Head of Strategic Sourcing

Job description

ABOUT HALTER At Halter, we’re on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work. By joining us you’ll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. We’re committed to delivering real change in the world - this isn’t easy, and in truth, we love that it’s hard. We’re backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Founders Fund https://foundersfund.com, Bessemer Venture Partners https://www.bvp.com/, BOND, https://www.bondcap.com/ DCVC https://www.dcvc.com/, Blackbird https://www.blackbird.vc/, Promus Ventures https://www.promusventures.com/, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures https://www.icehouseventures.co.nz/?utm_term=icehouse%20ventures&utm_campaign=Brand+Keywords&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=4064636360&hsa_cam=16902737884&hsa_grp=134004309485&hsa_ad=592971340272&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-1082530126230&hsa_kw=icehouse%20ventures&hsa_mt=b&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2v-gBhC1ARIsAOQdKY0J0DepRVFDmjQlAkJPbZuQnLSA5UVzUzOXYiPxkjX-SeVa513_BhkaAr-MEALw_wcB. To find out more, visit our LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/halter-limited & Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lifeathalter/. The Role The supplier relationships Halter builds today will define what we're capable of building tomorrow. The components we source, the contract manufacturers we partner with, and the commercial terms we secure are not procurement decisions. They are strategic decisions that shape our cost structure, our product quality, our supply chain resilience, and our ability to scale. The Head of Strategic Sourcing owns those decisions. You'll identify and bring on the right suppliers and contract manufacturing partners, develop the relationships we already have, and negotiate the commercial deals that give Halter a genuine advantage. Your remit spans the full supply base, from the smallest component supplier through to our most critical contract manufacturing partners. This is a high-impact, externally facing role. You'll spend significant time on the ground with suppliers and CMs, building the kind of trust-based relationships that open doors, unlock preferential terms, and create partners who want to invest in Halter's success. You'll bring the commercial sharpness to negotiate hard and the relationship instincts to know when to push and when to build. You'll work closely with the supply chain leadership team, the quality team, the Operations Delivery Lead, and hardware engineering. Sourcing decisions don't happen in isolation, and the best ones happen when commercial, technical, and operational perspectives are in the room together. You'll be measured on the quality of the supplier base you build, the commercial outcomes you secure, and the strength of the relationships you develop across Halter's supply chain. What You'll Do New Supplier Identification and Selection - Own the end-to-end process of identifying, evaluating, and onboarding new suppliers and contract manufacturing partners across all categories, from initial market mapping through to commercial agreement. - Develop and maintain a clear view of the global supplier landscape for Halter's key component categories, identifying opportunities to access better capability, lower cost, or reduced supply risk. - Work with hardware engineering and the quality team to assess technical capability and quality readiness as part of supplier selection, ensuring new suppliers can meet Halter's design and quality requirements before commitments are made. - Support NPI programmes by identifying and qualifying new suppliers for new components, ensuring the right supply base is in place before each product enters production. Supplier Development - Develop strategic suppliers over time, building their capability, capacity, and alignment with Halter's requirements so they grow as a partner rather than just a vendor. - Identify where existing suppliers are underperforming on cost, quality, lead time, or service and develop structured improvement plans to close the gap. - Work with the supply chain leadership team on supply base resilience, identifying where concentration risk or single-source dependency needs to be addressed and leading the sourcing work to fix it. - Build Halter's profile with key suppliers and CMs as a customer worth investing in, creating the conditions for preferential access, priority allocation, and long-term partnership. Commercial Negotiations - Lead commercial negotiations across the supplier base, securing pricing, payment terms, lead times, MOQs, and contractual protections that reflect Halter's commercial interests and scale trajectory. - Develop and own the negotiation strategy for major supplier agreements, bringing a total cost of ownership perspective rather than just unit price. - Identify and deliver cost reduction opportunities across the supply base, working with engineering on design-to-cost initiatives and with supply planning on volume consolidation. - Ensure Halter's commercial agreements include appropriate terms around quality, IP, exclusivity where relevant, capacity commitments, and risk allocation. Supplier Relationship Management - Own strategic supplier relationships at a senior level, acting as Halter's primary point of contact with key suppliers and CMs on commercial and strategic matters. - Build the governance cadence for strategic supplier relationships, including regular business reviews that cover performance, forward plans, and joint development opportunities. - Manage escalations at the supplier relationship level when performance, capacity, or commercial issues threaten Halter's supply position. - Represent Halter as a partner of choice in the market, building the company's reputation with suppliers as a customer that is commercially serious, technically credible, and worth growing with. Cross-Functional Leadership - Work closely with hardware engineering on make-vs.-buy decisions, component standardisation, and supplier selection for new designs. - Partner with the supply chain leadership team to ensure sourcing decisions support the integrated supply plan and resilience strategy. - Collaborate with the quality team to ensure supplier and CM qualification processes are joined up and that quality and commercial decisions are made together. - Feed supplier market intelligence into the S&OP process and programme planning, ensuring the business has an accurate picture of supply market conditions and risks. What You Bring - Significant experience in strategic sourcing or procurement in a hardware or electronics manufacturing environment, with a track record of building and managing a high-performing supply base. - Exceptional commercial negotiation skills. You've led complex supplier negotiations and you know how to structure a deal that reflects long-term value, not just the lowest unit price. - Strong supplier development capability. You know how to take a supplier from adequate to excellent and you've done it across multiple categories. - Deep knowledge of the global supply landscape for hardware components and contract manufacturing, including how to find the right suppliers, assess their capability, and bring them on efficiently. - The ability to build genuine, trust-based relationships with senior counterparts at suppliers and CMs. People on the other side of the table respect you, and they want to do business with Halter because of how you operate. - Strong cross-functional instincts. You work naturally with engineering, quality, and supply chain teams and you know that the best sourcing decisions are made with technical and operational input, not in isolation. - Commercial sharpness alongside total cost of ownership thinking. You look beyond unit price to lead time, quality cost, supply risk, and the cost of getting it wrong. - Excellent communication. You can represent Halter credibly in a boardroom negotiation with a major CM and translate the outcome into a clear brief for the operations team. - A bias for speed and decisiveness. You make well-reasoned calls with imperfect information and you move fast without cutting corners on things that matter. - Low ego and comfortable with discomfort. You lean into hard conversations, raise the awkward thing early, and never shy away from tension when it needs to be resolved. - You're fun and a joy to work with. Strategic sourcing is high-stakes and relationship-intensive. You bring energy, charm, and sharp commercial instincts to it, and people are better for having you around. JOIN OUR TEAM Halter is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace — a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under-represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply to Halter. We’d love to chat to see if you’ll be an epic fit! If this opportunity sounds like you, please apply below by sending through your cover letter explaining why you’re excited about this role and working at Halter, along with your CV, and we’ll be in touch! Please also feel free to check out the careers page https://www.halterhq.com/careers for more information on working at Halter and don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/halter-limited & Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lifeathalter/. WHY OUR TEAM LOVES WORKING AT HALTER: - Work that genuinely matters. Every now and again a company comes along that transforms an entire industry and leaves the world in a better place. Our team gets to be part of something truly meaningful, helping farmers improve their livelihoods, spend more time with their families, and build more sustainable operations. - Spectacular people solving hard problems. Our culture is designed for talented people to do work that changes lives. The team is filled with diverse, kind, and driven people who push each other to do their best work. You'll be thrown into the deep end, tackling complex challenges and building something tangible that solves real problems. - You'll grow here. Autonomy, mastery, and learning define how we work. You'll have the freedom to work on interesting problems, master new skills, and continuously develop yourself, both through your role and our $1,000 personal growth fund. - This isn't easy, and we love that it's hard. Working at Halter will be the most rewarding and the most challenging work of your life. We move fast, take bold bets, and work hard to reshape an entire industry. As one team member put it: "Joining Halter is a bit like strapping yourself to a rocket ship, but it's an epic journey to be a part of!"