Supplier Management Manager

Role Overview

Orbitworks is looking for an experienced supplier management professional to lead the tactical execution of supplier management across our UAE and international supply base, including our internal supply relationship with Loft Orbital Solutions.

This role combines technical procurement expertise, commercial ownership, and hands-on execution to keep conforming hardware, equipment, and services arriving on time and at a competitive total cost. You'll own the full supplier lifecycle — from quotations, sourcing, and purchase orders through onboarding, delivery, performance management, renewal, and offboarding.

Sitting within the Supply Chain team, you'll partner closely with Engineering, Quality, Planning, Programs, Finance, and our Supplier Development function. This is an individual-contributor role with real strategic weight: you'll build the processes and working relationships needed to support a fast-growing portfolio of technologies and flight hardware.

What You'll Do

• Own the supplier portfolio — Manage a mix of local and international suppliers alongside internal supply partners, segmenting them by criticality, technology, capacity, lead time, and risk, and setting the right level of ownership and review cadence for each.
• Lead technical sourcing and quotations — Turn approved specifications, drawings, and documentation requirements into effective RFQs, then evaluate quotes with Engineering and QA on compliance, lead time, capacity, tooling costs, and total cost of ownership.
• Drive procurement execution — Own requisitions, PO placement and amendments, supplier acknowledgement, and delivery follow-up, keeping quantities, prices, and delivery dates accurate and resolving receipt or invoice discrepancies.
• Negotiate contracts and commercial terms — Negotiate and administer pricing, payment, delivery, warranty, change, cancellation, and tooling-ownership terms with Legal and Compliance, ensuring quality and technical requirements flow through into every order.
• Manage demand and product availability — Connect production and program demand to supplier lead times and capacity, flag shortages and long-lead exposure early, and secure the coverage needed while managing cash and obsolescence risk.
• Lead delivery recovery — Validate supplier milestones and delivery evidence, and run recovery plans and escalations through to verified closure when things go off track.
• Manage the supplier lifecycle — Coordinate due diligence, onboarding, qualification, approved status, and offboarding, protecting continuity of orders, tooling, and records during transitions.
• Partner on quality and technical issues — Work with QA on supplier nonconformances and corrective actions, coordinate technical changes with Engineering, and turn Supplier Development findings into sourcing and commercial decisions.
• Run Loft Orbital and internal supply execution — Establish clear demand handoffs, commitments, and escalation paths with Loft counterparts, and apply consistent expectations across internal supply relationships.
• Improve performance and cost — Run supplier reviews on delivery, quality, responsiveness, and risk, and improve total cost through negotiation, order strategy, and qualified alternatives.
• Build the function — Create practical processes, dashboards, and decision records, and coach procurement colleagues as the portfolio and team grow.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 7–15 years of experience in supplier management, technical procurement, or supply chain within aerospace, space, or another demanding engineered-product environment, with direct accountability for production hardware or technically complex supply.
• Technical procurement literacy — able to read specifications, drawings, BOMs, revisions, and acceptance requirements, and knows when Engineering or QA sign-off is required.
• Hands-on, end-to-end procurement experience, including RFQs, quotation comparisons, approvals, POs, amendments, delivery follow-up, and supplier lifecycle management.
• Demonstrated commercial and contract depth, with the ability to speak to specific terms you've personally negotiated and the risks they addressed.
• A track record of preventing or resolving shortages, managing capacity or long-lead constraints, and restoring supplier commitments with measurable results.
• Experience owning a supplier portfolio: segmenting risk, running performance reviews, and driving corrective actions to closure.
• Strong cross-functional influence across Procurement, Engineering, QA, Planning, Finance, and suppliers, including relationships without direct authority.
• Comfort working in ERP/MRP systems and connecting demand, supply, lead times, and PO data to assess cost, inventory, and cash impact.
• Experience building processes and coaching colleagues in a fast-growing, still-forming environment.
• A degree in engineering, supply chain, or a related field (or equivalent demonstrated experience), with clear professional English communication; Arabic and French are a plus.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience with space or aerospace flight hardware, including traceability, configuration, qualification, and controlled-change requirements.
• Background in complex electronics, avionics, harnesses, precision machining, structures, propulsion, or optical payloads.
• UAE or regional supplier experience.
• Experience managing intercompany or joint-venture supply relationships.
• Experience supporting new product introduction and the transition from development to production-scale purchasing.
• Familiarity with supplier development and quality systems; AS9100 or equivalent experience is a plus.
• A professional certification such as CIPS, CPSM, or CSCP, plus cost-breakdown or should-cost experience.
• Familiarity with international logistics, customs, and export-control considerations.

Why Orbitworks

Orbitworks is building satellite systems and space operations capability out of the UAE, working in close partnership with Loft Orbital Solutions. As we scale our technology portfolio, this role sits at the center of making sure the hardware, equipment, and services behind our programs show up on time, at the right quality, and at the right cost.

Orbitworks' mission is to make space simple for organizations that want to deploy physical and virtual missions to space. Building on Loft Orbital's heritage, Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass-manufacture satellites. Orbitworks aims to manufacture tens of satellites annually and operates out of a 50,000-square-foot facility in Abu Dhabi.