We're looking for a Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management Lead to own end-to-end commercial strategy for our storage and compute commodities, starting with NAND/SSD and expanding into adjacent categories and related hardware. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, finance, and supply chain — you'll be the primary commercial voice shaping supplier relationships, pricing, and technology roadmaps that directly impact our infrastructure's cost and resilience. You'll bring deep industry knowledge, sharp negotiation instincts, and the credibility to influence technical decisions with commercial reality.
Responsibilities & Duties
- Own the end-to-end sourcing strategy for NAND/SSD commodities, then extend the playbook to additional storage and compute categories.
- Lead commercial negotiations — pricing, contracts, terms, and supply commitments — with key suppliers.
- Build and manage strategic supplier relationships, driving performance across cost, quality, delivery, and technology alignment.
- Develop and execute supplier strategy, including diversification, risk mitigation, and total-cost-of-ownership optimization.
- Chair and drive cross-functional meetings with engineering, finance, and operations to align sourcing decisions with business needs.
- Influence supplier roadmaps and internal technical decisions by injecting commercial and market perspective into engineering conversations.
- Conduct industry and market analysis — pricing trends, capacity, technology shifts — to anticipate risk and opportunity.
- Perform cost modeling, quotation analysis, and competitive benchmarking to support sourcing decisions.
- Manage escalations related to material shortages, supply constraints, and sourcing activities.
- Track and report supplier performance, savings, and risk metrics to leadership.
- Travel 15–20% for supplier reviews, site visits, and industry events.
Required & Preferred Skills and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in a technical, engineering, or business discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- 8–12+ years in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain management.
- Direct experience with NAND/SSD commodity management, including technology fundamentals and supplier landscape.
- Proven track record negotiating commercial contracts, pricing agreements, and supply terms.
- Develop and drive sourcing and supplier strategies, set up key sourcing and supplier management processes
- Strong analytical skills — cost modeling, quotation analysis, and market/industry analysis.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence stakeholders without direct authority.
- Comfortable engaging with engineering teams on technical roadmap discussions from a commercial lens.
- Willingness to travel 15–20%.
Preferred
- MBA or Master's degree in a technical, engineering, or business field.
- Experience sourcing data center-scale SSD, NAND, DRAM, or compute (CPU/GPU) commodities.
- Experience managing s processes and material shortage management.
- Background expanding sourcing scope across multiple commodity categories.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a technical, engineering, or business discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- 8-12+ years in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain management
- Direct experience with NAND/SSD commodity management, including technology fundamentals and supplier landscape
- Experience negotiating commercial contracts, pricing agreements, and supply terms
- Experience developing and driving sourcing and supplier strategies and establishing sourcing and supplier management processes
- Strong analytical skills in cost modeling, quotation analysis, and market or industry analysis
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence stakeholders without direct authority
- Ability to engage engineering teams in technical roadmap discussions from a commercial perspective
- Willingness to travel 15-20%
- MBA or Master's degree in a technical, engineering, or business field
- Experience sourcing data center-scale SSD, NAND, DRAM, or compute commodities
- Experience managing sourcing processes and material shortage management
- Experience expanding sourcing scope across multiple commodity categories
VAST Data Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about VAST Data and has not been reviewed or approved by VAST Data.
-
Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, vision and life insurance are included, with several elements identified as employer-provided. Coverage aligns with what is commonly offered by high‑growth tech companies.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off includes generous or unlimited PTO alongside paid sick days and paid holidays, coupled with remote or work‑from‑home flexibility. This breadth supports taking time away when needed.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Company equity is a standard part of offers with a typical four‑year vest, and professional development support is available. Equity is positioned as a meaningful component of total compensation at a growth‑stage company.
VAST Data Insights
What We Do
Meet the data platform company for the AI era. Accelerating time-to-insight for workload-intensive applications, the VAST Data Platform delivers scalable performance, radically simple data management and enhanced productivity for the AI-powered world. Launched in 2019, VAST is the fastest-selling data infrastructure startup in history.


_0.png)





