Sr. Business Manager

Who We Are:

Challenge Manufacturing’s mission is to manufacture with operational excellence by empowering our employee-owners. As a leading tier 1 supplier of complex metal assemblies for the global automotive industry, we drive innovative solutions for future mobility. We believe the best ideas come from individual unique perspectives. These ideas combined with the teamwork of industry leaders allow us to accomplish any challenge. Our team members take pride in the work we do and embody our core values of safety, ownership, and teamwork every day;

they are the true driving force in our operations. Challenge is proud to be one of the largest employee-owned automotive companies in North America. One of the many benefits of joining the Challenge team is the ESOP program. This program allows Challenge to give shares of the Company to all employee-owners annually. These shares are an additional retirement benefit that will continue to grow during your time ng part of an ESOP means our employee-owners share in Challenge’s success!

Challenge is #Quality Driven and #People Powered!

The Sr. Business Manager is accountable for the overall commercial performance, customer relationship leadership, and growth strategy of assigned OEM accounts. This role owns the full book of business—driving profitability, advancing new business opportunities, and ensuring seamless alignment between customer expectations and internal execution. The ideal candidate brings deep automotive experience, strong commercial and financial acumen, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams.

This individual serves as a trusted advisor to the customer while driving disciplined execution and sustainable growth across the organization.

Serve as the primary commercial interface to OEM customers, leading both executive and working-level relationships across Purchasing, Engineering, Quality, and Program Management. Lead all customer negotiations, including piece price, tooling, recoveries, inflationary adjustments, and long-term agreements. Represent the company in customer reviews, sourcing discussions, and escalation forums with a strong executive presence. Act as the commercial escalation point for delivery, quality, and cost-related matters, ensuring timely resolution and customer satisfaction.

Own full commercial performance of assigned accounts, including revenue, margin, EBITDA contribution, and forecast accuracy. Develop and execute account strategies aligned with OEM platforms, sourcing cycles, and future vehicle pipelines. Partner with Finance to monitor cost performance, margin expansion, and variance to quote. Support budget development, forecasting, and long-range planning activities. Identify, position, and secure new business opportunities, including takeaways, resourcing, and competitive displacement.

Analyze OEM sourcing strategies, platform roadmaps, and market dynamics to inform growth strategy. Provide insights into key industry trends, including EV transition, material cost shifts, and regional demand changes. Support broader strategic initiatives such as customer segmentation, portfolio optimization, and diversification. Lead RFQ execution from receipt through submission, ensuring alignment on cost, capacity, and technical feasibility. Ensure a seamless transition from award to launch by aligning commercial commitments with Program Management and Operations.

Support APQP milestones and ensure all commercial deliverables, pricing, tooling recovery, and scope alignment—are achieved. Monitor launch performance and proactively address commercial risks, including cost overruns and customer penalties. Drive coordination across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and Program Management to ensure customer expectations are met. Align commercial commitments with operational capabilities to enable sustainable execution. Maintain strong engagement with plant operations to understand constraints, risks, and improvement opportunities.

Influence decision-making across the organization without direct authority, driving accountability and results. Establish and manage account scorecards…