Tutor Intelligence

Leases AI-powered manufacturing and packaging robots

Head of Supply Chain

Procurement & Sourcing +1Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timeWatertown, MA, USA

About the Job

Requirements

Has taken a hardware supply chain from startup to volume production, ideally in robotics or complex electromechanical systems.
Knows electromechanical commodities, including fabricated and cast parts, electronics, motion, and power.
Has developed suppliers in Asia in person and can assess their ability to scale.
Has managed contract manufacturers and reduced costs through negotiation and design changes.
Has led new product introduction sourcing from early design through ramp.
Builds and leads teams while remaining hands-on.
Can negotiate firmly while maintaining supplier relationships.
Has sufficient technical knowledge to challenge engineers on design-for-supply.
Can travel internationally about 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

Set commodity strategy across mechanical, electrical, and electronic components.
Eliminate single sources on critical components by qualifying second sources in Asia and onshore where appropriate.
Develop suppliers into partners that add capacity and grow with the company.
Select and manage contract manufacturers.
Negotiate contracts, pricing, and capacity, and drive bill of materials cost down every quarter.
Own purchasing end to end.
Translate the build plan into a supply plan, including material requirements planning, long-lead buys, safety stock, and clear-to-build.
Own supply chain’s role in the engineering change order process, including cost, lead-time, and inventory impact, cut-ins, and supplier notifications.
Own supply chain systems and decide what to build, buy, or automate next.
Manage inbound freight from Asia and outbound shipping to customers in the United States and Canada.
Manage customs, tariffs, landed cost, and hazardous materials compliance.
Manage third-party logistics partners.
Participate in new product introduction from the first computer-aided design stage, working alongside Engineering, Manufacturing, and Quality.
Build tools to track supplier risk, lead time, and cost in real time.
Build a live view connecting deployment schedule to dock, including build plan, bill of materials, inventory, open purchase orders, and supplier capacity.
Create early shortage warnings with an owner and recovery plan, supplier health scoring, and automatic expedite, buffer, and second-source triggers.
Build should-cost models and true landed-cost calculations, track savings from idea to realized savings, and feed cost and sourcing risk back into design early.
Map the supply base by commodity, including risk, lead time, and capacity for every critical part; hire or initiate hiring of the team within 90 days.
Establish shipping second sources for the highest-risk components and prepare the supply base for the second product line within six months.
Ensure suppliers do not limit builds at the target rate, put bill of materials cost on a downward path, and track the supply plan, scorecards, and cost live within 12 months.
Build out supplier development and engineering in the United States and China, contract manufacturing, electronics sourcing, purchasing, planning, and logistics capabilities.

Desired Qualifications

Experience in robotics or complex electromechanical systems is ideal.
Has stood up enterprise resource planning, material requirements planning, or supply chain tooling from nothing and knows when not to.
Has moved work to contract manufacturers and made the transition sustainable.
Has worked across United States, Canada, and Asia operations.

Salary Range: 220000 to 280000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

About Tutor

We believe robots should be the next chapter in making physical labor safer and more affordable. But most American factories and warehouses still don’t have a single robot. Tutor Intelligence is changing that.

We build robots that go straight into real factories and warehouses, to do real work, with real impact. Our robots move boxes, pallets and bulk goods, and pick and pack with human-like dexterity, for family-owned manufacturers and some of the largest brands in the world. Every robot learns on the job, and each one we deploy makes the next one more capable, more affordable and faster to put to work.

Founded at MIT and headquartered in Watertown, MA, we do it all in-house: the robotics hardware, the machine learning, and the field deployment and service.

The Role

You are our first Head of Supply Chain, reporting to the CTO. Your mandate: the supply base never limits how fast we build and deploy robots.

You’ll build the function from the ground up (the team, the supplier base, the planning engine and the tools) and run it on data and engineering judgment, not spreadsheets. You’ll build strong relationships and partnerships with our suppliers so they grow as we grow, sit at the table from first CAD, and drive cost down initatives.

What you’ll own

Sourcing and the Asia supply base

Set commodity strategy across mechanical, electrical and electronic components
Eliminate single sources on critical components. Qualify second sources in Asia and onshore where it makes sense
Develop suppliers into partners that add capacity and grow with us
Select and manage contract manufacturers
Negotiate contracts, pricing and capacity, and drive BOM cost down every quarter

Procurement and planning

Own purchasing end to end
Turn the build plan into a supply plan: MRP, long-lead buys, safety stock and clear-to-build
Own supply chain’s role in the ECO process: cost, lead-time and inventory impact, cut-ins and supplier notifications
Own the supply chain systems and decide what we build, buy or automate next

Logistics and trade

Inbound freight from Asia and outbound shipping to customers in the US and Canada
Customs, tariffs, landed cost and hazmat compliance
3PL partners

How you’ll work

Inside NPI, at the table from first CAD, not handed a frozen BOM
No silos with Engineering, Manufacturing or Quality
Build your own tools to track supplier risk, lead time and cost in real time

The two systems you’ll build

You’ll build these with your team and run the supply chain on them.

1. Line-down prevention: the line never stops for a part

One live view from deployment schedule to dock: build plan, BOM, inventory, open POs and supplier capacity
Early warning on shortages, with an owner and recovery plan
Supplier health scoring and automatic expedite, buffer and second-source triggers

2. Cost-down engine: cost goes down every quarter by design

Should-cost models and true landed cost, so we negotiate from facts
A savings pipeline tracked from idea to realized savings
Cost and sourcing risk fed back into design early

What success looks like in year one

90 days: Supply base mapped by commodity, with risk, lead time and capacity for every critical part. Team hired or in flight
6 months: Second sources shipping for our highest-risk components. Supply base ready for our second product line
12 months: No supplier limits a build at target rate. BOM cost on a committed downward path. Supply plan, scorecards and cost tracked live

Your team

You’ll inherit a small, hands-on group and build the rest: supplier development and engineering in the US and China, contract manufacturing, electronics sourcing, purchasing, planning and logistics.

We run a lean core and scale with contractors. You decide the shape.

Who you are

You’ve taken a hardware supply chain from startup to volume production, ideally in robotics or complex electromechanical systems
You know electromechanical commodities, from fabricated and cast parts to electronics, motion and power
You’ve developed suppliers in Asia in person and can tell one that can scale from one that can’t
You’ve managed contract manufacturers and taken real cost out through negotiation and design changes
You’ve led NPI sourcing from early design through ramp
You build and lead teams, and still get your hands dirty
You negotiate hard and keep the relationship
You’re technical enough to challenge engineers on design-for-supply
You’re able to travel internationally, about 25% of the time

Strong signals

You’ve stood up ERP/MRP or supply chain tooling from nothing, and know when not to
You’ve moved work to contract manufacturers and made it stick
You’ve worked across US, Canada and Asia operations

This role is not for you if

You need established processes and a large team to be effective
You think supply chain starts when Engineering releases the BOM

Benefits

Fully employer-covered health insurance, so you’re protected without the premium.
A managed 401(k) to help you plan for the future.
Generous time off: unlimited PTO and all federal holidays off.
Regular in-office meals and team social events throughout the year.

How we hire

We care more about what you’ve built than years or titles. In interviews you’ll walk us through a supply base you built, a supplier you turned around and a negotiation you won.

Compensation

$220,000 to $280,000 base, depending on experience, plus equity. On-site in Watertown, MA.

Tutor Intelligence is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.

About the Company

Tutor Intelligence

Leases AI-powered manufacturing and packaging robots

Tutor Intelligence provides AI-powered manufacturing and packaging robots to American factories through flexible 12-hour leasing. The robots handle tasks like conveyor loading, end-of-line packing, kitting, palletization, and depalletization, and are powered by a hybrid human-artificial intelligence engine that enables deployment in minutes rather than months. Unlike traditional robotics purchases, the company offers a scalable, cost-effective leasing model that delivers a steady revenue stream while giving clients the ability to scale automation up or down as needed. The company’s goal is to help factories boost productivity and reduce labor costs by making automation accessible without large upfront investments.

Company size: 51-200
Company stage: Series B
Total funding: $113.5M
Headquarters: Watertown, MA
Founded: 2021

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