Procurement & Supply Chain Leader (Confidential Search)

Location: Austin, TX (on-site/hybrid as aligned with business needs)

Ashton North is leading a confidential search for a top-tier Procurement & Supply Chain Leader. This opportunity is with a well-established, growth-oriented, privately owned manufacturer of electronic products. The company is investing in a stronger, more future-ready upstream supply chain and procurement function to support continued growth, product evolution, and operational excellence.

This is a high-impact role for a leader who plays offense, architecting and scaling a resilient, high-performance supply chain, delivering meaningful cost savings, and making supplier quality a non-negotiable to protect margins and product reliability.

What You’ll Own

• End-to-end ownership of procurement and upstream supply chain strategy, including sourcing, contracting, cost control, supplier performance, and quality outcomes
• Supplier quality leadership, setting standards, enforcing accountability, and ensuring vendors consistently meet cost, delivery, and quality targets
• Alignment of supply chain strategy with engineering needs and enterprise-wide growth plans
• Leadership of supplier consolidation, make/buy analysis, and vendor risk and opportunity reporting, with a sharp focus on quality, continuity of supply, and scalability
• Talent assessment and team elevation, coaching or upgrading as needed to build a high-functioning procurement organization
• Supply chain harmonization across new product lines or operational expansions, integrating suppliers and processes without losing pace or quality discipline
• Collaboration with Engineering, FP&A, Compliance, and other operational teams to align procurement planning with product launches, inventory turns, quality benchmarks, and budget targets

What You Bring

• 10+ years of upstream, procurement-led supply chain leadership within manufacturing, ideally supporting electronic products, embedded systems, or engineered hardware
• Clear depth in sourcing, supplier management, contracting, and cost strategy rather than warehousing or distribution-focused supply chain scopes
• Track record of building high-performing supplier networks, raising quality, reducing variation, protecting delivery performance, and still improving cost
• Strategic mindset with a hands-on playbook, comfortable in the boardroom and on the manufacturing floor
• Strong financial fluency with command of cost models, margin mechanics, and supply chain KPIs
• Clear communicator who can bring finance, engineering, and operations into alignment
• High standards and low ego, building trust quickly through transparency and accountability
• Experience with tariffs and government compliance and how they impact sourcing strategy and cost structure
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred

What Success Looks Like

• Within 12 months, you’ve established a proactive cadence of supplier and cost reporting, stabilized vendor quality and performance, and built a best-in-class upstream supply chain
• Your team runs lean, aligned, and ahead of the curve on cost, quality, and supply assurance
• You’ve negotiated stronger contracts, integrated new suppliers smoothly, and delivered measurable savings without compromising product quality or manufacturing execution
• Supplier scorecards and risk reporting are visible, actionable, and treated as core KPIs, with quality managed as a top-tier priority
• Internal stakeholders see procurement as a strategic enabler, not a gatekeeper