Director of Supply Chain

Company: SilencerCo

Location: West Valley, UT

Schedule: Full-Time | On-Site

Reports To: VP of Supply Chain and Planning

Direct Reports: Senior Buyers, Junior Buyer

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Position Overview

The Director of Supply Chain leads SilencerCo's purchasing organization, backfilling the purchasing manager seat with expanded scope and authority. This role owns strategic sourcing and supplier management end to end - architecting the systems, standard processes, and team structure that let purchasing scale with the business.

This is a build-and-run role. In addition to managing the purchasing team day to day, the Director is responsible for maturing SilencerCo's purchasing practices: extending Lean/kanban principles across the organization, operationalizing the company's first formal supplier terms and conditions framework, and establishing the standard work that lets Senior Buyers focus on BOM sourcing and the Junior Buyer focus on consumables. Demand forecasting, S&OP, and production planning/MRP all sit with a separate Planning function reporting directly to the VP of Supply Chain and Planning; this role owns purchasing and supplier management, and coordinates closely with Planning to keep buying activity aligned with production needs.

Transition Support: Specific onboarding and transition support - including cadence for assuming full team leadership - will be discussed and finalized with the VP of Supply Chain and Planning during the hiring process.

Primary Responsibilities

Purchasing Leadership

● Own overall purchasing strategy, budget, and performance across BOM materials, outside services, and consumables.

● Manage and develop the Senior Buyer and Junior Buyer team, including workload allocation between BOM and consumables scope.

● Set purchasing policy and standard work; ensure consistent practices across buyers rather than tribal knowledge.

● Own supplier relationship strategy for key/strategic suppliers, including escalations Senior Buyers can't resolve at their level.

● Drive negotiation strategy, contract structure, and payment terms in partnership with the buying team and inside counsel.

Planning Coordination

● Partner with the Planning Manager to ensure supplier lead times, purchase order timing, and buyer capacity support MRP signals and production schedules.

● Escalate and help resolve supply-side shortages, reschedules, and backorders driven by supplier performance.

● Keep purchasing informed of upcoming demand shifts communicated through Planning so buyers can react ahead of need rather than after a shortage.

Systems & Process Architecture

● Own the ongoing rollout and governance of the consumables kanban/pull system, ensuring it scales as SilencerCo grows.

● Operationalize SilencerCo's Theory-of-Constraints-grounded supplier terms and conditions framework across the supply base, in partnership with inside counsel.

● Champion Lean purchasing principles across the organization - not just within the buying team - identifying where standard work, visual management, and pull systems can reduce waste.

● Build the standard processes, documentation, and metrics that let the purchasing organization operate consistently as it grows and as personnel change.

Regulatory Compliance

● Ensure purchasing and supplier practices comply with ATF, ITAR, and EAR requirements for controlled and export-relevant parts.

● Maintain supplier-side documentation and audit readiness in partnership with inside counsel and Compliance.

Cross-Functional Leadership

● Partner with the VP of Supply Chain and Planning on the broader purchasing organization restructure, including team structure and role definition.

● Work closely with Engineering, Quality, Production, and Finance on ECOs, NPI sourcing, supplier quality issues, and cost initiatives.

● Represent purchasing in executive-level reporting and reviews.

Other Duties

● Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned to support the wider Supply Chain organization.

Success Metrics (Results)

● On-time delivery to production and overall supplier performance across the purchasing team.

● Consumables kanban system coverage, health, and scalability as key categories are added.

● Adoption and rollout of the supplier T&C framework across the supplier base.

● Cost savings, COGS reduction, and margin improvement driven by purchasing initiatives.

● Purchasing organization maturity (documented standard work, reduced tribal knowledge) and compliance audit results.

● Team development: successful growth of Senior Buyers and Junior Buyer into their respective scopes.

Required Qualifications

● 7+ years of progressive purchasing/procurement or supply chain experience, including people management.

● Demonstrated experience building or scaling purchasing processes, standard work, or systems (not just executing an existing playbook).

● Strong negotiation, supplier management, and cross-functional influence skills.

● Working knowledge of MRP/ERP systems and inventory control principles, sufficient to coordinate effectively with a Planning function.

● Proven ability to manage and develop a team of buyers.

● Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel.

Preferred Qualifications

● Experience implementing or scaling Lean purchasing, kanban, or pull-based inventory systems; Lean/Six Sigma certification is a plus.

● Experience in a manufacturing environment; firearms, ammunition, or precision machining industry experience is a plus, including relationships with key component suppliers (e.g., barrels, actions, machined parts).

● Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).

● Experience with purchasing systems such as Odoo, Frepple, SAP, Oracle, or similar platforms.

● Experience partnering with legal/compliance on supplier contracts, terms, and ATF/ITAR/EAR-related documentation.

● Certifications (CPM, CPIM, CSCP, or similar) preferred.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $130,000 – $160,000 annually (based on experience)

Benefits Package: Competitive benefits including health, dental, vision, PTO, 401(k), and employee product discounts.