Global Supply Manager - Tooling & Shop Supplies (MRO)

• Base is looking for a Global Supply Manager to own strategy and sourcing for material handling equipment, consumables, tooling, and shop supplies that keep our manufacturing floor and field operations running. This category covers MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations), production and hand tooling, PPE, fixturing, and the long tail of shop supplies our operators, technicians, and electricians rely on every day.
• It’s high-SKU, high-frequency work that is directly tied to uptime - when the line stops because a fitting is missing, the cost and time wasted shows immediately. This role will build the category strategy from the ground up, consolidate a fragmented supplier base, and put in place the supply, inventory, and replenishment programs that scale with our manufacturing footprint as Base expands.
• The category strategy will be built around three plays: consolidate to the same SKUs across stations and sites wherever possible to capture economies of scale; route spend through preferred channels that unlock negotiated pricing – catch-all punchout catalog, VMI for the highest-velocity items, p-cards as the safety valve; and use the data those channels generate to continuously move spend up the curve from ad-hoc to punchout catalog to VMI. This role owns Base’s punchout system end-to-end as Base’s primary indirect catalog, with adoption across the company as a non-negotiable.
• What You’ll Do
• Build and own the end-to-end category strategy for material handling equipment, MRO, tooling, and shop supplies - starting at our Austin manufacturing facility and extending to additional sites as Base scales.
• Consolidate a fragmented supplier base - run RFx events, negotiate blanket purchase agreements, and replace ad-hoc, one-off purchases with consolidated, contracted spend.
• Drive compliance to the category strategy across the company - reducing off-contract and maverick spend by standing up additional punchout catalogs, P-card programs, and clear buying channels that make it easier for Base employees to have what they need, when they need it.
• Own punchout end-to-end as Base’s primary indirect catalog - manage catalog setup, supplier onboarding, punchout integrations, and adoption across the company, so the path of least resistance is also the cheapest one.
• Stand up additional vendor-managed inventory (VMI), kanban, and replenishment programs that keep the line stocked without tying up working capital or floor space.
• Reduce the total number of MRO transactions - through blanket releases, scheduled deliveries, consolidated POs, and punchout integration - so the team spends time on what really matters, not $40 fastener orders.
• Run a regular spend-review cadence to move SKUs up the curve - Ramp card and Amazon spend reviews to surface recurring vendors that belong discounted in punchout, and punchout reviews to surface items worth negotiating into VMI programs.
• Source and qualify production tooling, fixtures, jigs, hand tools, and power tools - including calibration cycles, preventive maintenance, and lifecycle replacement plans that hold up under daily use.
• Run rent vs buy analysis to source material handling equipment
• Partner directly with manufacturing engineers, production technicians, EHS, and field deployment teams to understand what is consumed repeatedly, identifying substitutes and alternates with preferred vendors that lower cost, without compromising quality, and standardize across stations, sites, and crews.
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, lead times, and contractual agreements - and define supplier KPIs (fill rate, on-time delivery, defect rate, emergency-order response, etc.) that hold suppliers accountable.
• Author, redline, and own master service agreements, blanket purchase agreements, and statements of work - partnering with Legal to structure terms that allocate risk appropriately and scale across the supplier base.
• Build cost models that justify standardization and supplier consolidation decisions - and bring data, not opinions, when shop floor users push back on switching brands.
• Run a disciplined cost-down program - annual savings targets, supplier discounts/rebates, payment-term improvements, and price benchmarking against industry indices.
• Roll up your sleeves on tactical work when it matters - place purchase orders, resolve blocked invoices, and unblock AP escalations. This role builds the strategy and runs the day-to-day when the floor needs something now.
• Replicate the playbook at new Base manufacturing sites and field depots as the company expands beyond existing sites.
• What You'll Bring
• 5+ years sourcing experience in MRO, tooling, material handling equipment, or indirect manufacturing supplies - ideally inside a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Hands-on familiarity with the actual product set - industrial fasteners, hand and power tools, PPE, lubricants, abrasives, electrical and mechanical consumables, fixturing - and the supply base behind it (manufacturers and distributors).
• Experience with equipment rentals and purchases
• Strong track record consolidating fragmented spend and building blanket agreements, VMI, or kanban programs that hold up on a live production floor.

• Experience building indirect sourcing strategies and programs at a manufacturing site from scratch - not just running a program someone else built.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement training - and the instinct to apply it to procurement workflows, not just production lines.
• Experience supporting field service or deployment teams with mobile tool inventories, truck stock, and consumables kits.
• Strong record of applying first principles thinking toward supplier negotiations and category strategy.
• Ability to learn quickly and prioritize appropriately to meet customer and company needs.
• Please note: Base is a startup, which means priorities shift and evolve quickly. Your role may expand or change based on the needs of the business at any given time, so the responsibilities listed may not be exhaustive.

Base is America’s next-generation power company. We’re rebuilding the foundation of modern civilization–electricity–by deploying a vast network of distributed batteries that is transforming today’s fragile, centralized grid into a resilient and abundant system. We are engineers, operators, and creatives solving some of the most complex, interdisciplinary challenges of our time.