Procurement VAVE Specialist

Strattec Security Corp. • Auburn Hills, MI

3d

About The Position

Strattec is hiring a Procurement VAVE Specialist to identify and implement cost-reduction opportunities for engineered automotive products. The role leads physical product teardowns and competitive benchmarking, develops financial cases for proposed optimizations, coordinates validation across Quality, Engineering, and Procurement, and facilitates supplier-led VAVE workshops. The specialist tracks cost-out projects from initial idea through testing, regulatory approval, and factory implementation.

The posting also describes technical program management responsibilities, including coordinating complex programs and workstreams, translating product requirements into technical roadmaps and milestones, managing schedules and dependencies, and identifying and mitigating technical risks. The role participates in technical design reviews, facilitates engineering and product trade-off decisions, and supports standards for testing, code quality, security, and documentation.

The specialist serves as a technical contact for cross-functional stakeholders, communicates program status and business impacts to executives, and leads post-mortems and root-cause analyses to improve processes. The role requires a bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or a hybrid technical-commercial field, and 4–6 years managing technical cost-reduction or continuous improvement programs in a high-volume production sector.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or a hybrid technical-commercial field.
• 4–6 years managing technical cost-reduction or continuous improvement programs in a high-volume production sector, such as automotive or consumer electronics.
• Knowledge of value engineering methodologies.
• Financial acumen, including ROI and total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis.
• Strong project management capabilities.

Nice To Haves

• Certification in Value Engineering, such as CVS or VMA, is highly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead physical product teardowns and competitive benchmarking workshops to identify cost-out opportunities, such as material substitution, weight reduction, and process optimization.
• Develop financial feasibility analyses for optimization ideas, accounting for implementation costs, modification charges, tooling updates, and payback periods.
• Coordinate validation testing among Quality, Engineering, and Procurement to secure approval without risking product performance.
• Facilitate VAVE workshops with key suppliers to identify cost savings in manufacturing tiers and raw material supply chains.
• Track cost-out projects from initial idea through testing, regulatory approval, and factory implementation.
• Manage complex, multi-team technical programs and interconnected workstreams from kickoff through deployment.
• Translate product requirements into technical roadmaps, milestones, and engineering deliverables.
• Identify, track, and mitigate technical risks, bottlenecks, and resource constraints that could affect delivery dates.
• Own program schedules, set milestones, manage technical dependencies, and drive accountability across engineering squads.
• Participate in technical design reviews to assess scalability, maintainability, and alignment with long-term infrastructure goals.
• Facilitate technical trade-off decisions between engineering and product teams, balancing speed to market against technical debt.
• Ensure appropriate testing, code quality, security protocols, and documentation are incorporated into the program lifecycle.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for Product, Security, Compliance, and executive stakeholders.
• Translate complex technical status reports and engineering metrics into clear executive updates focused on business impact.
• Lead post-mortems and root-cause analyses for program failures or major deployment incidents to support continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package, including base pay, regular salary reviews, and short-term incentive opportunities.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, with eligibility starting day one.
• Paid vacation, holidays, sick time, and bereavement time for eligible employees.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match up to 5 percent and immediate vesting.
• Company-paid life insurance coverage.
• Wellness program supporting physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing.
• Opportunities to volunteer and give back to the community.
• Additional local benefits may apply depending on location or facility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level