EdTech, Artificial Intelligence, Software

Supply Chain Manager

Watertown, MAOnsiteFull TimeManager / HeadPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

supply chain
purchasing
strategic sourcing
hardware product
new-product-introduction
prototype
pilot
production
Chinese vendors
factory qualification

Nice to have

Mandarin
Cantonese
fluency
robotics
automation
EV

Role summary

We are seeking a Supply Chain Manager to own the end-to-end purchased-part supply chain for our Sonny V2 robots. This role involves managing the vendor base, purchase orders, buffer strategies, costs, and data to ensure timely production. You will be responsible for sourcing, qualifying, and managing suppliers, leading second-sourcing efforts, and building strong partnerships. Key responsibilities include managing purchase orders, buffer strategy, material coverage against the build plan, and developing predictive tools for clear-to-build reports and shortage callouts. You will drive down costs and lead times through negotiation, manage design change absorption through the ECO process, and evaluate outsourcing strategies. Performance tracking, system of record accuracy in ION, and on-site presence at suppliers are also critical. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of experience in hardware supply chain, purchasing, or strategic sourcing, with hands-on experience managing Chinese vendors and a proven track record in negotiation and tool-building.

About Tutor

We believe robots are the biggest lever we have to making the physical world a better, more affordable place. But robots are a rounding error in our society: nearly nine out of ten American factories and warehouses don’t even have a single robot, and robots have yet to make their way into our homes or places of business.

Tutor Intelligence is changing that.

Tutor is a robotics research and deployment company, building generally capable robot hardware and artificial intelligence to enable robots to go where no robots have gone before. Our robots range from a semi-humanoid with frontier dexterity approaching the human form to workhorses that do back-breaking work, moving boxes, pallets, and bulk goods for businesses from family-owned manufacturers to some of the largest brands in the world. Tutor robots are manufactured at scale and operate as a network, combining the whole fleet’s learned experience to train ever more capable robot artificial intelligence.

Founded at MIT and headquartered in Watertown, MA, our team is full stack: we design and manufacture robot hardware, train our own models, work directly with the smallest and largest end-customers, and maintain our fleet across the United States. We’re a team of researchers, engineers, technicians, operators, and sellers who love building things and solving hard problems.

Our mission is grand: robots everywhere, for the common good, raising the standard of living across North America, and then the world.

The Role

We're rapidly scaling robot manufacturing, and our next-generation robot is the next to ramp. You'll own its purchased-part supply chain end to end: the vendor base, the buys, the buffers, the cost, and the data that tells the company what we can build and when. Our critical parts come from China with 100+ day lead times, and the design is still changing monthly. We are only as good as our suppliers — you're the person who makes that work.

We want someone as comfortable in a spreadsheet as on a call with a factory in Shenzhen. Someone who builds the tools that predict shortages instead of chasing them, and who negotiates like every dollar and every day matters — because at our scale it does. Mindset and ownership over credentials.

Your first priority is clear to build: critical parts covered against the build plan, with no surprises. You report to the Head of Manufacturing.

Example projects you might work on:

A clear-to-build report at now / 30 / 60 / 90 days that Engineering and Sales check before they commit dates

Second-sourcing a single-point-of-failure part with a 100+ day lead time

A buffer and air-freight strategy that keeps the line fed through a monthly design change

Qualifying a contract manufacturer for a sub-assembly as volume grows

A supplier scorecard for on-time delivery and quality that drives your next negotiation

What You'll Own

The vendor base. Source, qualify, and manage suppliers for every purchased part on the BOM. Lead second-sourcing on single-point-of-failure parts. Build real partnerships with critical suppliers, not just transactional relationships.

The buy. Own purchase orders, buffer strategy, and material coverage against the build plan. Decide when to bulk-order for lead-time insurance, when to air freight, and when to hold. Attach controlled drawings and revs to every PO on a critical part — no exceptions.

Clear to Build. Build and maintain the predictive tools the company relies on: clear-to-build reports (now / 30 / 60 / 90 days), shortage callouts, lead-time trackers, and material risk dashboards pulled from ION and the build forecast. Supply Chain should get actionable buy signals from these tools, and so should Engineering and Sales.

Cost and negotiation. Drive unit cost, payment terms, MOQs, and lead times down through structured negotiation. Own landed cost and COGS visibility for the product.

Design change absorption. BOM and design changes will keep coming on a cadence greater than zero. Work directly with Production Engineering and R&D through the ECO process so the supply chain absorbs changes at monthly build cutovers rather than stalling the line.

Outsourcing strategy. Evaluate and stand up outsourced sub-assembly and contract-manufacturing options as volume grows, including offshore options.

Supplier performance. Track on-time delivery, quality (NCMRs back to the vendor), and responsiveness. Escalate early and hard when a supplier slips.

The system of record. Keep ION accurate: part numbers, unit costs, purchased assemblies, on-order quantities, and inventory so the shop floor and the finance team see the same truth.

What Success Looks Like

90 days: You own the vendor base, every critical part has a PO with controlled drawings and revs attached, and clear-to-build reports are live and trusted.

1 year: Builds don't stop for a purchased part. Single-point-of-failure parts have second sources, unit cost and lead times are down, and design changes land at build cutovers without stalling the line.

What We're Looking For

5+ years in supply chain, purchasing, or strategic sourcing for a hardware product, ideally through a new-product-introduction ramp (prototype → pilot → production)

Hands-on experience sourcing from and managing Chinese vendors: factory qualification, PI/T/T payment structures, EXW and freight tradeoffs (sea vs. air), customs, and the reality of time-zone and communication gaps

A proven negotiator with examples of cost, lead-time, MOQ, or terms wins you personally drove

Strong analytical and tool-building skills: you've built clear-to-build, MRP-style, or shortage-forecasting tools in Excel, SQL, Python, or a BI tool — not just consumed them. You use AI tools like Claude daily to build and speed up that work.

Fluency with an MES/ERP/PLM system (ION, NetSuite, Arena, Odoo, SAP, or similar) and comfort working from a controlled BOM with revision control

Mechanical and electrical literacy: you can read a drawing, understand a harness spec, and talk to an engineer about why a tolerance matters to a supplier

Willingness to be on the shop floor, in the warehouse, and occasionally on a plane to a supplier

Bachelor's degree in supply chain, engineering, business, or equivalent experience

Nice to Have

Mandarin or Cantonese fluency — a real advantage in day-to-day work with our China-based suppliers

Experience with robotics, automation, EV, drones, or other electromechanical products with motors, batteries, PCBAs, and sheet metal

Prior experience setting up or managing a China-based sourcing presence or sourcing agent

APICS / CPSM / CSCP certification or Lean Six Sigma training

Experience with First Resonance ION specifically

Contract manufacturing / EMS outsourcing experience

How We Work — Our Values in This Role

We hire against our values, and we'll interview you against them too. Here's what they look like in this seat:

Love of the Game. You think building the supply chain for a brand-new robot is a genuinely cool problem, and you want to work with people who think so too.

Gumption. You don't wait for a PO request to show up. You see the build plan, spot the gap, and go close it.

Beginner's Mindset. You ask why a part costs what it costs and why the lead time is what it is. You experiment with new suppliers and new terms, and you're fine being wrong sometimes if it makes us better.

Belief in Each Other. You hold suppliers and colleagues to a high bar and you're transparent when something is off — including with the engineer whose design change just broke your lead time.

Keep Moving Forward. With incomplete information and a changing BOM, you find the 80/20 path, make the smart bet, and keep the line fed.

Customer Obsession. A late part is a late robot, and a late robot is a customer who is not getting the ROI we promised. You never lose sight of what's at stake downstream.

Why Join

Own a product's supply chain. Our next-generation robot is ramping, and its purchased-part supply chain is yours end to end.

Build, don't chase. You'll build the tools that predict shortages, with the backing to use AI to do it.

Real leverage. Every dollar and every day you win shows up directly in what we can build and ship.

Direct line to leadership. Report to the Head of Manufacturing and work side by side with engineering, production and finance.

Why Tutor?

Whether you’re designing robots, closing deals, running deployments, or creating the processes that help us scale, your work doesn’t sit on a shelf. It shows up on real production floors, making physical work safer and more affordable.

Our team is driven by curiosity and a genuine love of building. Everyone here takes real ownership, learns fast, and holds a high bar while having each other’s backs. If you love hard problems and creating things that didn’t exist before, you’ll fit right in.

Benefits

We take care of our team so they can do their best work. At Tutor, you’ll get:

Fully employer-covered health insurance, so you’re protected without the premium.
A managed 401(k) to help you plan for the future.
Generous time off: unlimited PTO and all federal holidays off for full-time salaried employees, and 16+ days of accrued paid time off plus 1.5x pay on federal holidays for hourly employees.
Regular in-office meals and team social events throughout the year.

As Tutor grows, so will our benefits. We’re continuing to invest in ways to support our team at work and beyond.

Tutor Intelligence is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.

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