Purchasing Director (USA)

About Horse Powertrain

Horse Powertrain Limited is an independent new powertrain solutions business, with over 125 years of heritage from Renault and Geely. We develop and produce world-class hybrid and combustion engines and transmissions to move our industry forward, offering many different paths to net zero.

Horse Powertrain has 19,000 dedicated and determined employees, working in 17 manufacturing plants, and 5 R&D centers on three continents. This role is based in Detroit, MI USA, with occasional travel possible to Horse Powertrain’s other sites.

Why join us?

At Horse Powertrain, you’ll have opportunities to grow your career while making a difference. This is a dynamic, international environment, staffed by caring and collaborative people. If you’re ready to create excellence with us, you’ll be appreciated and rewarded.

What you'll be doing

As Procurement Director (USA), you will build Horse Powertrain’s North American procurement organization from the ground up—driving localization, competitive cost development, and supplier industrialization to enable our growth in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Reporting hierarchically to the Regional Managing Director – North America and functionally to the VP Direct Material, you will act as the key bridge between the China development hub and U.S. operations, leading sourcing decisions, developing local suppliers, and ensuring launch-ready industrialization. This role is expected to evolve into Regional Head of Procurement – North America as the business scales.

• Define the localization roadmap and procurement strategy for North America, including scope, targets, timelines, and resourcing.

• Lead supplier scouting across the U.S. and Mexico: market mapping, capability assessment, benchmarking, and leveraging China supplier synergies.

• Run end-to-end industrialization sourcing: RFI/RFQ, cost evaluation, bidder list approval, and supplier selection.

• Lead commercial negotiations and contracting to secure competitive quotations and cost-down opportunities within regional budget.

• Validate supplier feasibility, quality readiness, and compliance with HORSE standards (incl. automotive quality requirements).

• Drive supplier onboarding and industrialization/launch readiness: milestone tracking, PO release, build readiness, and change/cost follow-up.

• Serve as Procurement lead in U.S. localization programs—partnering with Program, R&D Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Logistics, Finance, and Sales.

• Manage cross-border alignment with China teams on product/tooling/engineering interfaces; act as escalation point for supplier development topics.

• Build the regional procurement capability (initially 3–4 staff, scaling into a full regional organization over time).

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Commercial, or Business Administration.

• 12+ years of automotive procurement experience (OEM or Tier-1 preferred), ideally with powertrain direct material exposure.

• Strong track record in localization projects, supplier development, and cross-border sourcing/program industrialization.

• Solid understanding of powertrain systems and automotive quality standards (e.g., IATF 16949, ISO) and procurement toolsets.

• Strong knowledge of the North American automotive ecosystem (OEMs and Tier-1/2 suppliers).

• Prior exposure to China suppliers/systems/manufacturing sites strongly preferred; comfortable with frequent travel to China and supplier sites (incl. extended initial assignment).

• Proven strength in cost benchmarking, quotation execution, and negotiation; high commercial acumen.

• Ability to operate hands-on as an initial “one-person build” and then scale a team; entrepreneurial, growth-oriented mindset.

• Fluent English and Mandarin (written and spoken); strong cross-cultural communication and stakeholder management.

Equal opportunities employer

As a company, we are committed to equal opportunities, and recruit people based on their competencies and qualifications. We encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply for our job vacancies. If you believe you have the skills and passion to excel in this role, we would love to hear from you. Let’s explore the possibilities together.

Horse Powertrain Limited is a global leader in powertrain solutions. Learn more at www.horse-powertrain.com