Manager, Procurement (Machining)

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure a continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us. Vast is seeking a Manager, Procurement (Machining) to lead procurement strategy, supplier execution, and team performance for machining commodities supporting the development and production of the world’s first commercial space station. This role is accountable for building and scaling the machining supply base, driving supplier performance, managing critical escalations, and ensuring sourcing processes enable the speed, agility, cost discipline, and quality required in a high-reliability aerospace manufacturing environment. The Manager will lead a team of 3–5 buyers or procurement professionals and will serve as the functional owner for machining commodity strategy. This includes supplier selection, capacity planning, commercial negotiations, KPI development, supplier relationship management, and continuous improvement across sourcing and procurement processes. The ideal candidate is a hands-on leader who can operate strategically while also engaging directly in complex sourcing activities, supplier escalations, and cross-functional problem solving. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location. Responsibilities: Lead, develop, and performance-manage a team of 3–5 buyers or sourcing professionals supporting machining commodities Own and execute the overall commodity strategy for machining, including supply base development, sourcing plans, supplier segmentation, capacity planning, and risk mitigation Establish supplier selection strategies that balance speed, quality, technical capability, cost, capacity, and long-term scalability Act as the primary escalation point for machining supplier issues, including schedule recovery, quality concerns, commercial disputes, capacity constraints, and delivery risks Partner closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Planning, Program Management, Finance, and Operations to align sourcing execution with production and program priorities Develop, track, and improve KPIs related to sourcing cycle time, supplier on-time delivery, cost performance, quote turnaround, quality performance, and supplier responsiveness Drive competitive sourcing events, RFQs/RFPs, supplier negotiations, contract execution, and long-term agreement strategies for machining spend Lead supplier business reviews and performance management routines to drive accountability and continuous improvement Identify and qualify new machining suppliers to support increasing production demand, technical complexity, and schedule requirements Optimize procurement and sourcing processes to improve speed, agility, data integrity, and scalability as Vast transitions from development to production Challenge requirements, identify cost and schedule opportunities, and partner with technical teams to improve manufacturability and sourcing outcomes Support make-versus-buy evaluations, supplier capacity assessments, and sourcing risk reviews for critical hardware Ensure supplier execution supports quality management system requirem…