Head of Sensors & Radar Strategic Supply Chain
Anduril Industries
· Costa Mesa, California, United States
· Sep 9, 2026
The Head of Optical & Radar Strategic Supply Chain is a Director leadership role responsible for architecting and executing the sourcing strategy across all optical & radar commodities. This includes EO/IR sensor systems, focal plane arrays (FPAs/detectors), precision optics and diamond-turned lenses, optical coatings, LiDAR, laser designators/transceivers, RF/microwave assemblies, Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules, AESA radar subsystems, MMICs (GaN/GaAs), specialized radomes, and battery packs.
Responsibilities:
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Enterprise Supply Chain Vision & Strategy: Define and execute multi-year global sourcing strategies across complex sensor domains, including Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA), millimeter-wave radar, SWIR/MWIR/LWIR cooled and uncooled optical engines, precision optomechanics, and beam-steering systems.
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Team Leadership & Scale: Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of commodity managers, strategic sourcing leads, and technical sourcing engineers across multiple global sites.
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Supplier Relationship Management: Drive deep sub-tier visibility beyond Tier 1. Manage investments in supplier-owned tooling, cleanroom allocations, precision optical fabrication machinery (MRF, diamond turning), and specialized RF/optical test fixtures (anechoic chambers, collimators, interferometers).
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Cross-Functional Engineering Alignment: Partner directly with Optical Engineers, RF/Antenna Designers, and Sensor Architecture teams during early-stage R&D/NPI to qualify state-of-the-art detector technology, influence "Design for Manufacturing & Test" (DFM/DFT), and establish yield-improvement roadmaps.
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Commercial & Strategic Negotiations: Lead high-stakes negotiations for master service agreements (MSAs), development agreements, long-term supply agreements (LTSAs), and complex statement of works (SOWs)—optimizing pricing structures, IP protection, warranty, payment terms, and lead-time commitments.
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Supply Chain Resilience & Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify single-source dependencies, geopolitical vulnerabilities, and capacity constraints. Drive proactive risk mitigation plans, dual-sourcing strategies, and strategic buffer inventory models.
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Cost Architecture & TCO Modeling: Champion robust "should-cost" modeling, teardown analyses, and TCO evaluations to optimize value from concept through end-of-life.
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Executive Communication: Conduct regular operational and strategic reviews with C-suite and executive leadership, serving as the primary executive escalation point for all critical supply chain matters.
Requirements:
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Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related technical discipline.
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10+ years of experience in optical & radar strategic sourcing, global commodity management, or supply chain leadership within complex hardware manufacturing environments.
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5+ years of proven experience building, managing, and scaling high-performing procurement or supply chain teams.
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Demonstrated expertise negotiating enterprise-level agreements and managing electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) architectures, radar/RF sub-tier manufacturing (T/R modules, phased arrays), or precision optics fabrication.
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Proven track record of managing supplier lifecycles and negotiating complex multi-million-dollar commercial agreements.
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Deep understanding of New Product Introduction (NPI) workflows and scaling from prototype to high-rate production.
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Ability to travel up to 25%-50% domestically and internationally as needed.
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Ability to relocate, if not already local to be onsite in Costa Mesa.
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Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, optical engineering, or physics
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Previous experience in defense, aerospace, automotive, high tech, or related industry
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Well-versed in TCO and should costing analysis to ensure data-driven analytics tied to component and supplier selection, in a product-based ecosystem
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Strategic thinker, experienced putting together commodities strategy/roadmap with key engineering stakeholders
Apply Now
- Company
- Anduril Industries
- Location
-
Costa Mesa, California, United States
More jobs in Costa Mesa - Job Type
- Full-time
- Category
- RF / Microwave
- Posted
- Sep 9, 2026
- Source
- Original posting ↗