---
title: 'Global Supply Chain Manager, Mechanical at Salient Motion'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/global-supply-chain-manager-mechanical-salient-motion-torrance-62aw33agrcak'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Global Supply Chain Manager, Mechanical at Salient Motion

- **Company:** Salient Motion
- **Location:** Torrance, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-08-19
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/salientmotion/jobs/5380330008

## Job description

**Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements**

## Who We Are

We are pioneering modular motion technologies to power the next generation of innovation for Industrial, Aerospace and Defense. If you're excited about disrupting legacy industries, and passionate about building the financial infrastructure behind cutting-edge hardware, let's chat!

We are at the forefront of innovation, crafting exclusive motion control components that propel the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors into the future.

A couple other things:

- We offer a lot of autonomy
- We like to run lean for impact
- We have great benefits
- We are well funded, and already generating revenue
- We're currently in Torrance, CA, but will be moving into a new facility in Hawthorne, CA in the summer!

About the role:

The Category Manager, Mechanical Equipment owns the mechanical supply base behind Salient Motion's actuator product lines. This role is responsible for sourcing precision mechanical components, including gears, housings, bearings, shafts, and related machined/formed parts, as well as the raw materials (aluminum, titanium, steel, specialty alloys) that feed both the supplier base and Salient Motion's internal machine shop.

This is the strategic owner of supplier relationships that directly determine whether Salient Motion's actuators ship on time, at the right cost and within spec, and requires U.S. Person status due to the export-controlled nature of the components and programs involved.

What you'll do:

- Own commodity strategy and supplier selection for precision mechanical components: gears, housings, bearings, shafts, and related machined/formed parts.
- Lead sourcing for new programs from RFQ through award, negotiating cost, lead time, and capacity commitments.
- Own procurement for New Product Introduction (NPI): lead early supplier involvement, drive right-first-time supplier selection, and manage components through initial production before handover to operational buyers.
- Qualify and develop precision machining, forging, and casting suppliers; lead supplier audits and capability assessments.
- Partner with design and manufacturing engineering on material selection to balance cost, performance, and manufacturability.
- Develop should-cost and price targets for mechanical commodities and own NPI cost-out commitments, using teardown and cost-modeling to drive supplier negotiations.
- Manage supplier corrective action for dimensional, material, or process quality escapes.
- Negotiate long-term agreements and POs with key machine shops, component providers, and distributors.
- Ensure supplier compliance with AS9100, ITAR/EAR, and material traceability/certification requirements (special process approvals).
- Support make/buy decisions and capacity planning in coordination with Salient Motion's internal CNC machine shop.

What you need:

- 5+ or more years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, category management, or supply chain for precision mechanical components, ideally in aerospace, defense, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated experience sourcing machined, forged, or cast metal components and raw materials (aluminum, titanium, steel, specialty alloys).
- General knowledge of GD&T, material certifications, and special process requirements (heat treat, plating, NDT).
- Experience negotiating supply agreements, pricing, and capacity commitments with machine shops, forge/casting houses, and material distributors.
- Familiarity with AS9100 quality systems and supplier qualification/audit processes.
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience.
- Must qualify as a U.S. Person under ITAR (22 CFR §120.15).

Nice to have:

- Experience sourcing components for actuation systems, flight controls, or other high-precision mechanical assemblies.
- Familiarity with internal CNC machine shop operations and make/buy capacity planning.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Epicor) for demand planning and PO management.

What we have to offer:

We are not just building components. We are reshaping the future of the Aerospace and Defense component industry, which is a $300B+ market! Come join us and help build next generation systems that will make a massive impact at global scale.

- Competitive compensation: $160,000-$175,000
- Exceptional healthcare benefits — Medical is 100% covered by the company
- Life Insurance (2x Salary) 100% covered by the company
- Flexible PTO, 401K, Financial Wellness Resources, and more

## About Salient Motion

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Salient Motion designs and manufactures critical electromechanical actuation systems for commercial aviation and defense, replacing legacy supply chains with modular, software-defined motion control.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Torrance, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Vishaal Mali (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing, Defense
- **Target Customers**: OEMs (e.g., Boeing), MROs, and defense contractors for commercial airliners and military platforms (B2B, Enterprise)
- **Mission**: To change the paradigm of legacy aerospace and defense supply chains, unlocking a new era of speed, innovation, and possibility.

## Products & Services
- **Critical Actuation Systems**: Advanced electromechanical actuators (linear and rotary) for flight control, landing gear, and other mission-critical functions on commercial and military aircraft.
- **Software-First Architecture**: A modular, software-defined actuation platform that decouples control logic from hardware. Core motor control software is certified to DO-178C standards as a reusable library, enabling rapid configuration and validation across platforms.
- **Certification Services**: Certification-centric engineering built from day one, aiming for up to 10x reductions in cost and lead time for certifiable products.
- **Support & Sustainment**: Direct, fast, and personal support for integration, troubleshooting, and sustainment of actuation systems.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$4.0M** (Seed round led by Cantos VC in October 2024, with participation from AE Ventures and Ian Rountree; a Pre-Seed round occurred in November 2022)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Cantos (Lead), AE Ventures, Ian Rountree. Key customer/partner: **Boeing** (collaborating on certifying modular actuators for commercial airliners).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~30 employees with +15.2% monthly growth; talent sourced from Anduril Industries, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and other top aerospace/defense firms; active job postings increasing +200% month-over-month; expansion to a second office in Irvine, CA.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Software-First Modularity**: Their core differentiator is a software-defined architecture that is certified as a reusable library (DO-178C). This allows for rapid, low-cost configuration for different aircraft platforms, offering a 10x improvement in lead time and cost over legacy suppliers.
- **Vertically Integrated Supply Chain**: Streamlined engineering workflows and vertically integrated partnerships enable delivery of actuator systems in weeks, not quarters.
- **Certification-First Approach**: All systems are designed with certification in mind from day one, drastically reducing the time and cost to achieve airworthiness.
- **Legacy Disruption**: They offer a direct alternative to high-cost, slow-moving legacy OEM suppliers, providing certified solutions without overhead markup.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale Production**: Moving from design and prototyping to manufacturing and delivery at scale, as evidenced by hiring for Senior Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Manager roles.
- **Expand Customer Base**: Deepening the partnership with Boeing while expanding to other commercial and defense OEMs.
- **Domestic Supply Chain**: Developing motors and inverters using domestic resources to meet national security imperatives.
- **Platform Development**: Refining their core "electric motion operating system," including standalone inverters, web-based configuration platforms, and performant motors.

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact Work**: Employees solve some of the hardest motion control challenges in aerospace and defense, with work that directly impacts millions of daily passengers.
- **Culture**: Described as a high-velocity environment emphasizing "Extreme Entrepreneurship," "Execution Over Excuses," and "Mastery Over Ego." The culture values ownership, creativity, and a relentless focus on execution.
- **Strong Talent Pool**: Team includes veterans from Anduril, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX, providing a steep learning curve and high-performance peer group.
- **Work Policy**: **In-Office** (Torrance, CA and Irvine, CA). The company explicitly values in-person collaboration.
- **Growth Trajectory**: Early-stage (Seed) with rapid headcount growth, offering significant upside and career acceleration for early employees.

## Sources
1. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/)
2. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/careers)
3. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/salient-motion)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/salient-motion)

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