Purchasing Director, Raw Materials

Magna International Limited; Troy (MI); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Magna Exteriors seeks a Purchasing Director, Raw Materials to lead regional sourcing, supplier management, and cost performance. You will develop commodity strategies, drive negotiations, and ensure cross‑group alignment across Engineering, Operations, Finance, and regional teams.

Responsibilities include leading supplier relationships, cost reductions, market intelligence, and strategic sourcing, with 25% travel. Fluency in business English and automotive industry experience are highly valued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, Supply Chain, Purchasing, or equivalent.
• MBA or relevant certification preferred.
• Experience in Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Commodity Management, or Supply Chain within manufacturing; automotive experience preferred.
• Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, and problem‑solving skills.
• Business‑fluent English; additional languages are an advantage.
• High proficiency with MS Office, SAP, or comparable ERP systems.

Responsibilities

• Define regional raw material sourcing objectives aligned with leadership direction, business priorities, regional requirements, and procurement policies.
• Develop and execute commodity strategies to improve value, leverage, standardization, supplier competitiveness, and total cost.
• Lead strategic sourcing, competitive bidding, supplier selection, pre-qualification, award recommendations, and contract negotiations.
• Manage regional raw material supplier relationships to ensure competitive conditions, supply continuity, and compliance with standards.
• Coordinate Commodity/Lead Buyers and regional purchasing teams to deliver sourcing, budget, cost reduction, and performance targets.
• Provide market intelligence on pricing, cost drivers, supply-demand dynamics, lead times, supplier capabilities, and risks.
• Drive cost reductions through negotiation, leverage, supplier rationalization, benchmarking, cost modeling, value chain analysis, and process optimization.
• Support product development and early supplier engagement to improve sourcing readiness, supply chain efficiency, and lifecycle cost.
• Ensure cross-group cooperation and alignment to clarify requirements, resolve constraints, align priorities, and deliver business results.
• Act as escalation point for supplier performance, commercial disputes, capacity constraints, operational issues, and alignment needs.
• Perform additional duties as directed, including responsibilities inherent to the role or required by operational needs.
• Travel is required to support regional sourcing activities (25%).

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Communication

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analytics

Forecasting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, Supply Chain, Purchasing, or equivalent

MBA or relevant certification

Tools

MS Office

SAP

Job description

Job descriptions may display in multiple languages based on your language selection.

What We Offer

At Magna, you can expect an engaging and dynamic environment where you can help to develop industry-leading automotive technologies. We invest in our employees, providing them with the support and resources they need to succeed. As a member of our global team, you can expect exciting, varied responsibilities as well as a wide range of development prospects. Because we believe that your career path should be as unique as you are.

Group Summary

The Magna Exteriors portfolio of products includes access systems such as liftgates, exterior trim, modular systems, front-end modules including fascia, active aerodynamic systems and other lightweight structural components for automotive, commercial truck and other industrial markets.

Recognized globally as an innovator in all aspects of vehicle exteriors, Magna provides everything needed, from materials development and design through manufacturing and assembly, to help automakers create sleek, state-of-the­-art vehicles across the world.

Job Responsibilities

The Purchasing Director, Raw Materials leads regional sourcing, supplier management, cost performance, and risk mitigation for assigned raw material commodities, ensuring compliance with procurement policies and standards.

The role develops regional commodity strategies, drives competitive bidding and negotiations, provides market intelligence, and optimizes cost, leverage, standardization, material availability, and supplier performance.

The position ensures cross-group cooperation and alignment with Engineering, Operations, Quality, Finance, regional purchasing teams, business units, and other Magna groups to support sourcing readiness, cost reduction, and supply chain resilience. Business travel is required.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Define regional raw material sourcing objectives aligned with leadership direction, business priorities, regional requirements, and procurement policies.
• Develop and execute commodity strategies to improve value, leverage, standardization, supplier competitiveness, and total cost.
• Lead strategic sourcing, competitive bidding, supplier selection, pre-qualification, award recommendations, and contract negotiations.
• Manage regio 1l raw material supplier relationships to ensure competitive conditions, supply continuity, and compliance with standards.
• Coordinate Commodity/Lead Buyers and regional purchasing teams to deliver sourcing, budget, cost reduction, and performance targets.
• Manage supplier performance frameworks covering quality, delivery, cost, service, capacity, availability, compliance, and corrective actions.
• Provide market intelligence on pricing, cost drivers, supply-demand dynamics, lead times, supplier capabilities, and risks.
• Maintain supply chain risk mapping, contingency plans, capacity oversight, and mitigation actions for critical raw material risks.
• Drive cost reductions through negotiation, leverage, supplier rationalization, benchmarking, cost modeling, value chain analysis, and process optimization.
• Support product development and early supplier engagement to improve sourcing readiness, supply chain efficiency, and lifecycle cost.
• Ensure cross-group cooperation and alignment to clarify requirements, resolve constraints, align priorities, and deliver business results.
• Act as escalation point for supplier performance, commercial disputes, capacity constraints, operational issues, and alignment needs.
• Perform additional duties as directed, including responsibilities inherent to the role or required by operational needs.

Financial Responsibility

• Own budgeting, cost planning, forecasting, variance analysis, and corrective actions for assigned raw material commodities.
• Deliver cost reduction and cost impact targets through sourcing, negotiation, supplier improvement, and commodity strategy execution.
• Track and report cost reductions, budget impacts, and purchasing performance across divisions and regions.

Leadership Responsibility

• Lead and develop the regional purchasing team, fostering accountability, cross-group alignment, cost discipline, best-practice sharing, and internal customer focus.
• Hire, train, coach, motivate, and develop employees in accordance with Magna policies, applicable laws, and company standards.
• Plan, assign, review, and evaluate work; address issues; and maintain effective succession plans.

Health, Safety and Environmental Responsibility

• Ensure all safety and non-safety rules and regulations are followed
• Ensure adherence to established quality and housekeeping standards
• Review and adhere to health and safety, environmental, and quality standards, operating procedures, and policies
• Respond immediately to items brought to his/her attention with respect to hazards, defects or non-compliance issues
• Understand and uphold the policies that prohibit workplace violence and harassment
• In addition to the above, the duties include those specified under the Occupational Health & Safety Act

Qualifications

Requirements and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, Supply Chain, Purchasing, or equivalent qualification; MBA or relevant certification preferred.
• Several years of progressive experience in Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Commodity Management, or Supply Chain within manufacturing; automotive experience preferred.
• Strong expertise in sourcing, supplier management, contract and price negotiation, cost analysis, cost breakdowns, and international contract law.
• Strategic, analytical, commercially driven mindset with strong problem‑solving, decision‑making, communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional, regional teams and strengthen cross‑group cooperation and alignment.
• Strong leadership capability, resilience, self‑motivation, hands‑on mentality, and ability to perform effectively under pressure.
• Strong financial acumen, data analytics capability, and proficiency in cost reporting, KPI tracking, forecasting, and budget management.
• Business‑fluent English; additional languages are an advantage.
• High proficiency with MS Office, SAP, or comparable ERP systems; commitment to Magna Charter, company policies, IATF 16949, ISO 14001, and applicable health, safety, environmental, and quality standards.

Physical Demands/Work Environment

• While working in this environment, the employee will be exposed to machinery, moving equipment and material, moderate noise, airborne particles, fumes and various levels of temperature created by manufacturing processes
• 25% Travel required

Awareness, Unity, Empowerment

At Magna, we believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success. That’s why we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We hire on the basis of experience and qualifications, and in consideration of job requirements, regardless of, in particular, color, ancestry, religion, gender, origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability or gender identity. Magna takes the privacy of your personal information seriously. We discourage you from sending applications via email or traditional mail to comply with GDPR requirements and your local Data Privacy Law.

AI-Assisted Screening Disclosure

As part of our commitment to a fair, consistent, and efficient recruitment process, we may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the initial screening of applications submitted through our Workday system. These tools help identify qualifications and experience that align with the role requirements. Please note that AI is used solely to support our recruiters. Final decisions are always made by the hiring manager and the hiring team. Importantly, no applicant data is shared externally through these AI tools. All information remains securely within our systems and is handled in accordance with our privacy and data protection policies.

Under conditions defined by applicable law, you may have the right to request an explanation of how AI is used to support decision‑making.

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, feel free to contact our Talent Attraction team.

Worker Type

Regular / Permanent

Group

Magna Exteriors