Supply Chain Engineer

Full-time
On-site · Palo Alto, CA, US
$110 - $160 · 0.25% - 0.75% equity

Posted November 2, 2026

Role: Engineering / Hardware
Experience: 3+ years
Visa: US citizen/visa only

Edgerun's mission is to remove civilization-level physical constraints limiting the human body. We believe a future where humans keep pushing into the unknown is far better than one where we send machines in our place. That starts on the battlefield, doubling what a soldier can carry and how far they can carry it. Read more about our mission here.

Supply Chain Engineer

As a Supply Chain Engineer, you will be responsible for finding and qualifying the partners who build the world's most advanced powered exoskeleton. You will work with a talented team of accomplished engineers to line up prototyping partners so the team never waits on parts, and build out the network of factories that takes us to volume. You should thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where you adapt quickly and love to solve hard problems.

Responsibilities

Source and qualify prototyping vendors: metal 3D printing, short batch PCBA, CNC machining, and other processes as we need them
Build out and vet factories for production scale across aluminum and titanium, mass CNC, SMT lines, composites, and soft goods
Understand our designs well enough to know what is manufacturable, what is expensive, and what changes at volume
Negotiate pricing and terms, and find new options that take cost out

Own supplier relationships from first RFQ through delivered, qualified parts

Walk factory floors and judge capability yourself, not from a spec sheet

Basic Qualifications

4+ years sourcing and qualifying new manufacturing partners for a physical product
Working knowledge of CNC, metal 3D printing, PCBA and SMT, composites, or soft goods manufacturing
Comfortable reading drawings and specs, and talking DFM directly with suppliers

Preferred Skills and Experience

A track record of new supplier development, not just managing existing vendors
Experience qualifying US factories specifically
Time at a contract manufacturer or a manufacturing-as-a-service company
A strong negotiator who consistently gets better pricing and better terms
Sourcing for a hardware startup that had to move fast and build domestically
Industrial or hardware product development background. Robotics experience is not required

How We Work

Hardware on real operators in real field conditions within weeks of concept, not years
Small team, one owner per category, nobody owning a slice of someone else's problem

Additional Requirements

Full time and in person in Palo Alto
Travel to supplier sites
Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed

Apply for the Job

To apply for this role, provide us with the best evidence of your ability to execute. We would like to hear about the US manufacturing partners you have brought on and the parts that came out the other end, so please include specifics. A resume is welcome but not required. None of this has to be a perfect match. We care more about raw ability than a checklist, so if that's you, reach out.

Source: Y Combinator job 110829. Listed on YC when retrieved 2026-11-02.

Find in Hacklab

Supply Chain Engineer

Responsibilities

Basic Qualifications

Preferred Skills and Experience

How We Work

Additional Requirements

Apply for the Job