Strategic Sourcing Specialist

Department: Logistics, Distribution & Supply Chain

Location: Raleigh, NC

Status: W2 Part-Time 20-30 hours per week (flexible scheduling available)

Schedule: Monday-Friday (8:00 am - 2:00 pm); (11:00 am - 5:00 pm) or Wednesday-Friday (8:00 am - 5:00 pm) or Monday-Wednesday (8:00 am -5:00 pm)

Hourly Rate: $18–$25 per hour (based on experience)

Reports To: Inventory & Logistics Manager

About The Hybrid Geek

The Hybrid Geek is a rapidly growing hybrid battery remanufacturing and mobile installation company founded in 2016. Our mission is to provide affordable, high-quality hybrid battery solutions while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability, technical excellence, and customer trust.

As we scale nationwide, this role is critical for strengthening our supply chain, expanding our supplier base, improving inventory accuracy, and supporting procurement operations.

About the Role

The Sourcing & Inventory Specialist is responsible for identifying, researching, contacting, and developing relationships with new suppliers that can provide a mission-critical part for our manufacturing operations. This role requires curiosity, persistence, and a "hunter" mentality — someone who proactively seeks out suppliers, follows up consistently, asks good questions, and develops a strong understanding of how to source the right part at the right price.

In addition to sourcing responsibilities, this role provides support in procurement, BOM maintenance, inventory reporting, cycle counting, and overall supply chain operations. This is a hands-on, research-driven, relationship-focused role ideal for someone who enjoys sourcing challenges, vendor outreach, and working in a lean, fast-paced small-business environment.

Sourcing Mindset Required

To succeed in this role, you must approach sourcing as an active pursuit — not a passive research task. We are looking for someone who:

• Actively searches for new suppliers using creative, non-obvious methods
• Makes outbound calls and emails to prospective vendors
• Follows up persistently to obtain quotes, lead times, and product information
• Asks insightful questions to evaluate supplier capabilities
• Builds rapport and maintains ongoing communication with vendors
• Is naturally curious about materials, manufacturing processes, and supply chain dynamics
• Thinks like a problem solver and treats sourcing as a search mission

This is not a back-office purchasing clerk role. It is a proactive sourcing position requiring initiative, communication skills, and determination.

Key Responsibilities

Supplier Sourcing & Vendor Development

• Identify, research, and contact prospective suppliers for a key manufacturing component
• Conduct cold outreach, request quotes, compare pricing, and evaluate capabilities
• Build relationships with vendors and maintain ongoing communication
• Track supplier performance, lead times, quality, and responsiveness
• Develop a diverse and reliable supplier network to reduce sourcing risk
• Maintain detailed supplier notes, documentation, and qualification records

Procurement & Purchasing Support

• Create purchase orders as directed by the Inventory & Logistics Manager or Plant Manager
• Confirm order details, delivery dates, and pricing
• Follow up on delayed shipments, shortages, or inaccuracies
• Assist with price discussions or basic vendor negotiations
• Ensure all purchases align with budget targets and cost-per-unit goals
• Maintain procurement logs and documentation

BOM & Documentation Support

• Assist in updating Bills of Materials (BOMs)
• Ensure BOM component lists and pricing remain accurate
• Track cost changes and support BOM revisions

Inventory Data Analysis & Reporting

• Support monthly inventory reporting and variance analysis
• Review inventory usage, purchasing trends, and part consumption
• Contribute to supply chain dashboards or summary reports

Inventory Reconciliations & Cycle Counting

• Participate in cycle count audits
• Investigate inventory discrepancies and track corrective actions
• Maintain documentation for audit trails

Administrative & Operations Support

• Maintain organized procurement and supplier records
• Assist with vendor performance scorecards
• Support special projects under the Inventory & Logistics Manager
• Assist in general supply chain tasks as needed

Must-Have Qualifications

• Experience in sourcing, procurement, purchasing, or vendor outreach (any industry acceptable; strong interest in supply chain is a plus).
• Demonstrated persistence and follow-through — comfortable calling and emailing new suppliers, asking questions, and proactively chasing information.
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written — able to represent the company professionally to suppliers.
• Comfort researching suppliers using online directories, industry sources, trade forums, marketplaces, and unconventional search strategies.
• Ability to compare quotes, pricing, lead times, and product specifications to support sourcing decisions.
• Proficiency with Excel or Google Sheets, including managing data, quotes, and supplier logs.
• High attention to detail and accuracy when documenting supplier information, POs, pricing changes, and BOM updates.
• Basic understanding of purchasing workflows (quotes, POs, invoices, lead times, order status).
• Ability to work independently in a lean, fast-moving small-business environment with limited supervision.
• High school diploma or equivalent (experience can substitute for formal education)

Preferred Qualifications

• Associate or bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations, or related field (or equivalent professional experience).
• Experience sourcing or purchasing technical, automotive, mechanical, or manufacturing-related parts.
• Experience performing cycle counts, inventory reconciliations, or investigating variances.
• Familiarity with Bills of Materials (BOMs) or experience supporting BOM updates and component cost changes.
• Experience initiating or maintaining vendor relationships, including onboarding, RFQs, and vendor qualification.
• Exposure to supply chain metrics, cost analysis, or basic reporting dashboards.
• Experience cold-calling or conducting outbound outreach to suppliers.
• Familiarity with manufacturing environments, including understanding material flow, production demand, or component usage.
• Experience comparing landed costs, freight considerations, MOQ analysis, or supplier performance metrics.
• Experience in a startup or small-business environment, where flexibility, adaptability, and initiative are essential.

Hiring Manager's Note

"We operate as a lean, fast-paced small business, and this role is ideal for someone who enjoys switching between strategic thinking and hands-on execution. You might spend part of the day researching suppliers, part of the day calling and emailing vendors, and part of the day assisting with purchasing or inventory reporting.

We're looking for someone who is naturally curious, persistent, resourceful, and comfortable hunting for new supplier leads and building genuine vendor relationships. If you take pride in finding creative sourcing solutions, following up consistently, and working with autonomy, you will excel here.

This is a mission-critical role, and we are taking our time to find the right fit. If you apply, feel free to message us with details about relevant sourcing experience, unique projects, or skills that would help during our first-round review." - Adrian Castillo, GM

Ready to Apply?

If you're ready to help us expand our supplier network, improve purchasing accuracy, support inventory integrity, and strengthen our supply chain, apply today and help drive the future of sustainable mobility with The Hybrid Geek.

Pay: $ $25.00 per hour

Expected hours: 20.0 – 30.0 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule

Application Question(s):

• You are assigned to find two new suppliers for a hard-to-source part. Your initial online searches show limited results and none respond to your first outreach attempts.

Describe the specific steps you would take to uncover additional suppliers and get responses.

• A new supplier said they would email pricing by Wednesday. It's now Friday, and you haven't heard back.

Explain how you would follow up, how frequently, and what you would say to re-engage them.

• You find multiple potential suppliers, but one has great pricing with long lead times, another has mediocre pricing but excellent responsiveness, and the last has inconsistent communication.

How would you decide which supplier to recommend, and why?

• During a cycle count, you discover that five units of a part are missing compared to the system records.

Walk us through how you would investigate the discrepancy and document your findings.

• A vendor notifies you of a price change and a slight spec change to a component in your BOM.

Explain how you would update internal documentation and communicate the change to the team.

• Two suppliers offer the same part: one is cheaper per unit but has higher freight costs, while the other is slightly more expensive per unit but offers free shipping.

Describe how you would evaluate total cost and decide which option is more cost-effective.

• In a single day, you receive:

an urgent request for a purchase order,

a supplier quote that needs to be analyzed,

a cycle count variance that needs investigation.*

Explain how you would prioritize and manage these tasks.

• You are reaching out to a supplier that is known to be difficult to engage. They've replied once but have since gone quiet.

What would you say or do to build rapport and re-establish communication?

• Your manager is unavailable for a few days, and a sourcing opportunity comes up that wasn't explicitly assigned to you but could help the company long-term.

How would you decide whether to take action, and what would you do?

• You identify a supplier that seems promising but provides vague answers about their product quality and lead times.

What questions do you ask, and how do you dig deeper to determine whether they are a qualified vendor?

Work Location: In person