[Hiring] Senior Group Manager, Direct Procurement @Ford Motor Company

Role Description

The Ford Energy Supply Chain team is seeking a high-caliber Sr, Group Manager – Direct Procurement to lead, scale, and manage the direct material procurement department supporting Ford Energy battery energy storage systems. In this role, you will be accountable for establishing the departmental sourcing strategy, commercial governance, and supplier partnerships across multi-million-dollar direct material portfolios spanning:

• Power electronics
• Thermal systems
• Battery packs and modules
• Safety systems
• Structural enclosures
• Balance-of-plant components

You will lead a team of procurement professionals, category managers, and sourcing leads to build resilient, competitive, and scalable supply chains that meet Ford Energy’s quality, cost, capacity, and aggressive industrialization timelines.

Responsibilities

What you'll do...

• People Leadership & Departmental Management:
  • Build, lead, and develop a high-performing department of procurement managers, category leads, and experienced sourcing specialists.
  • Establish departmental operating rhythms, performance standards, KPIs, workload balancing, and professional development roadmaps.
  • Define and manage departmental budgets, resource allocation, and operational priorities.
• Procurement Strategy & Operating Policies:
  • Define and drive the mid- to long-term direct procurement strategy, commodity roadmaps, and sourcing policies.
  • Translate business goals into actionable category plans, localization strategies, and multi-year cost-reduction roadmaps.
  • Establish and continuously improve procurement operating processes, governance frameworks, and supplier risk-management protocols.
• Commercial Delivery, Cost & Financial Impact:
  • Own overall commercial accountability and financial performance for direct procurement spend.
  • Lead high-stakes commercial negotiations for enterprise-critical supply contracts.
  • Develop should-cost modeling standards and financial business cases.
• Supplier Industrialization, Continuity & Risk Mitigation:
  • Conduct rigorous stakeholder, market, and supply chain risk analyses.
  • Oversee supplier industrialization, launch readiness, and ramp execution.
  • Serve as the senior escalation point for critical supplier disputes and supply continuity disruptions.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Executive Engagement:
  • Partner closely with peer leaders across various departments.
  • Synthesize complex commercial positions and market dynamics into clear briefings for executive leadership.
  • Represent Ford Energy in senior-level external engagements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Purchasing, Business Administration, Engineering.
• 10+ years of direct procurement, strategic sourcing, category management, or supplier commercial experience.
• 3+ years of formal people leadership experience.
• 3+ years of experience in automotive, battery energy storage systems (BESS), power electronics, industrial equipment, or high-volume manufacturing environments.
• 3+ years of commercial experience across complex commodities.
• 25% Travel (Domestic and International).

Even better, you may have...

• Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Purchasing, Business Administration, Engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to direct a functional department and manage performance.
• Proven track record of structuring and negotiating multi-million-dollar supply agreements.
• Deep command of should-cost modeling and total cost of ownership drivers.
• Strong capability to diagnose ambiguous supply chain challenges.
• Exceptional communication skills with demonstrated success influencing various stakeholders.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage.
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care.
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement.
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members.
• Tuition assistance.
• Established and active employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• A generous schedule of paid holidays.
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.