Senior Category Manager, Metals & Raw Materials

Crusoe is on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. As the only vertically integrated AI infrastructure company built from the ground up, we own and operate each layer of the stack — from electrons to tokens — to power the world's most ambitious AI workloads. When you join Crusoe, you join a team that is building the future, faster.

We're in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of our time. The demand for AI compute is boundless, and power is a bottleneck. We're solving that — with an energy-first approach that makes AI infrastructure better for the world and faster for the people innovating with AI.

We're looking for problem-solving, opportunity-finding teammates with a sense of urgency, who believe in the scale of our ambition and thrive on a path not fully paved — people who want to grow their careers alongside a team of experts across energy, manufacturing, data center construction, and cloud services.

If you want to do the most meaningful work of your career, help our customers and partners advance their AI strategies, and be part of a high-performing team that believes in each other, come build with us at Crusoe.

The Senior Category Manager, Metals & Raw Materials owns Crusoe’s foundational spend categories end-to-end at the strategic layer. In this role, your primary focal point is establishing upstream control over raw material inputs and metal fabrication—including structural carbon and stainless steel, sheet metal, aluminum extrusion, copper busbars, and specialized modular enclosures—while integrating critical electrical balance-of-plant components (switchgear, Power Distribution Centers [PDCs], transformers, and cable/wire).

Operating across Crusoe’s key manufacturing and deployment hubs (including Arvada, Brighton, Tulsa, and Ponchatoula), you will bridge the gap between global commodity markets and finished sub-assemblies. Because these categories sit at the intersection of volatile commodity cycles, strategic custom fabrications, and bottleneck electrical components, you will combine financial hedging acumen and technical vetting (welding standards, metal forming, metallurgical certs, tolerances, and NEC/UL compliance) with commercial rigor.

• Raw Material & Commodity Intelligence: Track global indices and cost drivers across base and refined metals (Hot-Rolled Coil/HRC, cold-rolled sheet, structural shapes, aluminum, and copper). Implement should-cost models, scrap-clawback clauses, and index-based pricing mechanisms to optimize mill and metal service center spend.

• Upstream Supply Chain & AVL Vetting: Own the Approved Vendor List (AVL) across raw material distributors, metal service centers, and custom contract fabricators. Conduct rigorous shop-floor capability audits—evaluating laser cutting, CNC forming, robotic welding (AWS compliance), stamping, powder coating, and dimensional tolerances against engineering specifications.

• Integrated Category Strategy (Metals & Balance of Plant): Apply framework methodologies (e.g., Kraljic Matrix) to govern a 12–24 month category roadmap that links structural enclosures and frames directly to long-lead electrical equipment (switchgear, breakers, busway, and industrial cable). Balance strategic supply resilience with aggressive commercial leverage.

• Make vs. Buy & Tolling Strategies: Formulate forward-looking make/buy/toll strategies. Evaluate the commercial feasibility of purchasing mill-direct steel and copper for consigned "toll" processing by external fabricators vs. buying turnkey assemblies, maximizing margin capture and schedule predictability.

• Commercial Negotiations & Buyer-Favorable Contracting: Draft, structure, and negotiate Master Supply Agreements (MSAs), Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and long-term reservation agreements. Redline buyer-adverse clauses around raw material surcharges, delivery milestones, liquidated damages, liability caps, and force majeure.

• Proactive Risk Mitigation & Multi-Sourcing: Maintain an active Category Risk Register mapping single-source exposures, geopolitical/tariff risks, mill outage liabilities, and extended lead-time bottlenecks (particularly on high-grade electrical steels and long-lead switchgear). Execute qualifying dual-sourcing roadmaps across domestic and nearshore suppliers.

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) & Value Engineering: Partner closely with Mechanical, Electrical, and Systems Engineering & Production to evaluate material substitutions (e.g., aluminum vs. copper, structural tube vs. open channel, alternative sheet gauges) to reduce unit cost and scrap rates without compromising structural integrity or thermal/electrical performance.

• Cross-Functional Execution Frameworks: Develop clean standing commercial pricing schedules, rebate tiers, and lead-time matrices that empower Material Planners and Tactical Buyers to execute release orders smoothly in the ERP.

• Experience: 5–8+ years of dedicated strategic sourcing, supply chain, or category management experience with a primary emphasis on raw metals, structural steel, sheet metal fabrication, or heavy mechanical equipment, accompanied by exposure to industrial electrical systems.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Business, or equivalent practical experience.

• Commodity & Metallurgical Knowledge: Working understanding of metal alloy specifications, mill test reports (MTRs), metal forming processes, welding/finishing standards, and the cost breakdown of raw material vs. conversion cost vs. logistics.

• Technical Breadth: Ability to interpret engineering drawings, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), structural weld symbols, and electrical balance-of-plant schematics (including baseline familiarity with NEC and UL standards).

• Contract Structuring & Redlining: Proven hands-on experience structuring comprehensive MSAs, raw material indexation agreements (e.g., CRU, LME, Fastmarkets), and redlining complex commercial terms.

• Strategic Methodologies: Advanced proficiency in total cost of ownership (TCO) modeling, make/buy trade studies, supplier scorecarding, and formal RFP/RFQ execution.

• Direct experience managing raw metal service center agreements, mill-direct reservation programs, or toll-processing arrangements.

• Background auditing metal fabrication shops, CNC machining cells, or switchgear manufacturing plants.

• Hands-on ERP/MRP experience (Acumatica, NetSuite, SAP) and expertise structuring complex multi-level Bills of Materials (BOMs).

• Direct domain background in data center infrastructure, modular enclosures, energy generation, or high-power industrial assets.