Job Description

The Supply Chain Innovation Manager partners closely with industry ecosystem, strategic suppliers, and internal cross-functional teams to enable new technologies, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), and strengthen supplier manufacturing capability, capacity, quality, sustainability, and resilience. This role sits at the intersection of supply chain, engineering, and operations, driving innovation across the supplier ecosystem to support long-term business growth and competitiveness.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical acumen with supplier-facing leadership, using data, structured problem-solving, and collaboration to translate emerging technologies into scalable, cost-effective, and resilient supply chain solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Supplier Technology Enablement & Innovation

• Partner with suppliers to evaluate, pilot, and scale new technologies, processes, and materials that improve cost, performance, quality, and time-to-market

• Serve as a technical interface between suppliers and internal engineering, manufacturing, quality, and procurement teams

• Identify and drive supplier-led innovation opportunities aligned with product and supply chain roadmaps

• Lead initiatives to reduce total cost of ownership through design-for-manufacturability, process optimization, automation, yield improvement, and lifecycle cost analysis

• Evaluate trade-offs across cost, quality, risk, sustainability, and scalability to inform sourcing and technology decisions

• Support should-cost modeling and fact-based negotiations through deep technical and process understanding

• Assess and improve supplier capacity, scalability, and technical readiness to support current and future business demand

• Drive initiatives to improve supplier operational maturity, including process capability, equipment readiness, workforce skills, and digitalization

• Partner with supply chain and operations teams to strengthen supplier resilience, including dual sourcing, risk mitigation, and recovery planning

• Collaborate with suppliers and internal quality teams to improve process capability, reduce variability, and prevent escapes

• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for systemic supplier issues

• Promote continuous improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, SPC) across the supplier base

• Support supplier sustainability initiatives related to environmental impact, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and responsible sourcing

• Work closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, procurement, finance, and program management teams to align priorities and execution

• Communicate complex technical and supply chain topics clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Influence to drive alignment and results across organizational boundaries

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Mechanical, Material Science, Electronics, Physics, Chemical, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related technical field

• Extensive experience in supply chain engineering, manufacturing engineering, supplier development, or related roles

• Experience working directly with suppliers on technical, operational, or cost-reduction initiatives

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven mindset

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in in Engineering, Mechanical, Material Science, Electronics, Physics, Chemical, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related technical field, and MBA.

• Experience introducing new manufacturing technologies or processes into production

• Background in cost modeling, should-cost analysis, or value engineering

Additional Information

Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee's pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws. You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.
• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WD's Short Term Incentive Plan ("STI Plan") or the Sales Incentive Plan ("SIP") which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to WD's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program; employee stock purchase plan; and the WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company's sole discretion, consistent with the law.