Senior Group Manager, Direct Procurement, Ford Energy

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford Energy is a newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company dedicated to accelerating U.S. energy independence. Leveraging Ford’s century of manufacturing excellence and world-class battery energy storage systems (BESS) technology, Ford Energy designs, manufactures, and services grid-scale and commercial DC battery energy storage systems (BESS). Ford Energy is uniquely positioned to capture the growing demand for reliable, US-built energy storage systems. We are not just building batteries; we are building the infrastructure for the next generation of the American grid. In this position, 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, and 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.

Requirements

• 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, successfully managing, mentoring, and developing teams of procurement professionals, category managers, or subordinate management.
• 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 (e.g., power electronics, inverters, thermal management, lithium-ion battery cells/modules, fabricated structural enclosures, or high-voltage electrical distribution).
• 25% Travel (Domestic and International).

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Purchasing, Business Administration, Engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to direct a functional department, set clear strategic direction, manage performance, and foster a collaborative, high-accountability team culture.
• Proven track record of structuring and negotiating multi-million-dollar, complex supply agreements covering commercial terms, warranties, tooling, capacity, and risk-allocation mechanisms.
• Deep command of should-cost modeling, total cost of ownership drivers, design-to-cost principles, capital budgeting, and manufacturing cost structures.
• Strong capability to diagnose ambiguous supply chain challenges, conduct risk assessments, and implement innovative mitigation strategies under fast-paced, constrained timelines.
• Exceptional communication skills with demonstrated success influencing peer managers, cross-functional partners, executive leadership, and senior external counterparts.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing department of procurement managers, category leads, and experienced sourcing specialists who exercise significant independence and latitude in their commodities.
• Establish departmental operating rhythms, performance standards, KPIs, workload balancing, and professional development roadmaps.
• Define and manage departmental budgets, resource allocation, and operational priorities to support rapid organizational scaling and aggressive program milestones.
• Define and drive the mid- to long-term direct procurement strategy, commodity roadmaps, and sourcing policies across all major BESS subsystems.
• 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 across the department.
• Own overall commercial accountability and financial performance for direct procurement spend, delivering competitive total cost of ownership (TCO) and sustainable year-over-year cost improvements.
• Lead high-stakes commercial negotiations for enterprise-critical supply contracts, master service agreements, tooling commitments, capacity reservation agreements, and intellectual property terms.
• Develop should-cost modeling standards and financial business cases; evaluate commercial trade-offs and make authoritative recommendations that protect program profitability and schedule integrity.
• Conduct rigorous stakeholder, market, and supply chain risk analyses to safeguard against single-source bottlenecks, geopolitical constraints, and capacity shortfalls.
• Oversee supplier industrialization, launch readiness, and ramp execution in close alignment with Manufacturing and Supplier Technical Assistance (STA), ensuring suppliers achieve production part approval and volume commitments.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for critical supplier disputes, commercial claims, and supply continuity disruptions to prevent program delays.
• Partner closely with peer leaders across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Program Management, Finance, Legal, and Logistics to drive design-to-value, make-vs.-buy evaluations, and technology roadmaps.
• Synthesize complex commercial positions, market dynamics, and supplier performance data into clear, actionable briefings and recommendations for executive leadership.
• Represent Ford Energy in senior-level external engagements, building strategic relationships with C-suite and VP-level supplier leadership.

Benefits

• performance-based bonuses
• Ford vehicle discounts
• 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 and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

What This Job Offers

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