Description
The Principal Global Sourcing Manager, Critical Minerals is the domain expert and single-threaded leader for a designated critical mineral at Anduril Industries. This is a high-impact role focused on securing the raw materials that power our products against a backdrop of concentrated geopolitical risk, volatile pricing, and opaque multi-tier supply chains.
As the lead for your assigned mineral, you will own the global mandate end-to-end: market intelligence, tiered supply chain mapping, supplier and government relationship management, should-cost modeling, contracting, and stockpiling strategy. You will operate as the hub of a cross-functional pod to translate Anduril's aggregate demand into a resilient sourcing strategy that enhances supplies from US-friendly sources, protects BOM cost, and ensures continuity of supply across NPI and mass production.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning the commodity strategy for your assigned critical mineral, with explicit focus on supply chain resilience, geopolitical risk mitigation (particularly PRC concentration in mining and refinement), cost, and quality
- Building and maintaining tiered supply chain mapping from Anduril end products down to the raw material, quantifying revenue exposure and BOM impact to prioritize where deeper intervention is needed
- Maintaining expert-level market intelligence and delivering weekly updates on pricing, disruptions, and geopolitical signals
- Hosting monthly cross-functional pod tag-ups, leading quarterly strategy reviews, and conducting regular executive briefings on market conditions and mitigation plans
- Leading RFI/RFQ/RFP processes across miners, refiners, processors, and component suppliers
- Performing should-cost and TCO analysis; negotiating key agreements (offtake, pricing, capacity reservations, payment terms) suited to volatile, concentrated markets
- Evaluating and recommending strategic interventions (stockpiling, prepayments, JVs, equity investments, vertical integration), partnering with CorpDev and Finance
- Building trusted relationships with suppliers, industry associations, and U.S./allied government bodies (DoD, DPA Title III, DLA, DOE); representing Anduril externally for your commodity
- Leading a cross-functional pod spanning product sourcing, parent commodity managers, Engineering, and CorpDev/Finance
- Partnering with Engineering to qualify alternates, influencing specs, and designing out single points of failure
- Owning supplier performance (delivery, quality, cost, innovation), serving as primary escalation point and managing continuity of supply through NPI-to-MP transitions
Required qualifications include:
- A bachelor's degree in supply chain, engineering, or a related technical field
- 12+ years of experience in commodity management, strategic sourcing with direct exposure to critical minerals or their downstream products
- Demonstrated experience navigating concentrated, geopolitically sensitive supply chains
- Ability to travel up to 50% of the time, including international travel to mines, refiners, and processors
- Ability to relocate, if not already local to be onsite in Costa Mesa, CA
Preferred qualifications include:
- An advanced degree (Master's or Doctorate) in materials science, chemical sciences, or metallurgical or mining engineering
- Previous experience in defense, aerospace, automotive, high tech, or related industry with deep raw material dependencies
- Experience working with U.S. government programs supporting domestic critical mineral supply (e.g., DPA Title III, DOE Loan Programs Office, DLA National Defense Stockpile)
- Hands-on experience with multi-tier supply chain visibility tools
- Strong should-cost and TCO analysis skills in a product-based ecosystem
- Strategic thinker with a track record of building commodity roadmaps alongside engineering and finance stakeholders
- Experience structuring or supporting non-traditional commercial arrangements (long-term offtake, prepayments, equity investments, JVs)
- Proven cross-functional leadership and ability to influence at all levels of an organization
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. TS clearance
The salary range for this role is $220,000 - $292,000 USD.