Senior Purchasing Manager

FERNRIDE is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging because we value and celebrate everyone's differences and individuality. We strive to create an open, safe space in which you feel empowered and authentic. FERNRIDE has 50 employees from 10+ countries. Our culture is characterized by the company values and fundamentals:

 #wewinasoneteam #weexecuteanddeliver #weareambitiousinnovators #weareopentochange #weputcustomervaluefirst #respect #professionalism #safety.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-End Orchestration: Direct and optimize the supply chain from Ukrainian and Polish suppliers to our primary assembly locations in Germany.
• Strategic Procurement: Manage the relationship with key partners, ensuring contract compliance, quality standards, and optimized lead times.
• Risk Mitigation & Resilience: Develop and execute contingency plans for the Ukrainian supply route to ensure business continuity regardless of external disruptions. Troubleshoot material shortages and logistical delays swiftly to minimize operational downtime. 
• Logistics & Customs: Navigate the regulatory landscape of EU and non-EU trade, managing customs documentation and cross-border logistics efficiently.
• Inventory Management: Full responsibility for the supply chain process: from order placement to delivery to production
• Stock Management: Leverage predictive analytics to balance stock, mitigating downtime and warehouse overload. 
• Manage Bill of Materials: Managing the bill of materials (BOM) and ensuring production components are supplied in full in accordance with the production plan

KPIs

• On-time deliveries in clear to build states
• Zero production downtime due to supply chain issues
• Control and optimisation of procurement and logistics costs

Your Profile

• Experience: 5+ years in Supply Chain Management or Strategic Purchasing, ideally within the defense, aerospace, or heavy machinery sectors.
• Regional Expertise: Proven experience managing suppliers in Eastern Europe (Poland/Ukraine). Understanding the local logistical nuances is a significant plus.
• Problem Solver: You don’t just report delays; you find routes around them. You thrive in high-pressure, "living" supply chains.
• Communication: Fluent in English and German. Proficiency in Ukrainian is a strong plus.
• Mobility: Willingness to travel between the JV sites in Germany and partner locations in Poland as required.

What we offer @ FERNRIDE

At FERNRIDE, we believe in empowering you to thrive both personally and professionally. Our benefits are thoughtfully designed to support your growth, well-being, and aspirations while fostering a strong sense of work-life harmony. Here’s how we support you:

• Flexible working hours & remote work
• All-day breakfast and unlimited drinks, fruits, and snacks
• Lunch subsidy
• Select one of three options: (1) EUR 40 Spendit card /month (2) Wellpass (3) Mobility card
• Corporate Benefits platform
• Company pension scheme
• Team, department, and company events
• 30 days of vacation
• Up to six weeks of remote work in countries covered under the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card)

Who we are

At FERNRIDE, we believe in a future where robotics unlocks human potential to create a better world. Yet today, humans still perform repetitive, risky tasks to keep our world running. These jobs, essential yet unattractive, should be performed by robots, which still fall short. We are on a mission to change that and transform critical industries through human-centric automation. 

FERNRIDE delivers a comprehensive ground autonomy platform to offer scalable automation solutions across industries. They span from container terminals and yard operations via defence logistics to open-road trucking. By combining AI-powered autonomy with human oversight and modular, vehicle-agnostic hardware, we enable businesses and defence organizations to harness the full potential of automation, driving efficiency and safety.

FERNRIDE was founded in 2019 following 10 years of research at the Technical University of Munich and currently has 50 employees. We are setting the standard for autonomous logistics and advancing Europe’s technological sovereignty by delivering the first-ever fully certified autonomous trucking system in Europe in 2025. 

http://www.fernride.com