Director, Purchasing & Procurement

Description

The Director of Purchasing & Procurement will own sourcing strategy, supplier development, and material procurement for Hanwha Qcells America's renewable energy system businesses, including residential Energy Storage Systems (ESS), microinverters, and battery products manufactured through U.S.

-based EMS/contract manufacturing partners. Reporting to the VP, Head of ES Business Planning & Operations, this leader will set the multi-year domestic sourcing strategy across key commodity categories such as enclosures, wire harnesses, cables, semiconductors, passive components, and battery cells, packs, and modules, and will build the U.S. supplier base required to scale production.

The Director will establish the procurement operating model, governance, and KPI framework for the U.S. business; lead and grow a team of sourcing and buying professionals; and personally lead the highest-value commercial negotiations, including master supply agreements, pricing frameworks, and long-term capacity commitments with EMS partners and tier-one battery suppliers. As the executive-level procurement counterpart to the Korea-based System Procurement organization, the Director will align global sourcing decisions with U.S. production requirements, serve as the primary procurement voice with EMS manufacturing partners, and safeguard material availability for production operations in Auburn Hills, Michigan while delivering sustained, structural cost reduction through category strategy, supplier consolidation, and supply chain design.

The candidate will need to be located in Auburn Hills Michigan. Travel domestic and International up to 20%.

• Own the multi-year procurement and sourcing strategy for the Global EMS Operation, translating the business and product roadmap into category strategies for residential ESS, microinverters, and battery systems.
• Build, lead, and develop the U.S. procurement team — setting objectives, defining roles, coaching sourcing managers and buyers, and creating the headcount and capability plan required to scale with the business.
• Own total managed spend across all assigned commodities; set annual cost-reduction targets and deliver against them through category strategy, should-cost analysis, supplier consolidation, and design-to-cost partnership with engineering.
• Establish and scale a resilient U.S.
  
  -based supplier network across enclosures, wire harnesses, cables, semiconductors, passive electronic components, and battery cells, packs, and modules, including dual-source and domestic-content strategies.
• Personally lead the highest-value commercial negotiations: master supply agreements, long-term pricing and capacity commitments, tooling and NRE, NDAs, and LOIs with EMS partners and tier-one suppliers.
• Serve as the executive procurement interface to the Korea-based System Procurement organization, aligning global sourcing decisions, supplier selections, and commercial terms with U.S. production requirements.
• Define the procurement operating model and governance for the U.S. business — approval thresholds, RFQ/RFP standards, supplier qualification and onboarding gates, contract lifecycle management, and compliance controls.
• Own supply risk across the portfolio: build early-warning visibility into multi-tier supply, set inventory and buffer strategy with operations, and lead contingency and recovery plans that protect production continuity.
• Establish the procurement KPI and reporting framework (cost savings/PPV, supplier on-time delivery, quality performance, lead time, and risk exposure) and report performance to executive leadership on a regular cadence.
• Partner with engineering and product teams on New Product Introduction (NPI), securing…