Commodity Director: Precision and Wheel

The Commodity Director leads the worldwide commodity and supplier panel strategy across project and mass-production business. The role owns delivery of Annual Operating Plan and Strategic Plan results for the commodity, including productivity, cash, supplier performance, capacity and contractual compliance. The position leads and develops the commodity team, manages strategic supplier relationships and ensures sourcing decisions and corrective actions support business requirements, competitiveness and supply continuity.

Key Responsibilities:

1. TEAM LEADERSHIP AND SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
   Lead, develop and engage commodity managers and buyers; ensure appropriate staffing, capability growth and clear accountability across the designated commodity and supplier panels. Lead strategic supplier performance reviews and improvement plans, including supplier development with Quality and other functions. Own executive supplier relationships and the commercial management of designated suppliers. Ensure compliance with contractual obligations including terms and conditions, long-term agreements, non-disclosure agreements, payment terms, consignment stock and approved supplier requirements. Support major operational escalations with the relevant business teams and drive timely corrective actions.
2. COMMODITY STRATEGY AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
   Define, maintain and execute the global commodity and supplier panel strategy, integrating current and future requirements from the business, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality and Sales. Own commodity Annual Operating Plan and Strategic Plan results. Deliver productivity through negotiation, value analysis/value engineering, resourcing and other approved levers. Generate and consolidate improvement opportunities, develop business cases where required, ensure accurate material-cost performance reporting and establish corrective action plans when performance deviates from objectives. Set annual negotiation objectives, conduct or assign negotiations, validate results and conclude commercial agreements. Optimize cash through payment-term and consignment-stock actions and secure planning and execution of capital expenditure obligations.
3. PANEL, SOURCING, CAPACITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
   Build and refresh the supplier panel to meet operational and strategic requirements for new projects and mass production. Maintain commercial and industrial market expertise, scout new suppliers and evolve the panel as technology and market conditions change. Connect commodity strategy with Engineering technical roadmaps and ensure sourcing plans, sourcing committees and supplier selections comply with the approved panel strategy. Own the commodity capacity outlook, support the Rough-Cut Capacity Planning process, validate supplier recovery plans and negotiate capacity increases when required. Identify and mitigate supply, commercial and capacity risks, and coordinate the extended commodity network, including business buyers, to deliver agreed objectives.

Education : Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Supply Chain Management, Procurement or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience. An advanced business or technical degree is preferred.

Expereince : Minimum 12 years of industry experience, preferably in the automotive industry and within a multinational company, including at least 5 years in global purchasing. Proven experience negotiating with and managing strategic suppliers involving senior management, together with a successful track record in developing and executing commodity strategies.

Key Skill :

Expert negotiation practices and strong procurement strategy capability. Demonstrated leadership impact, people development and effective communication across functions, regions and organizational levels. Strong global mindset and ability to influence complex organizations. Sound working knowledge of procurement tools and processes, supplier performance management, contracts, sourcing governance, cost and cash levers, capacity management and business-case development. Strong analytical, decision-making, problem-solving and escalation-management skills. Fluent business English and ability to communicate clearly in writing and in executive forums.