Commodity Sourcing Manager – AI Infrastructure
Lambda · San Jose, United States · 21d ago
Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.
If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us.
*Note: This position requires presence in our San Jose, San Francisco or Bellevue office location 4 days per week; Lambda’s designated work from home day is currently Tuesday.
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Commodity Sourcing Manager to own sourcing strategy, supplier negotiations, and supply assurance for critical commodities across our rapidly growing AI Data Center Supply Chain.
This individual contributor role owns the end-to-end commercial and sourcing relationship for a defined commodity or set of commodities within the AI compute ecosystem — spanning categories such as custom silicon, GPUs/CPUs, network hardware, power and cooling infrastructure (CDUs, PDUs, racks), and memory/storage. Commodity assignments will flex based on business need, and the ideal candidate is a versatile sourcing professional capable of ramping quickly across the full range of hardware that goes into a GPU rack, rather than a specialist in a single technology domain.
You will drive negotiations, manage supplier performance, and build sourcing strategies that ensure supply continuity, cost competitiveness, and scalability as our infrastructure grows. The ideal candidate combines strong general technical fluency across hardware and infrastructure components with sharp commercial instincts — equally comfortable running a multi-million to multi-billion-dollar negotiation as they are digging into component-level technical detail with engineering partners, regardless of the underlying technology.
You will work closely with Engineering, Hardware, Data Center Infrastructure, Supply Chain Planning, Finance, Legal, and Operations to secure supply, optimize commercial terms, and manage risk across your assigned commodities.
What You’ll Do
Commodity Sourcing Strategy
Own and execute sourcing strategy for assigned commodities within the AI infrastructure stack, which may include custom silicon, GPUs/CPUs, network hardware, power/cooling infrastructure, memory/storage, or other hardware categories that go into a GPU rack.
Develop category strategies aligned to roadmap requirements, capacity forecasts, and long-term infrastructure growth, regardless of the specific technology domain.
Identify and drive supply diversification, second-source development, and risk mitigation plans for constrained or fast-scaling categories.
Build and maintain market intelligence across assigned commodities, including supply/demand dynamics, capacity constraints, technology roadmaps, and competitive landscape.
Quickly ramp technical and market fluency in new commodity areas as business needs and assignments evolve.
Commercial Negotiation & Contracting
Lead commercial negotiations with hardware and component suppliers, including:
Master supply and purchase agreements
Capacity commitments and allocation frameworks
Pricing, cost-downs, and cost structures
Non-recurring engineering (NRE) and design/tooling agreements
Service, quality, and performance terms
Build and execute negotiation strategies that balance cost, supply security, and flexibility, applying consistent commercial rigor across different commodity types.
Partner with Legal and Finance to structure and finalize contracts and commercial terms.
Supplier Management
Manage day-to-day and executive-level relationships with strategic suppliers across assigned commodities.
Lead supplier business reviews, scorecards, escalation management, and performance improvement plans.
Partner with suppliers on capacity planning, allocation, roadmap alignment, and supply readiness.
Serve as the primary point of contact and escalation owner for assigned commodities.
Cross-Functional Partnership
Partner with Engineering and Hardware teams to translate technical and roadmap requirements into sourcing and commercial strategies, regardless of the underlying technology.
Work with Supply Chain Planning to align supplier capacity and lead times with demand forecasts.
Support new product introductions, qualification timelines, and capacity ramps across GPU rack-level hardware.
Provide commodity market insight and recommendations to leadership on sourcing risk, cost trends, and supply strategy.
Risk, Cost & Supply Resilience
Develop and maintain supply continuity plans that address:
Cost optimization
Capacity availability and allocation risk
Lead-time and component-level constraints
Geographic and geopolitical risk
Supplier financial and operational risk
Proactively identify and mitigate supply risk across assigned commodities, adapting risk frameworks to the specific dynamics of each category.
You
8+ years of experience in Commodity Management, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, or Supply Chain roles, with experience across one or more hardware or component categories relevant to data center or compute infrastructure (e.g., semiconductors, networking, power/cooling, memory/storage, mechanical/electrical systems).
Demonstrated experience negotiating and managing supply agreements with hardware component manufacturers, OEMs, or ODMs.
Ability to quickly build technical fluency in new commodity or technology areas.
Proven track record leading complex commercial negotiations and delivering measurable cost and supply outcomes.
Strong analytical, financial, and business acumen.
Experience operating in constrained, long-lead-time, high-growth supply environments.
Ability to build effective relationships with senior supplier stakeholders and internal cross-functional partners.
Nice To Have
Experience sourcing across multiple commodity types within AI/ML or hyperscale data center infrastructure (e.g., silicon, networking, power/cooling, memory/storage).
Demonstrated versatility moving between commodity domains over the course of a career, rather than deep specialization in a single technology.
Experience supporting hyperscale data center or AI infrastructure programs.
Background partnering with hardware/systems engineering teams on NRE, qualification, or co-development agreements.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, or related field; advanced degree a plus.
We Are Looking for Someone Who Is:
A generalist sourcing professional who can ramp quickly across different hardware technologies and commodity types
Technically curious and commercially sharp — able to move fluidly between technical detail and high-stakes negotiation, regardless of domain
Data-driven, decisive, and execution-oriented
A strong relationship builder with suppliers and internal stakeholders
Comfortable operating with a high degree of ownership in a fast-growth, ambiguity-rich environment
Willing to personally drive negotiations, supplier escalations, and problem-solving day to day
Salary Range Information
The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.
About Lambda
Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast
Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove
We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG
Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers
We offer generous cash & equity compensation
Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use
Equal Opportunity Employer
Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.