Material Sales Director

Teijin Automotive Technologies is an innovative and full-service Tier One supplier with a global presence and emphasis in development for lightweight technologies. Teijin Automotive offers employees the opportunity to join a leading edge company within the composite material industry and enjoy the benefits offered by a growing company in North America and internationally.

POSITION AND CROSS-FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES

**Materials Experience a MUST

* Engineering & R&D: material specifications, second-source validation, qualification plans, formulation governance, and VAVE initiatives.
* Operations & Plant Leadership: production alignment, supply assurance, inventory parameters, and change management.
* Quality / SQD: PPAP compliance, supplier quality gates, audit management, performance escalation, and corrective action plans.
* Finance: TCO modeling, savings validation, index-linkage mechanisms, program budgeting, and variance-to-plan reporting.
* Program Management: sourcing alignment to program timelines, launch support, and customer change management.
* Direct Materials Team: direct leadership of Senior Commodity Manager SMC and the broader team to be recruited and developed under this role.

KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

A. People Leadership and Team Development
* Build, structure, and lead the Direct Materials procurement team: define roles and headcount requirements, recruit talent, set performance objectives, and develop individual capabilities across the team.
* Lead, mentor, and coach direct reports - including the Senior Commodity Manager SMC - fostering a high-performance, ownership-driven culture with clear accountability for category results, program delivery, and supplier management.
* Establish team operating rhythms, governance cadences, and a shared culture of commercial excellence, cross-functional partnership, and continuous improvement aligned to CSP's values.

B. Category Strategy and Governance
* Own and execute comprehensive category strategies across the full direct materials portfolio: SMC & DLFT raw materials (resins, fiberglass, pigments/thickeners, fillers, SMC chemicals), production parts (stampings, castings, extrusions, fasteners, seals/gaskets, latches/hinges), and paint & external paint (primers, paints, external paint services).
* Establish structured sourcing cycles (RFx/e-auctions), index-based pricing, market baskets, and dual-/multi-sourcing roadmaps; implement governance, decision frameworks, and KPIs for cost, quality, delivery, and risk across all categories.

C. Technical Sourcing and Cost Engineering
* Translate formulation, process, and engineering constraints into commercial sourcing strategies; lead value engineering (VAVE) and target costing programs with R&D and Engineering across raw materials and production parts.
* Run sub-category RFPs with aligned scoring, TCO evaluation, and should-cost analysis; build validated supplier panels with award strategies and dual-source readiness across all three category pillars.

D. Production Parts - Strategic Sourcing
* Lead global RFPs for stampings, castings, extrusions, fasteners, seals, and latches; benchmark across OEM programs and leverage cross-portfolio opportunities where applicable.
* Drive supplier localization, co-location, and domestic sourcing strategies; identify opportunities to reduce tariff exposure, logistics cost, and lead times in alignment with Operations.

E. Paint and External Paint - Category Ownership
* Own sourcing strategy and supplier governance for paint raw materials (primers, paints) and external paint services (~$70M); drive consolidation, benchmarking, and contract coverage in a category currently managed with limited enterprise leverage.
* Collaborate with Operations and Engineering on specification standardization and demand management; identify opportunities for insourcing, GPO leverage, or supplier rationalization to reduce total cost.

F. Supplier Relations and Performance Management
* Develop executive-level relationships with strategic suppliers across all categories; negotiate MSAs and pricing agreements with escalator/de-escalator mechanisms and SLA-based performance frameworks.
* Ensure full contract coverage across the direct materials portfolio; implement robust performance monitoring (PPM, OTIF, audit scores), corrective action tracking, and SQD coordination for qualification and PPAP readiness.

G. Risk, Resilience, and Compliance
* Build resilience through second sourcing, geographic diversification, and inventory risk buffers; maintain a living risk register across all direct material categories.
* Orchestrate customer approval timelines, PPAP, and lab