Global Commodity Leader

The Commodity Team Leader is responsible for closely working with Advantest business units, R&D (Research & Development), Quality, Product Engineering and supply chain organizations globally to determine the current and future needs of the assigned categories and develop & deploy category strategy plans and solutions to address business needs.
This position is responsible in leading a core team of business operating company stakeholders, representing the Advantest enterprise, to identify opportunities where Advantest operating companies would achieve leveraged benefits from a corporate procurement commodity management process. Leadership is a key requirement as this individual will utilize team members to formulate and execute appropriate strategies for the selected spend category which result e.g., in overall total cost reduction, risk mitigation and quality/service sustained improvements. Other accountabilities include a high level of extensive category analysis of spend, liability and supply & demand data, identifying opportunities for consolidated negotiations based on operating company data, evaluating and selection of preferred suppliers based on performance criteria, leveraging of price agreement negotiations, managing and improving supplier performance requirements, leading workshop events, training new team associates on Advantest sourcing tools, methodologies & processes, and, analyzing, reporting, and monitoring project savings against goals & expectations. The role will include 15-20% travel.

The Commodity Team Leader high level responsibilities:

• Technically lead the global PCB category & team (+ potentially Power Solutions after onboarding) with membership from all major Advantest business units and R&D organizations
• Accountable to develop, implement/execute the global strategy for the commodity areas assigned and guidance of the teams for pro-active participation
• Achieve world-class results in quality, delivery, total cost and working capital improvements
• Ownership of business procurement projects to ensure delivery of bottom-line results especially around sustainable cost improvements
• Accountable to identify and close gaps & development needs in global supply base
• Provide coaching, mentoring and support to commodity team members.
• Build followership and lead through influence as most team members and stakeholders will not report into the same organization.
• Work with R&D teams, supplier managers, procurement managers, materials/component engineers, other supply-chain associates, etc. to ensure set objectives are being achieved
• Lead or co-lead global price/contract negotiations and projects on behalf of all businesses in close collaboration with the global supplier relationship manager
• Identify gaps in processes, tools or talent and take leadership to close gaps by taking over ownership for developing and implementing respective initiatives and projects

Internal Relationships:

• Reports to the Head of Global Procurement Centre of Excellence
• Interacts with the cross-functional Leadership (e.g., Business Procurement Leader/Global Procurement Leads/R&D-Leads, Supply-Chain-Leads/Business-Process-Re-Engineering, etc.)
• Interacts with various strategic sourcing associates (Commodity Team, Global Procurement, Manufacturing and Materials Management executives)

External Relationship

• Frequently communicates with, and visits suppliers to establish the appropriate commercial framework for BUSINESS/CORPORATE needs and to relay the required processes for doing business with Advantest companies (this may be shared with the SRM (Supplier Relationship Management)
• Business consultancy as required

MEASUREMENTS (excerpt):

• Assurance of supply – developing and implementing strategies to eliminate risk of non-supply.
• YoY cost improvements of X%.
• Supplier Consolidation/Development/Growth.
• Ensuring contract coverage equaling/exceeding 80% of category value

The ideal candidate should exhibit the following behavioral traits:

• Firm grasp of stakeholder management up- and downstream, problem-solving, and results orientation.
• Work independently in a highly matrixed global structure and have excellent listening, written, and verbal communication.
• Teamwork - must be able to lead several CROSS-BUSINESS teams in getting their respective jobs done.
• Ability to listen and to Influence others - must be able to inform, convince, and persuade others to take action on key initiatives of the commodity team.
• Ability to articulate clear vision and convey a sense of urgency.
• Strong planning, organization and time management skills and ability to coordinate across multiple time zones.
• Ability to think and act strategically (short-/long-term strategies).
• Ability & willingness to achieve excellent results with minimal supervision. Personal initiative upon receiving management guidance and direction.
• Solid technical background but does not need to be an expert.
• Capable of working independently, in a team environment, and balance multiple priorities concurrently.

Qualifications
You must possess the minimum qualifications below to be initially considered for this position. Preferred qualifications are in addition to the minimum requirements and are considered a plus factor in identifying top candidates.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business or engineering (in Electronics or related). Engineering background is a strong plus.
• Must-have: Minimum understanding of and experience with PCB manufacturing processes and main components of PCB's.
• 5+ years of demonstrated global commodity management experience in the semiconductor or related field or an industry with similar high complexity
• Global cross-business sourcing strategy development & deployment
• Demonstrated experience with supplier relationship management
• Demonstrated experience in developing, enhancing and implementing sourcing/supply-chain-processes and tools

Expertise Areas:

• PCB category experience
• Team management
• Global Commodity Management, -strategy development & deployment
• Leading thru KPI's

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience and knowledge about semiconductor fab processes and manufacturing including packaging materials and technologies
• Experience working across global geographies