About YASA
Founded in 2009 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, YASA is a world leader in axial flux electric motor technology and part of the Mercedes-Benz Group. We are helping to shape the future of electrification through cutting-edge innovation, engineering excellence and a passion for pushing boundaries. At YASA, you'll work alongside talented and driven colleagues in a collaborative environment where your ideas, development and contributions truly matter.
Equal Opportunities
YASA is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and make employment decisions based on skills, experience and potential, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity status, or any other protected characteristic.
About the role
As Commodity Purchasing Lead, you will lead the Commodity Purchasing team in developing and executing sourcing strategies that ensure the supply of materials, components, plant tooling and fixtures required to support both New Product Introduction (NPI) and series production. Working closely with key stakeholders across the business, you will be responsible for delivering competitive total cost, strong supplier performance, supply chain resilience and sustainable growth through effective supplier partnerships and strategic procurement practices.
What you'll do
- Lead, coach and develop the Commodity Purchasing team, setting clear objectives and priorities aligned with business strategy.
- Drive accountability, continuous improvement and capability development, including succession planning across the team.
- Develop and maintain commodity sourcing strategies, considering market trends, technology developments, sustainability, capacity planning, supplier footprint and geopolitical risks.
- Review and update sourcing strategies regularly to ensure they remain aligned with changing market conditions and business requirements.
- Build and manage strategic supplier relationships through executive business reviews, supplier performance monitoring and supplier development activities.
- Identify, onboard and develop new suppliers, manage supplier exits where appropriate and support long-term supplier partnership agreements.
- Lead sourcing activities including RFQs, supplier selection, commercial negotiations, sourcing council preparation, nomination recommendations and contract negotiations.
- Ensure sourcing decisions consider total cost of ownership, quality, delivery performance, technical capability, sustainability, risk and innovation.
- Deliver annual purchasing targets including PPV and cost reduction objectives.
- Lead commercial negotiations relating to inflation, indexation, raw material costs, logistics and currency exposure.
- Manage team priorities and resources to support experimental, prototype, pre-production and series production sourcing activities.
- Support New Product Introduction programmes through supplier selection, sourcing timing, commercial readiness, capacity validation and launch support activities.
- Ensure supplier readiness through APQP timing reviews, PPAP readiness activities and successful product launches.
- Monitor and improve supplier performance across quality, delivery, responsiveness, capacity and financial stability metrics.
- Work closely with Supplier Quality and key stakeholders to resolve supplier performance issues and drive continuous improvement.
- Identify and mitigate supply chain risks relating to geopolitical events, financial stability, single-source dependency, capacity constraints, logistics challenges, export controls and raw material availability.
- Develop risk mitigation plans and provide clear reporting of key supply chain risks to senior leadership.
- Work collaboratively with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, Programme Management, Finance, Logistics and Legal teams to support business objectives and cross-functional decision making.
- Ensure compliance with procurement policies, sourcing governance processes, ethical sourcing standards, sustainability requirements, CBAM regulations and responsible sourcing obligations.
Skills & Experience
Required:
- Degree qualified in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
- Significant experience in strategic procurement within a manufacturing, engineering or automotive environment.
- Proven experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
- Strong commercial acumen with excellent negotiation and contract management skills.
- Demonstrable experience managing strategic supplier relationships and driving supplier performance.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make data-driven decisions.
- Experience supporting New Product Introduction (NPI) programmes.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation.
- Experience managing competing priorities within a fast-paced and evolving environment.
- Knowledge of procurement governance, sourcing processes, supply chain risk management and supplier performance management.
Desirable:
- Experience within the automotive industry.
- Working knowledge of APQP and PPAP processes.
- Understanding of Supplier Quality methodologies and best practices.
- Knowledge of sustainability, ethical and responsible sourcing requirements.
- Awareness of CBAM and broader supply chain compliance requirements.