Sourcing Specialist/Category Manager

Description

The category manager at Sun King will be responsible for sourcing, negotiating, and managing suppliers and the supply chain for the JDM/ODM products of stoves, regulators, sensors and the solar home system components such as PCB, PCBA, cables, connectors, and associated auxiliary parts. Your mandate will be to drive sustainable business growth by building resilient, cost-competitive, and quality-assured supply ecosystems that align with Sun King’s mission of expanding access to affordable clean energy.

Key Responsibilities

• ‌Supplier Development & Management‌
• Support new product introduction from a sourcing perspective.
• Identify, evaluate, and negotiate with suppliers for the finished goods of stoves, regulators, sensors and the solar home system components such as PCB, PCBA, cables, connectors, and associated auxiliary parts.
• Maintain a high-quality supplier database and conduct quarterly performance reviews (quality, delivery, cost, etc.).
• ‌Procurement Strategy & Execution‌
• Develop sourcing plans and cost control strategies for projects (e.g., clean cooking products, solar powered devices).
• Lead sourcing, price negotiation, and contract discussions, clarifying technical specifications, delivery schedules, and acceptance criteria.
• ‌Cost Optimization & Risk Management‌
• Identify cost reduction, localization, and supplier consolidation opportunities.
• Reduce procurement costs through competitive pricing, bulk purchasing, and supply chain optimization.
• Monitor market price fluctuations, technology developments and implement risk mitigation strategies.
• ‌Cross-Departmental Collaboration‌
• Coordinate with R&D, Project, Quality, Ops and Finance etc. teams to ensure material specifications align with project requirements.
• Resolve quality disputes and delivery delays.
• ‌Compliance & Process Management‌
• Ensure sourcing processes comply with industry standards (e.g., photovoltaic component certifications, RoHS for electronic components).
• Maintain accurate contract and documentation records.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Supply Chain Management, Electrical Engineering, Renewable Energy, or International Trade.‌
• 8+ years of procurement experience, with 5+ years in electronics sourcing or procurement.
• Should possess a specialized market knowledge and a strong vendor network, including reliable suppliers and manufacturing partners, to ensure fast and dependable procurement execution.‌
• Proficient in OEM/JDM/ODM models and PCB, PCBA and connectors sourcing.
• Skilled in procurement software (e.g., ERP systems) and data analysis tools.‌
• Strong vendor management, negotiation skills and market insight to anticipate price trends and manage supply chain risks.
• Integrity, high-pressure tolerance and cross-cultural communication abilities.‌
• English proficiency (CET-4 or higher), with experience in international procurement or cross-border negotiations.

About Sun King

Sun King is the world’s leading off-grid solar energy company, combining cutting-edge product design, fintech, and field operations to deliver energy access for the 1.8 billion people who live without an affordable and reliable electric-grid connection.

Sun King has built a new kind of energy utility: distributed, green, customer-centric, and affordable. We bring clean, reliable, decentralized energy directly into people’s lives — from solar kits that provide first-time energy access to multi-kilowatt systems that serve both off-grid users and grid-connected customers powering larger homes, schools, hospitals, farms, offices, and light manufacturing.

Already, 25 million homes and businesses rely on Sun King for electricity supply and the appliances and services it enables: lighting, televisions, fans, refrigeration, and smartphones.

Sun King combines energy generation, energy-efficient appliances, installation, and financing into one seamless offering. Think of it as a distributed utility, designed for wherever energy is needed and designed to scale with its users as incomes and energy needs grow.

Sun King makes solar products affordable to low-income households and businesses via ‘pay-as-you-go’ (PAYG) purchase financing. Sun King installs solar after customers pay a small deposit. Customers then make small, manageable payments of as little as US $0.14 a day via mobile money or cash.

Instead of paying for expensive, polluting, and health-damaging kerosene for lighting or diesel for power, customers unlock savings through accessing solar power and after one to two years of payments, customers own their solar equipment outright.

Sun King collects payments digitally through mobile money systems and its 35,000 field agents — over 1 million payments each day. To date, Sun King has extended more than $1.4 billion in PAYG loans to customers.

Sun King began by powering homes and businesses with solar systems delivered through PAYG financing. Now, we’re using the same model to make smartphones and clean cooking equipment affordable: helping households connect to the digital economy and transition from wood-based fuels to modern, sustainable alternatives.

Sun King employs 3,500 full-time staff in 14 countries, with specialties spanning product design, data science, logistics, customer service, sales, software, operations, and more — all with a passion to serve off-grid families. Sun King is committed to gender diversity in the workplace. Women represent 42% of Sun King’s workforce.