Sr. Sourcing Manager, New Product Introduction

San Francisco, CA / Full Time / On-site

About Pendulum

Pendulum® is leading a revolution to improve physical and mental health by understanding, restoring, and enhancing the human microbiome. Studies link the microbiome to metabolism, diabetes, longevity, weight loss, immune health, cancer prevention, well-being, inflammatory bowel disease, and skin health. Early in life, we develop a diverse microbiome critical for long-term health, but diet, lifestyle, antibiotics, and aging can disrupt it.

Pendulum addresses these imbalances through proprietary probiotic pipelines and a unique discovery platform to identify novel bacterial strains and prebiotics. The company developed the world’s first manufacturing technology to produce anaerobic bacteria at scale, transforming the consumer probiotics market into therapeutic offerings with pharmaceutical-level efficacy and natural probiotic safety.

Due to explosive revenue and customer growth, Pendulum earned a spot on Forbes Magazine’s “The Next Billion Dollar Startups” list. If you’re passionate about improving global health in a collaborative, cross-functional environment, we invite you to join us.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Sr. Sourcing Manager, New Product Introduction to own sourcing workstreams that enable Pendulum’s innovation pipeline from concept through commercial launch. This role serves as the primary sourcing partner to the Product team, establishing the sourcing roadmap, raw material strategy, and driving supplier and material readiness. The ideal candidate brings strategic sourcing expertise, strong project-management skills, and the ability to create structure in ambiguous situations.

Responsibilities

• Raw Material Strategy
  • Own the sourcing workstream for new products from concept through commercialization.
  • Translate product concepts and technical requirements into executable sourcing strategies.
  • Develop raw material strategy across probiotics, active ingredients, excipients, flavors, and emerging categories.
  • Partner with Product to establish achievable sourcing milestones and proactively resolve risks threatening launch dates.
  • Keep stakeholders and leadership informed of sourcing progress, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions.
• Supplier Leadership
  • Own sourcing strategies and commercial relationships across Pendulum’s raw material portfolio.
  • Build supplier networks supporting innovation, commercial supply, cost competitiveness, and continuity.
  • Lead supplier identification, selection, qualification, commercial readiness, and material availability for new products.
  • Negotiate pricing, contracts, payment terms, capacity, forecasts, and long-term agreements.
  • Develop second sources and new supplier relationships to improve capability, resilience, or speed.
  • Establish supplier expectations and lead performance reviews focused on quality, delivery, responsiveness, innovation, cost, and continuous improvement.
• Cross-Functional Execution & Sourcing Representation
  • Serve as the sourcing subject-matter expert throughout product commercialization.
  • Partner closely with Product, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Planning, Packaging, Contract Manufacturing, Manufacturing, and Finance.
  • Build tools and processes to improve launch predictability, supplier visibility, and sourcing execution.
  • Lead strategic sourcing initiatives as business priorities evolve.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Business, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, supplier management, raw materials, new product introduction, or supply chain within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience sourcing complex materials in nutraceuticals, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, cosmetics, or another regulated industry.
• Experience partnering with cross-functional teams to commercialize new products through effective sourcing strategies.
• Demonstrated experience leading supplier negotiations, including cost driver assessment, pricing evaluation, and identifying negotiation opportunities.
• Strong analytical skills, including spend analysis, should-cost modeling, pricing analysis, and financial evaluation.
• Advanced proficiency with NetSuite ERP, Google Sheets, and/or Microsoft Excel.

Skills

• Strong project-management skills without needing to be the overall program manager.
• Ability to bring structure, priorities, and clear action plans to ambiguous challenges.
• Strong commercial judgment and supplier-development capability.
• Clear, proactive communication with technical, commercial, and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to independently drive multiple sourcing workstreams to completion.
• Curiosity and flexibility to take on new categories and emerging business challenges.

What Success Looks Like

In the first year, success means:

• The Product team has a trusted sourcing partner who independently drives NPI sourcing activities.
• Sourcing milestones, risks, and supplier readiness are clearly defined and actively managed.
• Fewer launch issues result from materials, suppliers, commercial terms, or sourcing execution.
• Pendulum has stronger raw material strategies and a more resilient supplier network.
• New sourcing challenges are addressed quickly without gaps in ownership.

Schedule

• Hybrid role based in San Francisco, CA, with an expectation of working in the office 2–3 days per week.
• Occasional travel (approximately 10–20%) to supplier and manufacturing sites.

Pay

$162,900 - $181,000

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision
• Commuter Benefits
• Life & STD Insurance
• Company match on 401(k)
• Flexible Time Off (FTO)
• Equity