Technical Buyer - Laser and Optical Systems

Summary 

QuEra builds neutral-atom quantum computers. Every machine depends on a large and growing set of laser and optical systems, sourced from specialist suppliers worldwide and deployed across our global sites. 

The Technical Buyer will report to the head of Supply Chain, but work hand in hand with the Laser and Optical Systems team to manage QuEra’s Optical and Laser Vendor Base. QuEra’s Optical and Laser vendor base is the most critical aspect of the supply chain. The role requires competencies in both the technical and commercial sides of the business.  

This is a vendor management role with fundamental technical competences in optics.  You will work with Optical Systems Team to establish technical specifications with the vendor based on the latest R&D.  You will need enough fluency to read a specification, judge a quotation against it, and hold a supplier to what was ordered. You will also need to operate in technical and commercial spaces that are fluid. You must be able to balance technical requirements and deliverable within commercial constraints.  

The hardware purchases you will be managing are often state-of-the-art New Products (NPI) for our vendors. Specifications are not always settled when an order is placed; few suppliers can meet them, and nothing is held in stock. Lead times are long, every unit is verified on arrival before it is deployed. Sourcing spans multiple regions with trade compliance and controlled handling. Your skillset should be able to help develop vendor KPI’s, keep vendors accountable for non-conforming materials, and find opportunities for new relationships.  

Focus Areas 

• Active components: laser sources, optical amplifiers, modulators, and servo electronics. 

• Passive components: optical isolators, nonlinear optical materials, and polarization-maintaining components. 

• Custom fiber optics and assemblies, including high-power handling and specialty terminations. 

• Integrated laser modules, precision optical assemblies, and associated spares and service parts. 

• Routine catalog items continue through the existing purchasing process. 

Responsibilities 

Sourcing and purchasing 

• Evaluate vendor competencies based on QuEra's R&D specifications and capacity. 

• Turn approved specifications into quotable requests; collect and normalize quotations for like-for-like comparison across development cost, lead time, and warranty. 

• Understand the vendors ability to both delivery quality product and scale capacity as QuEra moves towards a production environment.  

• Develop and Maintain an RFI / RFP / RFQ for new and existing vendors in a dynamic R&D environment. 

• Maintain the qualified supplier list by category and track supplier delivery and quality performance 

• Act as the intermediary for the Optics and Laser Systems Team and G&A for all high dollar procurements. Ensure that all technical and administrative details have been completed before contracts and purchase orders are executed.  

• Work with internal stakeholders on material delivery plan and hold vendors accountable to that plan. 

• Coordinate factory acceptance, witness testing, pre-shipment documentation, and incoming quality inspection. 

RMAs, warranty, and disputes 

• Own Vendor RMA’s and systematize processes that drive down their likelihood of reoccurring.  

• Carry the supplier correspondence on RMAs, warranty claims, and disputes.  

• Resolve commercial disputes over specification conformance, delivery, or damage, working with the technical team on the technical position and with Legal where required. 

• Have a general understanding of how to implement Supplier Corrective Action Requests.   

• Maintain warranty records, flag expiry in advance, and report RMA volume, turnaround, and recurring causes. 

Logistics and compliance 

• Support Custom Packaging Projects for Laser and Optics Systems with the Engineering Team.  

• Support the Logistics Team with Customs and Export Compliance as necessary.  

Required Qualifications 

• Degree in a science or engineering field, or equivalent hands-on technical training in technical sales, optical engineering or optics quality management.  

• Two or more years working hands-on with lasers or optical systems, in a lab, field service, applications engineering, or technical sales role. 

• Two or more years in supplier-facing commercial work in a hardware environment. 

• Ability to read a technical specification and hold a supplier accountable to it. 

• Experience with ERP or QMS systems. 

• Rigorous documentation habits: purchase records, serial numbers, and configuration states recorded as a matter of course. 

• Experience with laser and optical specifications: power, wavelength, linewidth, polarization, and fiber interfaces. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Photonics or precision instrumentation background 

• Familiarity with procurement under federal funding 

• Multi-site or multi-country operations experience 

If you have spent your career on the technical side of lasers and optics and want to move into a role that runs the commercial and logistics path, we would like to hear from you. 

QuEra is committed to cultivating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We highly value diversity in our current and future employees and do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

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