About the role:Own the components that make our compute systems fast - the single commercial owner for the direct-material commodities inside our HPC BOM, from sourcing strategy and supplier selection through negotiation, capacity, cost, and continuity. Your scope runs from the CPUs and memory down through the power stages, connectors, and cold plates, operating where a hardware roadmap that keeps moving meets a component market that rarely has enough of what you need. This is a category manager's role: you have owned a commodity portfolio end-to-end, you build the strategy rather than execute someone else's, and you have sat across the table from the component manufacturers who set the terms.
What you'll do:- Own category strategy and the commercial relationship for your components; supplier segmentation and selection, AVL, dual-source posture, and the multi-year roadmap per commodity
- Negotiate the agreements that govern them - MSAs, MPAs/LTAs, NDAs, SOWs, pricing and rebate structures, allocation commitments, and LTB/EOL and consignment terms - balancing cost, capacity, quality, and risk
- Build and own should-cost models per commodity (silicon pass-through, BOM, tooling/NRE, index-linked materials, freight) and use them to drive both price negotiations and design-for-cost decisions with engineering
- Run capacity planning. Translate the compute roadmap into a component demand plan, secure allocation and buffer coverage against lead time, and make the risk-buy and last-time-buy calls with a defensible number behind them
- Own supply continuityl; lifecycle/EOL/PCN management, cross-qualification and second-source strategy, and the escalation path for when a category goes on allocation
- Partner across the full NPI lifecycle (EVT/DVT/PVT) with hardware engineering, program management, and the CM/ODM supply manager, so part selection, qualification, and commercials land together instead of in sequence
- Drive directed buy/sell and consignment execution through the CMs - price pass-through, consigned material control, and the auditable rigor that keeps it clean
- Read the component commodity landscape - memory cycles, substrate and passive constraints, connector and power-stage lead-time dynamics - and turn it to DensityAI's advantage
What we're looking for:- Category management / commodity management as your core discipline - you have owned a defined commodity portfolio end-to-end, not executed POs against someone else's strategy
- First-hand experience sourcing several of the categories above, with direct relationships into the component manufacturers and their franchise distribution
- Proven ownership of MSA/MPA/LTA/NDA/SOW negotiations with component suppliers - pricing, allocation, lifecycle and liability terms - and the leverage analysis that sets them up
- Capacity planning under constraint - demand planning against a hardware roadmap, negotiating allocation, and making buffer, LTB, and risk-buy decisions in a market that is short
- Sourcing strategy built with engineering rather than handed to them - should-cost, multi-sourcing, supplier qualification plans, and design-for-cost influence at part-selection time
- Fluency with ERP/MRP/PLM and BOM management, and the discipline to keep cost, AVL, and lifecycle data trustworthy
- Comfort with ambiguity and pace; you bring structure where there is none and treat direction changes as opportunity
- Sourced components for AI/HPC servers, networking systems, or data-center hardware at volume (preferred)
- Ran directed buy/sell or consignment models through a CM/ODM (preferred)
- Took a new component from design-in through qualification to high-volume production, owning the commercials throughout (preferred)
- Familiarity with liquid-cooled / high-density compute, or a background in power delivery or high-speed signal integrity deep enough to challenge engineering on part selection (preferred)
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience and relevant certifications.
California pay range
$200,000-$260,000 USD
CompensationFinal offers depend on level, location, and skills relevant to the role. Additional compensation: equity grant per company guidelines; medical / dental / vision; 401(k); standard PTO.
Visa SponsorshipDensityAI sponsors qualified candidates for H-1B, O-1, TN, E-3, and other employment-based visas, and we welcome applicants on F-1 OPT and STEM-OPT. Work authorization is required at start; we provide immigration support to secure or transfer status.
Export ControlsAspects of this role may involve access to information subject to U.S. export controls (EAR/ITAR). We may discuss licensing or scope adjustments during the interview.
