Supply Chain & Manufacturing Lead (San Diego)

About Saferide

Saferide is building an aftermarket ADAS device that adds automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection to all vehicles. We sell through dealers, our first production run is already under committed preorder, and first shipments are imminent. We're seed-funded and small enough that everyone on the team owns a meaningful surface area of the company.

The Role

You will own supply chain and manufacturing end to end. That means BOMs, purchasing, vendor relationships, component sourcing, contract manufacturer management, production ramp, and continuous supply of units coming out of the line. If a component has a 40-week lead time and nobody flagged it, that's on you. If a CM misses a DPPM target, that's on you. If we ship on time, that's on you too.

This is not a coordinator role. You will be the person the CEO, engineering, and sales look to for answers on cost, lead time, capacity, quality, and risk.

What you will do

• Own and maintain the product BOM, part numbering schema, and revision control
• Source electronic and mechanical components, negotiate with suppliers, manage PO issuance and tracking
• Own our existing contract manufacturer relationship through NPI, pilot builds, and production ramp, and identify and qualify additional or next-generation CM partners as we scale
• Drive on-site CM visits for NPI, pilot builds, and production ramp, both domestically and in Asia
• Set and hit targets for landed cost, DPPM, on-time delivery, and inventory turns
• Build and maintain the vendor CRM, supplier scorecards, and dual-source strategies for critical components
• Forecast component demand against sales pipeline and manage inventory risk on long-lead items
• Work directly with EE, ME, and embedded software engineering to drive DFM and DFT feedback into the product
• Own logistics, customs, and inbound/outbound freight for finished goods and components

Required

• 6+ years in supply chain, operations, or manufacturing at a hardware company that ships real product (consumer electronics, automotive, IoT, medical device, industrial)
• Direct experience qualifying and managing contract manufacturers in North America and Asia
• Proven BOM ownership on a product with 100+ line items
• Professional working proficiency in Mandarin and/or Cantonese (you will be on calls, site visits, and in CM conference rooms where English is not the default)
• Willingness to travel, including international trips to Asia and Mexico
• Valid US driver's license
• San Diego based or willing to relocate. This role is on-site at our office.

Strong plus

• ADAS, automotive aftermarket, or regulated hardware experience
• Prior seed-to-Series A hardware startup experience (you've done the zero-to-first-shipment thing before)
• Existing relationships with North American and Asian EMS partners, PCBA houses, or component distributors
• Experience with carrier board / SOM-based products
• APICS CSCP, CPIM, or equivalent

Compensation

• Base: $135,000 – $155,000 depending on experience
• Equity: meaningful early-stage grant
• Target bonus tied to shipment and quality milestones
• Health, dental, vision
• Relocation assistance for the right candidate