Job Description
The Director of Parts Supply & Market Sourcing builds and executes Asurion's strategy to source, create, and secure a compliant, quality-controlled supply of repair parts in support of the SCaaS initiative and core insurance repair programs. This is a Director-level individual contributor role — setting functional direction, making autonomous sourcing decisions, and influencing senior leaders and external partners without day-to-day management oversight. The role works closely with Asurion's repair operations, including parts procurement teams in the Philippines, to keep supply strategy connected to operational reality on the ground. Success depends on deep, trust-based relationships with OEM factories, refurbishment operators, and secondary market players across Asia — with particular emphasis on the Asian market, where navigating supplier networks, identifying opportunities, and moving decisively requires established in-country credibility that takes years to build. The role also requires sound judgment on compliance and OEM risk, in close partnership with Legal, Compliance, and OEM relationship owners.
Supply Strategy & Market Access
- Develop and own Asurion's parts supply creation strategy — integrating market conditions, demand signals, compliance constraints, and operational economics into a cohesive sourcing approach that spans OEM-adjacent factories, refurbishment operators, recycling players, and secondary market channels.
- Cultivate and sustain direct relationships with key supply partners across Asia and domestic markets; access to preferred pricing, priority allocation, and non-public supply is earned through trust and incumbency built over time — not sourced through intermediaries or market platforms.
- Identify, qualify, and onboard new supply sources — including non-traditional suppliers in the refurb, remanufacturing, and harvested-device ecosystems — applying in-depth judgment on quality, compliance, and scalability that goes beyond what standard supplier vetting processes capture.
- Maintain a deep, current understanding of the Asian market — including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong supply ecosystems — and actively identify and pursue sourcing opportunities that Asurion would not surface through conventional market research or third-party brokers.
- Lead regular in-market engagement, including direct travel to China and broader Asian manufacturing and refurbishment hubs, to assess supplier capabilities on-site, negotiate preferred supply terms, and act on time-sensitive market opportunities that require a trusted, credible counterpart.
- Develop sourcing policies, preferred supplier frameworks, and supply continuity strategies that govern how Asurion accesses the parts market — building a repeatable, scalable operating model from what is currently a relationship- and judgment-driven function.
Compliance & OEM Risk Management
- Partner with Legal, Compliance, and OEM relationship owners — including Apple and Google teams — to define the compliance envelope for parts sourcing: what can be sourced, from whom, and under what conditions; this requires ongoing, judgment-driven dialogue with legal and OEM counterparts, not a one-time policy review.
- Proactively identify and resolve complex regulatory, contractual, and reputational risks in cross-border sourcing — particularly for OEM-adjacent and recycled parts categories — before they create operational or relationship exposure for Asurion.
- Monitor geopolitical shifts, OEM policy changes, and trade compliance developments affecting component supply across Asian markets, and develop contingency supply strategies that keep Asurion ahead of disruption rather than reacting to it.
- Establish and maintain a continuous compliance review cadence across all parts supply relationships, with clear escalation paths for issues that require legal or executive judgment.
SCaaS Parts Supply Creation
- Own the supply creation workstream for SCaaS — developing sourcing strategies for high-priority SKUs, identifying and securing supply relationships, and ensuring the parts pipeline can support SCaaS demand as it scales from pilot to full program.
- Integrate directly with Planning and Finance to translate demand signals — by model, repair type, and channel — into actionable supply strategies with clear cost, availability, and compliance implications for senior leadership.
- Develop supplier frameworks and commercial structures that can scale from pilot volumes to full-program requirements without losing the compliance controls and quality standards established at the outset.
Cross-Functional Influence & Operating Discipline
- Operate with a high degree of autonomy — set direction for the parts sourcing function, resolve complex and ambiguous sourcing, compliance, and market problems without a defined playbook, and bring integrated recommendations to senior leadership rather than requiring guidance on each decision.
- Influence internal partners across Repair Operations, Planning, Legal, Quality, and Finance — and external partners including OEMs, suppliers, and legal counsel — through credibility, comprehensive functional knowledge, and the ability to connect parts sourcing decisions to broader business outcomes.
- Build operating discipline across the parts sourcing function: supplier performance tracking, commit management, qualification pipelines, issue escalation, and a structured market intelligence cadence that makes institutional knowledge visible and transferable.
- Provide executive-level supply risk assessments and sourcing recommendations that translate market complexity into clear decisions with defined cost, compliance, and operational implications.
- Work closely with Asurion's repair operations and parts procurement teams in the Philippines, ensuring supply strategy, commit tracking, and supplier performance standards are connected to and executable by the operational teams on the ground.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Experience
- 10+ years in global sourcing, parts procurement, or supply chain within the mobile device, consumer electronics, or refurbishment/remanufacturing industry.
- Demonstrated track record sourcing OEM, NDOS, refurbished, or recycled components from Asian supply chains — with direct factory and operator relationships, not intermediary-only experience.
- Experience operating at scale — sourcing across multiple device categories, geographies, and supplier types simultaneously, with accountability for supply availability and cost outcomes at a program or enterprise level.
- Prior experience working with Legal and Compliance teams on OEM agreements, parts sourcing policies, or cross-border trade compliance.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and align cross-functional stakeholders — Planning, Operations, Legal, Finance — without direct management authority.
Market & Relationship Credentials
- Active, current network of relationships with OEM factories, refurbishment operators, recycling/harvesting companies, and secondary market participants in China — specifically across Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong — as well as broader Asia and other geographies with viable parts supply ecosystems.
- Recognized market presence and credibility in the Asian mobile device and components market — known and trusted as a counterpart by suppliers who have the option to choose who they do business with.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and act on sourcing opportunities in the Asian market that are not visible through standard procurement channels — including access to surplus inventory, pre-release components, and refurb-grade supply before it reaches the open market.
- Ability and willingness to travel to China and Asian markets regularly for supplier engagement and in-market opportunity development.
Functional Skills
- Proficiency in reading and applying market intelligence — commodity pricing trends, OEM supply signals, refurb market dynamics — to sourcing decisions.
- Strong negotiation skills in relationship-driven, non-transparent markets where trust and incumbency matter as much as price.
- Ability to assess part quality and yield potential — including visual and operational evaluation — in supplier or factory settings.
- Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, and procurement/supply chain management tools.
Leadership & Communication
- Mandarin Chinese proficiency strongly preferred — direct engagement with Asian suppliers in their language is a material advantage in trust-building and deal-making.
- Operates with a high degree of autonomy — sets functional direction, resolves complex sourcing and compliance problems without a clear playbook, and brings solutions to leadership.
- Communicates clearly to executive leadership — translates market complexity and supply risk into crisp recommendations with clear cost, compliance, and operational implications.
- Influences senior leaders internally and key external partners — including OEMs, legal counsel, and strategic suppliers — through credibility, market expertise, and sound judgment.
- Builds trust-based working relationships with internal partners (Repair Operations, Planning, Legal, Quality, Finance) as readily as with external suppliers.
- Demonstrates comprehensive understanding of how parts sourcing integrates across the Procurement function and the broader business — spanning compliance, operations, quality, and finance.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or a related field required.