Global Logistics & Trade Project Manager

Job Title: Global Logistics & Trade Project Manager, Robotics

Location: Sunnyvale / Burlingame, CA

Duration: 12 Months

About the Role

CLIENT's Robotics organization is building hardware that doesn't exist yet, and almost none of it is built in one place. Components come from Asia, sub-assemblies move between contract manufacturers, and finished units land in labs across multiple countries, often on timelines measured in days. This role owns that physical pipeline end to end.

We're looking for a Global Logistics & Trade Project Manager who thinks like an operator and builds like an engineer. You'll own the movement of robotics hardware from purchase order through international transit, customs clearance, and final delivery. Then you'll rebuild the process so the next hundred shipments move faster with less manual effort. This is not a PO-processing seat. It's for someone who wants to design the logistics backbone of a brand-new hardware program and automate the parts that shouldn't need a human.

You'll sit at the center of a cross-functional network (Procurement, Trade Compliance, Hardware Engineering, Program Management, Finance, contract manufacturers, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and lab operations in multiple regions), translating between all of them and making the handoffs disappear.

Key Responsibilities

• Global Logistics Execution: Own international movement of robotics hardware end to end, including inbound from Asia-based suppliers and CMs, inter-site transfers, and final-mile delivery to labs. Select modes and routes that balance speed, cost, and risk.
• International Trade & Customs: Partner with Trade Compliance on import/export documentation, HTS classification, country of origin, and duty and tariff exposure. Coordinate with brokers and resolve customs holds and clearance exceptions before they become schedule slips.
• Workflow Automation (core focus): Replace manual tracking and status-chasing with automated workflows. Build dashboards, alerting, and AI-assisted tooling that surface exceptions proactively, eliminate repetitive coordination, and scale logistics capacity without scaling headcount.
• Cross-Functional Program Leadership: Serve as the single connective point across Procurement, Trade, Hardware Engineering, Program Management, Finance, lab operations, and external forwarders, brokers, and CMs, driving clean handoffs and one shared source of truth.
• PO-to-Delivery Ownership: Track purchase orders from issuance through delivery, hold partners to committed dates, and escalate risk with a recommended path forward, not just a flag.
• Supplier & Partner Performance: Manage forwarder, broker, and vendor performance against delivery and clearance commitments. Onboard new logistics partners as the program expands into new regions.
• Network Design & Process Optimization: Lead strategic projects that reshape how material flows, including new lane and routing design, warehouse and inventory positioning, new-site and new-region launches, and cycle-time reduction.
• Risk Mitigation & Contingency Planning: Anticipate geopolitical and tariff shifts, capacity crunches, customs policy changes, and supplier delays. Build the contingency routes and buffers that protect program schedules.
• Visibility & Reporting: Build and maintain the reporting layer leadership relies on for shipment health, landed cost, clearance performance, and project milestones.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in global logistics, international trade, or supply chain operations, with hands-on shipment ownership
• Hands-on international logistics execution: cross-border shipping, freight forwarder and customs broker management, and multi-region delivery
• Working knowledge of customs and import/export processes, including documentation, HTS classification, country of origin, and duty/tariff exposure
• Demonstrated experience automating or digitizing operational workflows (AI tooling, scripting, dashboards, or system integrations)
• Proven cross-functional program management across engineering, procurement, trade, and external partners
• Experience in hardware, robotics, or manufacturing logistics environments
• Strong reporting, data, and executive communication skills
• Familiarity with end-to-end purchase order and procurement workflows in a supporting capacity

Preferred Qualifications

• Dangerous goods experience, including lithium battery shipping and DG certification
• Experience with Oracle, GTM, Salesforce, or SQL
• Asia-to-US supply chain experience
• Proficiency in Mandarin
• New-site, new-region, or new-lane launch experience

What Makes This Role Interesting

• You'll stand up the global logistics and trade backbone for a brand-new robotics program rather than maintain someone else's.
• High autonomy and direct visibility with engineering and program leadership.
• Genuinely global scope, including Asia-to-US and multi-region lanes.
• An explicit mandate to automate the work rather than absorb it.