Procurement Associate

ABOUT SUBCRITICAL SYSTEMS

Subcritical Systems, Inc. is a venture-backed startup in Austin, Texas building the accelerator driven systems and the only US commercial manufacturer of accelerator cavities. What Space X did for rockets, we plan to do for accelerator cavities and commercialize across applications of power production, medical isotopes, semiconductors and waste transmutation.

We are in the process of building the Energy Amplifier, a novel nuclear fission system in which a particle accelerator drives a subcritical core, making meltdown physically impossible for clean power production. Due to its inherent safety, our system has a more streamlined licensing process. Our founding team includes successful entrepreneurs with a track record of building several multibillion dollar companies in deep-tech, and scientists who were leading U.S. national labs with deep experience in accelerator & nuclear technologies.

We are actively hiring to expand our team as we work toward licensing, regulatory submissions, and construction of our first energy amplifier. More information is available at subcritical.com.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Procurement Specialist, Systems & Supplier Operations will own the full sourcing and supplier management lifecycle for the nuclear team, from vendor qualification and RFQ execution through PO issuance, expediting, and program closeout ; for complex technical equipment, engineered components, fabrication packages, and industrial services critical to the Energy Amplifier program.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering and operations, partnering directly with the Chief Engineer, Director of Operations, and program leadership to translate technical requirements into buying packages and ensure procurement status is visible against schedule-critical milestones. You will report to the Procurement Specialist.

The right candidate is someone who is comfortable working from a blank sheet, and takes personal ownership of the operating model, not just the transactions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Sourcing & Procurement Execution

• Own sourcing of goods and services across direct materials, engineered components, fabrication, construction-related packages, specialty vendors, and critical spares.
• Run RFQs/RFPs, coordinate competitive bidding, maintain bid tabs, support commercial comparisons, and drive award recommendations through to contract execution.
• Establish and operate supplier onboarding and qualification workflows, including vendor master data, compliance checks, insurance and certification tracking, and approved-vendor status.

Systems & Process Build

• Bring working knowledge of enterprise procurement platforms (SAP Ariba, Oracle Procurement, Coupa, Agiloft CLM, or equivalents).

Program Integration & Expediting

• Partner with engineering, operations, and quality to translate scope packages, BOMs, and fabrication drawings into complete buying packages.
• Maintain a critical equipment tracker covering long-lead items, with promised dates, document due dates, manufacturing milestones, logistics status, risks, and escalation pathways.
• Manage vendor documentation follow-up, logistics status, and procurement package closeout including lessons learned and handoff to operations.

Supplier Performance & Reporting

• Own a supplier scorecard structure covering quality, schedule adherence, responsiveness, documentation completeness, commercial compliance, and risk flags.
• Maintain spend visibility and real-time reporting across the full procurement function.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• 2+ years of procurement or supply chain experience in a project-heavy technical environment: energy, oil and gas, EPC, industrial manufacturing, power generation, or similar.
• Demonstrated track record in RFQ/RFP execution, supplier negotiations, category or package sourcing, supplier qualification, PO workflows, and order expediting.
• Strong technical literacy, comfortable working directly with engineering specifications, BOMs, fabrication drawings, scope packages, and long-lead equipment lists without needing translation.
• Experience implementing or configuring a procurement system or P2P workflow from a low-maturity baseline; understands how enterprise source-to-pay platforms are structured.
• Ownership mindset: you build the system and work in it. No hand-offs to a team below you; this is a builder role, not a manager role.
• Able to pass the nuclear facility access requirement

Preferred

• Prior procurement experience in nuclear, national laboratory, or accelerator/particle physics environments.
• Hands-on experience with SAP Ariba, Oracle Procurement, Coupa, Procurify, or Agiloft CLM.
• Procurement certification (CPSM, CSCP, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with NRC, DOE, or equivalent regulatory supply chain requirements.
• Experience with vendor document management for capital equipment programs.

BENEFITS

We offer health, dental, and vision insurance.

LOCATION & WORK POLICY

This role is fully in person in Austin, Texas. Our facility is located next to Austin Airport.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply on LinkedIn or submit your resume and a brief cover letter to careers@subcritical.com with the subject line "Procurement Associate - Application". Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.