Supply Chain Manager, Material and Partner Management

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

As a Supply Chain Manager, Material & Partner Management on the Robotics team, you will own the operational and business relationships that enable our manufacturing partners and critical suppliers to execute reliably across development builds and production ramps. You will serve as the primary interface to partners, guiding capacity planning, materials readiness, and delivery commitments to ensure builds can happen on schedule. You will drive partner operating cadences (build readiness reviews, materials checks, cost and capacity management, QBRs), review schedules and material receiving ladders to provide clear confidence levels on timely and capable execution, and drives escalations as needed for build blockers like shortages, late parts, and quality issues. You will also own the commercial side of partner management, including SOW development, contracts, and ongoing oversight of partner commitments, payments, and performance. This role is based in San Francisco, and requires in-person presence 5 days a week to support physical operations.

Requirements

Have owned execution with CM/JDM/ODM partners and can drive materials readiness against build plans and ramps
Are great at running partner cadences (readiness reviews, issue triage, QBRs) with clear owners and follow-through
Can assess build schedules + receiving ladders, make a confident on-time call, and close gaps fast
Lead escalations for shortages, late parts, and quality issues while coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Tech Ops end-to-end
Can manage the commercial side: SOWs, contract coordination with Legal, and ongoing partner business operations
Understand complex BOMs and fast hardware development cycles, ideally with final assembly
Enjoy owning large partner relationships and operating as the single point of accountability for successful collaboration

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end relationships with key manufacturing partners (CM/JDM/ODM) and critical suppliers, spanning executive alignment through regular operational execution
Run joint business operation cadences: planning and capacity reviews, materials readiness checks, and QBRs, with clear owners, actions, and follow-through
Serve as the business partner interface across Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops to keep execution aligned and unblocked
Drive build planning and materials readiness with partners by confirming capacity, long-lead coverage, promise dates, and readiness gates for program ramp
Own partner-side material pipelining and readiness visibility, surfacing risks early and driving mitigation plans
Manage partner performance using scorecards and readiness metrics (delivery, quality, responsiveness, readiness health) and lead corrective actions when performance falls below bar
Lead cross-functional escalation and issue resolution for build blockers (shortages, late parts, quality escapes), coordinating Engineering, Quality, and Technical Ops
Drive durable closure on recurring issues by tightening processes, owners, and partner accountability mechanisms
Build continuous improvement programs with partners to increase yield, reliability, documentation quality, and repeatable processes
Own the business relationship with major partners, including commercial alignment and ongoing operational management
Develop Statements of Work (SOWs) and drive contract development and review in partnership with Legal
Oversee partner business operations such as contracts, payments, and commercial commitments, ensuring alignment to build execution and materials readiness