Category Sourcing Manager (Optics), Project Kuiper

Project Kuiper is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Its mission is to bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world. Project Kuiper will help close the digital divide by delivering fast, affordable broadband to a wide range of customers, including consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity.

The Kuiper team is looking for a global category sourcing leader to support business and engineering stakeholders in selecting, developing and managing business relationships with critical technology and service suppliers, and others as needed to execute on Kuiper objectives.

Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Key job responsibilities
The ideal candidate will have:
- Prior experience in the optics industry or related field preferred or; background in physics, particularly optics.
- A successful track record developing and executing sourcing strategies, negotiating agreements and statements of work, and managing supplier performance.
- Experience working in new and ambiguous environments while solving complex problems with a broad range of cross functional stakeholders will be an advantage.

- Drive hardware delivery through the product life cycle from requirements development to on-dock (on time at the right quality and cost)
- Analyze industry trends and evolving technology to proactively identify and execute projects/opportunities to reduce cost, minimize risk, protect continuity of supply, and exploit industry developments that benefit Amazon’s customers
- Work with a range of stakeholders including business leaders, engineering leaders, legal, program management, and supply chain to negotiate a variety of agreements and contracts including term sheets, MOUs, NDAs, SOWs, development agreements, component purchase agreements and others
- Influence suppliers' manufacturing processes, technology decisions, and policies in ways that are mutually beneficial and sustainable for both organizations
- Prioritize projects and activities to deliver maximum cost reductions and reliable supply
- Manage cross-functional projects against plans and objectives to meet commitments and goals
- Drive financial modeling of large and complex deals
- Evaluate and monitor critical supplier performance, including financial health, quality, on-time delivery, and cost
- Ensure orders are released and on schedule to meet needs of the production system
- Mentor junior sourcing employees on contract negotiation and vendor management
- Effectively lead cross-functional meetings with clear document writing, agenda creation, note capture and follow-up activity coordination
- Proactively identify and mitigate risks to the supply chain