Supply Chain Manager
11 days ago
London
Supply Chain Manager Location: London, minimum 2 days onsite preferred Type: Permanent Sector: Defence / Aerospace / UAVOverview We are supporting a growing defence engineering business in the unmanned systems sector that is looking to strengthen its supply chain capability as part of a wider scale-up in product delivery and manufacturing readiness. They are seeking a Supply Chain Manager to manage supplier relationships, support sourcing strategy, and drive commercial engagement across a supplier base focused on components and metallic parts. This is a key role for someone who can combine supplier relationship management, commercial awareness, contracts understanding, and client-facing capability in a growing, delivery-driven business.Role Purpose The successful candidate will take ownership of supplier relationships and help build a more robust and scalable supply chain capable of supporting a growing engineering and manufacturing operation. The focus will be on ensuring suppliers can deliver the required quality, cost, and lead-time performance, while also supporting the business in commercial and contractual discussions.Key Responsibilities • Manage relationships with suppliers providing components, metallic parts, and other key manufacturing inputs, • Develop and maintain a supply chain capable of supporting growth in engineering and production activity, • Work with suppliers to improve delivery performance, responsiveness, quality, and cost, • Support commercial and contractual discussions with suppliers, • Contribute to sourcing strategy and supplier selection, • Act as a key interface between the business and external suppliers, • Work closely with engineering, manufacturing, and programme teams to ensure supplier capability aligns with delivery needs, • Identify supply chain risks and develop mitigation plans, • Help build a more structured supply chain model to support business growth and manufacturing scale-up, • Maintain strong client and stakeholder relationships where supply chain performance has a direct impact on programme deliveryWhat you will need, • Experience in supply chain, supplier management, procurement, or commercial roles within engineering, aerospace, defence, or manufacturing environments, • Strong experience managing supplier relationships for components and metallic parts, • Commercially aware, with understanding of contracts, supplier negotiations, and delivery risk, • Able to operate confidently with both suppliers and internal stakeholders, • Strong communication and relationship management skills, • Experience in a scaling or fast-paced engineering/manufacturing environment, • Good understanding of how supply chain performance affects programme delivery and client outcomesDesirable, • Aerospace, defence, UAV, or advanced manufacturing background, • Experience in building or maturing a supply chain function, • Exposure to complex engineering products and lower-volume to scaling production environments, • Understanding of quality and compliance expectations in regulated sectorsSummary This is an exciting opportunity for someone who can help build and manage the supplier ecosystem needed to support a growing unmanned systems business, with a particular focus on components, metallic parts, commercial control, and supplier relationship management.