Manager – Soft Goods Materials - Global Supply Management

Summary

Apple is seeking an experienced, strategic, and people-first leader to join our Softgoods Materials Global Supply Management (GSM) team. This specialized business group manages the end-to-end lifecycle of Apple's highly differentiated and unique materials—from initial sourcing and development through mass production and ongoing supply continuity. Our portfolio spans many different textiles, polyurethane films, and adhesives. Our world-class material supply chains must be unique, innovative, and specialized to enable Apple's rigorous performance and quality standards. As the GSM Manager, you will lead, develop, and mentor a high-performing team of Global Supply Managers. You will bridge engineering innovation with business execution, drive the long-term material supply chain and vendor strategy, negotiate cost, execute supply, and manage executive-level partnerships with a network of global suppliers. You will ensure that Apple's material supply chains are resilient, responsive, and structured to support both current programs and future product roadmaps.

Minimum Qualifications

Experience: 10+ years of professional experience in global operations, supply chain management, or high-volume manufacturing environments. People Leadership: Demonstrated experience directly managing, mentoring, and developing professional teams (including individual career growth plans, performance management, and setting team culture). Executive Supplier Relations: Proven track record of establishing and managing senior executive relationships with international suppliers. Strategy & Resource Allocation: Experience defining long-term supply chain strategies and managing team workload, project allocations, and supply initiatives. Process Knowledge: Strong understanding of value-added manufacturing processes, cost engineering (should-cost modeling), and manufacturing operations. Negotiation & Governance: Experience leading commercial agreements, contract and cost negotiations, supplier financial assessments, and driving risk mitigation tactics. Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Materials Science, or similar) or Business/Operations.

Preferred Qualifications

Material Expertise: Experience in advanced materials manufacturing, specifically with softgoods, textiles, adhesives, polyurethane, or related cosmetic and functional materials. Advanced Degree: MBA or Master's degree is highly preferred.

Description

As the GSM Manager, you will lead, develop, and mentor a high-performing team of Global Supply Managers. You will bridge engineering innovation with business execution, drive the long-term material supply chain and vendor strategy, negotiate cost, execute supply, and manage executive-level partnerships with a network of global suppliers. You will ensure that Apple's material supply chains are resilient, responsive, and structured to support both current programs and future product roadmaps.

Responsibilities

People Development: Lead, mentor, and advocate for a team of GSM individual contributors to help them achieve their individual program milestones and long-term career goals. Create structured development plans and support continuous learning and technical depth in the group. Local Mentoring & Office Culture: Maintain an active onsite presence at Apple offices to foster a strong, engaged, and collaborative team environment. Provide immediate feedback, real-time coaching, and face-to-face support during critical program gates (such as Build/Ramp approvals, Executive presentations, and Cost Forums). Tools & Processes: Support identification and drive implementation of AI-enabled tools and process improvements across the operations and cross-functional teams. Strategic & Cross-Functional Alignment: Drive the team to develop, refine, and implement sourcing strategies for Softgoods Materials that align with Apple's overarching product roadmap and operations goals. Socialize and develop cross-functional support of targeted initiatives or strategic decisions. Ensure that supply chain structures are designed for responsiveness and maximum flexibility to support changing product needs and volume demands. Portfolio & Project Allocation: Oversee the allocation of team resources and program assignments. Actively monitor team bandwidth, creatively restructure workloads when resource-constrained, and prioritize or develop solutions to complex program challenges. Cost Governance: Provide strategic oversight for the team's cost strategies. Drive the team's cost-negotiation framework, identify cost risks and opportunities, review and approve cost targets with cross-functional teams and leadership, and lead high-value negotiations. CapEx Management: Oversee capital expenditure planning and execution across the material supply base. Partner with suppliers and internal teams to scope, approve, and track CapEx investments required for new material development, capacity expansion, and plant qualification activities. Ensure CapEx commitments are aligned with program timelines and Apple's financial governance requirements. Contracts & Agreements: Support the team in executing commercial agreements with new suppliers or material development activities, and develop unique solutions as required. Strategic Relationships: Establish, grow, and manage strategic relationships with Supplier Leadership (C-suite and company leaders) to ensure supply continuity, premium quality, strategic alignment, and prioritized support for Apple. Supplier Allocation Strategy: Develop and maintain supplier allocation recommendations across the material supply base. Align allocation decisions with broader supplier management strategy—balancing risk, cost, quality, and strategic supplier development to ensure Apple maintains competitive leverage and supply resilience. Supplier Feedback & Reviews: Lead feedback and business reviews for suppliers, driving continuous improvement in cost, quality, capacity, innovation, and sustainability. New Supplier Searches: Guide the team's new supplier search efforts, helping them identify, evaluate, and qualify new supplier candidates across technical and operational aspects. Support the effective onboarding of new suppliers into Apple's culture, operational standards, and requirements. Program Leadership & Operations Schedules: Provide executive oversight for program readiness, development builds, and material ramp approvals. Own and manage material operations schedules, including key material kick-off milestones, capacity build plans, plant qualification activities, and color readiness at suppliers. "See around corners" to proactively identify risks, and develop robust mitigation activities and recommendations. Material Manufacturing and Quality Readiness: Ensure that supplier manufacturing processes and quality systems are fully ready to support development builds and production ramps. Drive cross-functional alignment on material readiness gates, and hold suppliers accountable to Apple's quality and process standards before ramp approval. Technical Support: Guide the team during material ramps through complex yield, capacity, and operational trade-offs driving to recommendations and solutions. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Apple's Industrial Design (ID), Product Design (PD), and Operations executives to ensure that materials are successfully scaled to support product roadmaps. Support and lead cross-functional teams to solve complex design and business trade-offs. Ability to work in Apple's hybrid office model (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in office) with the flexibility to travel globally up to 20%.