability requirements.
• Establish receiving-to-inventory and inventory-to-production material issue procedures.
• Maintain accurate inventory records within JobBoss and applicable supporting systems.
• Develop cycle-count programs and inventory reconciliation processes to improve inventory accuracy.
• Investigate inventory discrepancies and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Establish appropriate minimum and maximum inventory levels, reorder points, and stocking strategies where applicable.
• Monitor excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and unallocated inventory.
• Coordinate with Finance on inventory valuation, adjustments, and financial reporting requirements.
• Ensure materials are properly identified, protected, and controlled throughout storage and internal movement.
• Support inventory management practices that improve material availability while reducing unnecessary working capital.

6. Receiving & Material Traceability

• Oversee receiving activities to ensure purchased materials and components are accurately received, identified, and recorded.
• Establish receiving procedures that verify purchase order information, material quantities, identification, and required documentation.
• Coordinate with Quality to ensure applicable material certifications, traceability records, and receiving inspection requirements are completed before material is released for use.
• Maintain appropriate controls for material awaiting inspection, accepted material, and nonconforming or suspect material.
• Ensure receiving transactions are accurately recorded in ERP system.
• Establish designated storage locations and material identification requirements.
• Prevent unauthorized use of materials pending required verification or acceptance.
• Coordinate resolution of receiving discrepancies, missing documentation, damaged shipments, and supplier returns.

7. Logistics & Internal Material Flow

• Establish and manage logistics processes that support efficient movement of materials and components throughout assigned supply chain activities.
• Coordinate the timely delivery of received and accepted materials to designated manufacturing departments.
• Establish material staging, storage, and transfer procedures to minimize delays and unnecessary handling.
• Work with Production Control and Manufacturing to maintain visibility of material movement and location.
• Support standardized material identification and traceability during internal transportation and storage.
• Identify opportunities to reduce material handling time, misplaced inventory, and manufacturing interruptions.
• Ensure appropriate packaging, handling, preservation, and transportation controls are maintained.
• Coordinate logistics support for high-priority jobs and manufacturing recovery requirements.
• Establish clear handoff responsibilities between Supply Chain logistics personnel and Production Control expeditors.

8. Outside Processing & Subcontracted Manufacturing Coordination

• Oversee procurement and logistics coordination for outside processing and subcontracted manufacturing operations.
• Coordinate with the Master Scheduler, Production Control, and Manufacturing to align outside processing with production requirements.
• Monitor outside processing purchase orders, supplier commitments, turnaround times, and delivery performance.
• Establish tracking processes for parts shipped to outside suppliers, including quantities, job identification, and expected return dates.
• Ensure applicable supplier approvals, specifications, customer requirements, and quality clauses are communicated.
• Coordinate with Quality on required certifications, special-process documentation, and receiving verification.
• Identify outside processing delays and develop supplier recovery or approved alternate-source options.
• Maintain visibility of work in process at outside suppliers.
• Ensure outside processing transactions and documentation are accurately maintained in ERP systems.

9. Shipping, Transportation & Customer Delivery Support

• Oversee shipping and transportation activities to ensure products are packaged, documented, and dispatched according to customer and contractual requirements.
• Establish standardized shipping procedures covering shipment verification, packaging, identification, and documentation.
• Coordinate with Quality to ensure required final inspection and product release activities are completed before shipment.
• Ensure shipment quantities, customer information, purchase order references, and applicable shipping instructions are accurate.
• Coordinate freight carriers, shipment scheduling, and transportation requirements.
• Monitor shipping performance and identify delays affecting customer delivery commitments.
• Establish controls to prevent shipment of incorrect, incomplete, damaged, or unauthorized products.
• Support customer expedite requirements and shipment recovery plans.
• Coordinate with CSR, Sales, and Program Management regarding shipment status and delivery exceptions.
• Maintain accurate shipping transactions and shipment records within ERP system.

10. Quality Management System & Aerospace Compliance

• Ensure purchasing, receiving, inventory, supplier management, logistics, and shipping processes comply with applicable A1J quality management system requirements.
• Support AS9100 and customer-specific purchasing, supplier control, traceability, preservation, and documentation requirements.
• Maintain appropriate controls for approved suppliers and customer-directed sources.
• Ensure applicable material specifications, purchase order quality clauses, and supplier documentation requirements are properly communicated.
• Coordinate with Quality on supplier nonconformances, corrective actions, material certification issues, and supplier performance concerns.
• Support internal audits, external audits, customer audits, and corrective action implementation.
• Ensure records are maintained to support product traceability and audit requirements.
• Participate in risk assessments and continuous improvement activities related to supply chain compliance.
• Respect Quality's independent authority for product acceptance, nonconformance disposition, and applicable supplier quality approvals.

11. ERP Data Integrity & Process Standardization

• Establish and maintain accurate procurement, inventory, receiving, supplier, and shipping information within ERP system.
• Develop standardized procedures for purchase order transactions, inventory receipts, material issues, transfers, returns, and shipping activities.
• Identify and correct recurring ERP transaction errors and process weaknesses.
• Establish accountability for timely and accurate system transactions.
• Partner with Planning, Manufacturing, Finance, and Quality to improve material and purchasing data integrity.
• Develop reporting tools and dashboards that provide visibility into material availability, supplier performance, inventory accuracy, and logistics status.
• Support system improvements, process automation, and digital transformation initiatives.

12. Financial Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor purchasing spend, inventory investment, freight costs, outside processing expenses, and supplier-related cost performance.
• Identify and implement cost-reduction opportunities without compromising product quality, traceability, or customer delivery.
• Establish departmental budgets and support financial forecasting as assigned.
• Evaluate opportunities for supplier consolidation, strategic sourcing, inventory optimization, and transportation efficiency.
• Analyze recurring shortages, excess inventory, supplier delays, and material handling inefficiencies.
• Develop corrective actions and improvement initiatives that support manufacturing throughput and on-time delivery.
• Provide regular supply chain performance reports, operational risks, and improvement recommendations to Operations leadership.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Production Supplier On-Time Delivery - Percentage of supplier deliveries received by the required date.
• Material Availability - Percentage of scheduled jobs with required material available before planned production start.
• Critical Material Shortages - Number and duration of shortages affecting manufacturing.
• Inventory Accuracy - Percentage accuracy between physical inventory and ERP records.
• Inventory Turns - Rate at which inventory is consumed or replenished over a defined period.
• Purchase Order Accuracy - Percentage of purchase orders issued without specification, quantity, pricing, or documentation errors.
• Supplier Quality Performance - Supplier nonconformance trends and corrective action performance.
• Outside Processing On-Time Return - Percentage of outside processing orders returned by the required date.
• Outside Processing WIP Aging - Time parts remain at outside suppliers beyond planned processing duration.
• Receiving Transaction Accuracy - Accuracy and timeliness of material receiving records.
• Shipping Accuracy - Percentage of shipments completed without quantity, documentation, or identification errors.
• Shipping On-Time Performance - Percentage of authorized shipments dispatched by their required shipping date.
• Supply Chain Cost Improvement - Validated procurement, inventory, and logistics cost reductions.
• ERP Transaction Compliance - Accuracy and timeliness of purchasing, inventory, receiving, and shipping transactions.

Work Environment

• Primarily office-based with regular presence in receiving, inventory, shipping, and manufacturing areas.
• Requires frequent interaction with suppliers, manufacturing personnel, department managers, and leadership.
• May require occasional supplier visits, supplier performance reviews, and participation in supplier audits.
• Requires extended periods of computer-based analysis, ERP transactions, reporting, and communication.
• May require occasional lifting or movement of light materials in accordance with applicable safety procedures.

Benefits

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Paid Time Off
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• 401(k) Employer Match

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Operations Management, Logistics, or a related field; equivalent relevant manufacturing experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in manufacturing supply chain, purchasing, logistics, inventory management, or related operations.
• Minimum of 3 years of demonstrated supervisory or management experience.
• Strong knowledge of procurement, supplier management, material planning, receiving, inventory control, and logistics.
• Demonstrated experience managing supplier performance, negotiating commercial terms, and resolving material availability issues.
• Experience establishing inventory controls, cycle-count programs, and ERP transaction discipline.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems and manufacturing purchasing processes.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing material flow, outside processing, and production scheduling dependencies.
• Ability to develop and implement standardized departmental procedures and performance metrics.
• Strong analytical, organizational, leadership, negotiation, and communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and manufacturing data analysis.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and respond effectively to production and customer delivery risks.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional improvement initiatives and hold teams accountable for results.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in aerospace, defense, precision CNC machining, or high-mix, low-volume manufacturing.
• Familiarity with AS9100, aerospace material traceability, approved supplier controls, and customer quality flow-down requirements.
• Experience managing outside special processing, including heat treatment, plating, coating, grinding, and subcontracted manufacturing.
• Experience with JobBoss ERP or comparable manufacturing systems.
• APICS CPIM, CSCP, CLTD, or ISM CPSM certification.
• Experience implementing inventory management systems and improving inventory accuracy in environments with limited existing controls.
• Experience establishing supplier scorecards, strategic sourcing programs, and purchasing performance dashboards.
• Experience managing receiving, warehouse operations, shipping, transportation, and material handling functions.
• Experience supporting organizational growth and implementing scalable supply chain processes.
• Demonstrated success improving supplier delivery, material availability, inventory performance, and manufacturing support.