Procurement VAVE Specialist

Strattec Security Corp.; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 125,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Comprehensive health benefits

Paid time off

401(k) with company match

Life insurance

Wellness program

Volunteer opportunities

Location-based benefits

Job summary

Strattec Security Corp. seeks a results-driven Program Lead to manage cost-reduction and continuous improvement initiatives in a high-volume manufacturing environment.

You will drive value engineering across ideation, benchmarking, and supplier collaboration to deliver measurable cost savings while protecting product performance. Responsibilities include leading cross-functional teams, developing business cases, and overseeing project portfolios from kickoff through deployment, with a strong

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or hybrid technical-commercial field.
• 4–6 years managing technical cost-reduction or continuous improvement in high-volume production.
• Value engineering methodologies and ROI/TCO analysis; strong project management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead teardowns and benchmarking to identify cost-out opportunities.
• Develop business cases with costs, MOD, tooling updates, and payback periods.
• Coordinate validation testing between Quality, Engineering, and Procurement.
• Facilitate VAVE workshops with key suppliers for cost savings.
• Manage a portfolio of cost-out projects from ideation to deployment.
• Translate product requirements into technical roadmaps and milestones.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks and dependencies.
• Own the program schedule and drive accountability across engineering teams.
• Participate in design reviews to ensure scalable, maintainable solutions.
• Facilitate trade-off decisions balancing speed to market and technical debt.
• Enforce engineering excellence with testing, code quality, and documentation.

Skills

Value engineering

Financial analysis (ROI/TCO)

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field

Value Engineering Certification (CVS/VMA)

Job description

Responsibilities

About Strattec:

At Strattec, we’re reshaping how people experience and interact with their vehicles by making access seamless, secure, and safe. In partnership with leading OEMs, we design and deliver highly engineered solutions that create the ultimate access experience for consumers.

What sets us apart is how we work and the people who make it happen. Guided by our culture pillars, Think New, Do Together, and Own It, we collaborate across disciplines and take ownership of meaningful challenges. Our people bring new ideas to life and turn ambition into impact. If you’re an integrator, problem solver, or forward thinker who wants to do work that matters, you’ll find the opportunity here to grow your craft and contribute to something bigger that shapes the future of the automotive industry.

Ready to help shape the future of access? Join us at Strattec.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ideation & Teardowns: Lead physical product teardowns and competitive benchmarking workshops to identify cost-out opportunities (e.g., material substitution, weight reduction, process optimization).
• Business Case Development: Calculate the financial feasibility of optimization ideas, factoring in implementation costs, modification charges (MOD), tooling updates, and payback periods.
• Cross-Functional Orchestration: Coordinate validation testing between Quality, Engineering, and Procurement to ensure ideas are approved without risking product performance.
• Supplier-Led Innovation: Facilitate VAVE workshops directly with key suppliers to uncover cost savings hidden in their manufacturing tiers or raw material supply chains.
• Project Management: Track a portfolio of cost-out projects from raw idea through testing, regulatory approval, and factory implementation [VAVE Project Manager].

• Manage complex, multi-team technical programs with multiple interconnected workstreams from kickoff through deployment.
• Translate product requirements into technical roadmaps, technical milestones, and engineering deliverables.
• Identify, track, and mitigate technical risks, technical bottlenecks, and resource constraints before they impact delivery dates.
• Own the program schedule, establishing realistic milestones, managing technical dependencies, and driving accountability across engineering squads.
• Participate in technical design reviews to ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with long-term infrastructure goals.
• Facilitate technical trade-off decisions between engineering and product teams, balancing speed-to-market against technical debt.
• Enforce engineering excellence standards, ensuring appropriate testing, code quality, security protocols, and documentation are integrated into the program lifecycle.

Communication & Stakeholder Alignment

• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for cross-functional stakeholders, including Product, Security, Compliance, and executive leadership.
• Synthesize complex technical status reports into clear, actionable executive updates, translating engineering metrics into business impacts.
• Lead post-mortems and root-cause analyses (RCA) for program failures or major deployment incidents to drive continuous process improvement.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or a hybrid technical-commercial field. Certification in Value Engineering (e.g., CVS or VMA) is highly preferred.

• Experience: 4–6 years managing technical cost-reduction or continuous improvement programs in a high-volume production sector (e.g., automotive, consumer electronics)
• Skills:Value engineering methodologies, financial acumen (ROI/TCO analysis), and strong project management capabilities.

What We Offer

Our benefits package is designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and life outside of work.

• Competitive compensation package, including base pay, regular salary reviews, and short-term incentive opportunities
• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage with eligibility starting day one
• Paid time off for vacation, holidays, sick time, and bereavement for eligible employees
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match up to 5 percent and immediate vesting
• Company-paid life insurance coverage to support you and your beneficiaries
• Wellness program supporting physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing, plus opportunities to volunteer and give back to your community
• Additional local benefits may apply depending on location or facility

Strattec is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to status as a protected veteran or a qualified individual with a disability, or other protected status such as race, religion, color, national origin, sex, and age.