Supply Chain Manager (UK)

Simera Sense is a leading provider of Earth observation camera solutions for the global small satellite market. Committed to excellence and innovation, we deliver superior products and services to our worldwide customer base.

Are you ready to shape the future of advanced engineering? We are looking for a dynamic and forward‑thinking Supply Chain Manager to join our high‑tech engineering team and drive excellence across our global operations. In this role, you will lead the end‑to‑end supply chain function, optimising processes, strengthening supplier partnerships, and ensuring the seamless flow of materials that power our cutting‑edge technologies. If you thrive in a fast‑paced, innovation‑driven environment and are passionate about building resilient, efficient supply chains, we would love to meet you.

Position Type: Full-time

Remote Opportunity: No

Report To: Managing Director (UK)

Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Job Purpose:

Ensures the reliable, timely, and compliant availability of components, materials and services, management of internal inventories and shipment of finished products by leading the supply chain function, optimising supplier and internal processes, and enabling mission-critical production outcomes.

Responsibilities:

Financials

• Control of inventory levels and stock obsolescence.
• Management of the cost of purchase of production components, supplies, services and equipment.
• Management of the cost of supply-chain resources.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Provide internal stakeholders with clear visibility of supply chain health, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Measure and communicate supply chain performance and other inputs for team and and management information.
• Build trust across teams by ensuring transparency, reliability, and responsiveness.

Strategic Supply Chain Management

• Develop and execute a supply chain strategy for the UK manufacturing facility aligned with engineering, production, and mission delivery objectives.
• Translate product roadmaps and mission schedules into supply chain capability plans, ensuring readiness for rapid scaling.
• Anticipate internal and external constraints and risks and proactively adjust sourcing, inventory, production and logistics plans to support company growth and program timelines.
• Ensure appropriate supply-chain resources, systems and processes are available to meet the company’s overall strategy.

Production & Inventory Planning

• Plan production to ensure customer (internal and external) demand is met in a timely and efficient manner.
• Drive accurate material requirements planning (MRP) based on engineering BOMs, production schedules, and mission timelines.
• Ensure availability of long-lead items and critical components, balancing availability, inventory value, turnover and obsolescence.
• Maintain strict batch control, serialisation, and traceability processes aligned with aerospace and space-industry standards.
• Robust control of all inventories: components; intermediate assemblies; work-in-progress; finished goods; stores.

Shipping and logistics

• Manage all inbound and outbound shipping, stores and inventory functions.
• Manage international shipments including customs, duties and export controls.

Procurement

• Source and purchase all components and services for local production from both external suppliers and other group companies.
• Ensure the traceability of components and their meeting technical and regulatory specifications.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Alignment

• Collaborate with Engineering, Quality and Production to ensure supply chain decisions support technical requirements and mission goals.
• Facilitate cross-functional reviews for supplier readiness, manufacturability, change control, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure clear communication of requirements, timelines, and constraints across departments to maintain alignment and accountability.

Supplier Management

• Source components and parts from existing and new suppliers.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Quality teams to ensure internal acceptance criteria and technical standards are well understood, documented, and consistently applied.
• Manage supplier performance, NCRs, deviations, and change requests.

Risk Management & Contingency Planning

• Identify and communicate risks associated with component availability, obsolescence, supplier constraints, and internal readiness.
• Lead or support cross-functional mitigation efforts, such as redesign options, buffer strategies, alternative sourcing, and schedule adjustments.

Compliance, Governance & Internal Standards

• Ensure the supply-chain team follows industry-specific compliance requirements (e.g., ECSS, ISO 9001, AS9100, ITAR/EAR where applicable).
• Maintain high internal discipline around controlled documents, supplier data packages, audits, and quality records.
• Support internal readiness for customer audits, industry certifications, and mission assurance reviews.

Team Leadership & Direction

• Build, lead, and develop the UK supply chain team as and when required.
• Contribute to a collaborative, ambitious culture with commitment to good communication and high performance.

Process Optimisation & Continuous Improvement

• Champion supply chain process integration across engineering, production, and program systems (ERP, PLM, quality systems).
• Develop and support the efficient integration of the supply chain of the different group companies and locations.
• Identify inefficiencies in internal workflows and drive initiatives to improve planning accuracy, documentation quality, throughput, and cross-team accountability.
• Implement KPIs and dashboards to monitor internal supply chain performance and support data-driven decisions.

Required Qualifications:

Higher National Diploma in supply chain management, Industrial Engineering, Logistics, or a related technical/engineering field

Required Experience:

Minimum Required Experience

• 5 - 10 years of progressive experience in planning, procurement, materials management, or operations within a high-technology engineering or manufacturing environment.
• Work with ERP/MRP systems in a production environment.

Experience must include:

• Managing high‑precision, high-quality components (e.g., aerospace, defense, space systems, electronics, optics, medical).
• Working with technical and quality teams on specifications, drawings, BOMs, and qualification processes.
• Demonstrated track record in supplier management, including sourcing, performance oversight, NCR/DR handling, and contract negotiation.
• Experience with ERP/PLM systems and data-driven supply chain planning.

Recommendations:

• Experience with the electronics manufacturing industry.
• Exposure to regulated, standards‑driven industries (AS9100, ISO 9001, ECSS or similar).
• Experience in a supervisory or team‑lead capacity.
• Experience in a start-up environment, setting up processes and building a small team.

What we offer:

• The opportunity to work in the fast-growing space industry.
• Niche global market for optical payloads for microsatellites.
• Cutting-edge technology at your fingertips
• A competitive salary
• A friendly working environment.

Ready to make an impact?

Apply now by submitting your CV