Own program purchasing and inventory end to end - from requisition and material flow through closeout - and stand up the procurement and inventory function for an early-stage aerospace and defense company building in Huntsville. Grex Defense builds autonomous aircraft, designed and built in America to carry what matters. We are an early-stage aerospace and defense company standing up our first program and our Huntsville, Alabama office at the same time, and we are looking for people who want to build the processes they will work in. As Program Procurement Lead, you will own purchasing and inventory for the program from requisition through closeout and establish the company's procurement and material-management function. You will work directly with program management, engineering, finance, security, and IT, and you will help set up our Huntsville office. You will plan and execute program procurement - including long-lead items and supplier schedules tied to the program schedule - soliciting, evaluating, and negotiating quotes, documenting price reasonableness, and issuing and administering purchase orders and subcontracts. Much of this work has no playbook yet: sole- and single-source buys, pricing with no comparable basis, and obsolete or end-of-life components. You will own inventory and material management end to end: receiving and inspection, the stockroom, kitting to the production schedule, cycle counts and physical inventory, lot and serial traceability, and material planning so engineering and production always have what they need. You will run it through Unanet MRP, keeping on-hand accuracy, reorder points, and shortages under control. You will read drawings, specifications, statements of work, and engineering change orders, help requestors get specifications right, and support proposals with supplier quotes and pricing data that stand up to customer review. Partnering with Quality, you will monitor supplier quality, first-article results, and on-time delivery. You will flow down FAR and DFARS requirements to suppliers - including cybersecurity, specialty-metals, and counterfeit-parts clauses - and buy from international suppliers using the appropriate INCOTERMS, working with our export-compliance team on any required authorizations. You will build and qualify our supplier base, including small-business sources. You will configure and run procurement and inventory in Unanet, including approval workflows and three-way match, and procure furniture, equipment, and services for the new Huntsville office in coordination with IT and security. Beyond procurement and inventory, you will provide general program support as needs arise - preparing and formatting deliverables, performing quality assurance on documents and data packages, and helping keep program artifacts organized and on schedule. This is an early-stage team, so a willingness to step into adjacent work is essential. This is a full-time role that can be performed remotely within the United States, with travel as required to Huntsville and to supplier or customer sites.
What we look for:
Bachelor's degree and five or more years of procurement, purchasing, subcontracts, or materials-management experience in aerospace and defense; or nine or more years of such experience in lieu of a degree.
Working knowledge of FAR Part 44, DFARS Part 244, and clause flow-down.
Inventory and material management for hardware - receiving, stockroom and kitting, cycle counts, lot and serial traceability, and material planning tied to a production schedule.
Strong negotiation and documentation skills.
U.S. citizenship, and eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
Domestic and international purchasing, with practical use of INCOTERMS 2020 (preferred).Unanet or a similar business system such as Deltek Costpoint, SAP, or NetSuite, including MRP and three-way match (preferred).Familiarity with ITAR and EAR as they apply to foreign suppliers (preferred).Support of a CPSR or a customer purchasing-system audit (preferred).Experience building a procurement or inventory function in a start-up (preferred).CPSM, CPCM, CFCM, CPIM, or APICS certification (preferred).
