Senior Supply Chain Manager, Exteriors

Ford • Dearborn, MI

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Ford’s Supply Chain organization builds strategic supplier partnerships to deliver world-class quality, cost, delivery, sustainability, and innovation in support of our customers and business objectives. The Supply Chain function is transforming to support Ford’s long-term success and the Ford+ Plan. The Senior Supply Chain Manager, Exteriors will lead strategic change across a global supply network, strengthen supplier partnerships, develop talent, and drive business results through operational excellence. The Senior Supply Chain Manager, Exteriors reports to the Global Supply Chain Director, Exterior & Structural Systems and leads a team of supply chain professionals. This role will lead sourcing strategies for the Exteriors portfolio, delivering quality, cost, delivery, and resiliency objectives. The successful candidate will leverage supply chain expertise, data-driven insights, and cross-functional leadership to identify opportunities, improve performance, and deliver transformational impact. As a member of the Supply Chain Leadership Team, this leader will influence enterprise decisions, shape supplier strategies, and drive competitive advantage.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in supply chain, purchasing, sourcing, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of leadership experience, including leading teams and driving organizational transformation.
• Proven experience developing and executing global sourcing strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Strong expertise in supplier management, negotiations, cost optimization, and end-to-end supply chain operations.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, market intelligence, and financial insights to drive business decisions.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to navigate complex, global, matrixed organizations.
• Ability to influence stakeholders, simplify complex challenges, and implement innovative solutions.
• Excellent executive communication and presentation skills.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• 12+ years of experience in supply chain, purchasing, sourcing, or related discipline within a global manufacturing environment.
• 7+ years of leadership experience, including leading teams and developing talent.
• Automotive industry experience, particularly within exterior systems or related commodities such as glass, injection molding, or similar manufacturing processes.
• Experience leading commodity strategies, supplier transformation, resiliency planning, and total cost of ownership initiatives.
• Demonstrated success driving organizational change and building high-performing teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute long-term sourcing strategies for the Exteriors commodity portfolio.
• Align sourcing decisions with technology roadmaps, sustainability objectives, and cost competitiveness goals.
• Maintain sourcing and material cost roadmaps, value maps, and opportunity funnels to support business objectives.
• Build and manage strategic relationships with key global suppliers.
• Establish performance expectations and drive improvements across quality, delivery, cost, and sustainability metrics.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate supply chain risks, including material constraints, geopolitical disruptions, and capacity limitations.
• Ensure supplier capacity supports future production and business requirements.
• Drive best-in-class sourcing practices through cost modeling, benchmarking, market intelligence, competitive bidding, and data-driven decision making.
• Lead commercial negotiations and total cost of ownership initiatives.
• Partner with engineering on Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VA/VE) activities to optimize design-to-cost outcomes.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing supply chain team.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, agility, and continuous improvement.
• Build organizational capability and strengthen the leadership pipeline.
• Partner with Product Development, Manufacturing, Finance, and other stakeholders to align supply chain strategies with enterprise objectives.
• Influence decisions across a global, matrixed organization.

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 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: Senior