Robotics NPD & Strategic Partnerships Lead

Tennant Company; Eden Prairie (MN); On-site; USD 123,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation time

8 paid holidays and 3 personal days

Dental and vision coverage

Wellness rewards

Disability and life insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

Tennant Company in Eden Prairie, MN is seeking a Senior Manager – Strategic Partnerships and Global NPD to lead the team of NPD sourcing professionals and accelerate robotics venture growth. This role owns end-to-end sourcing, governance, and cross-functional integration across Robotics and Core Tennant.

You will develop and manage strategic partnerships, negotiate complex contracts, and drive speed to market through phase-gate processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree with MBA preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of related work experience.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience leading and developing teams.
• Experience with developing and negotiating complex contracts.
• Strong understanding of strategic sourcing and market dynamics in different regions.
• Microsoft Office proficiency – including Excel and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

• Lead NPD sourcing execution across programs, prioritizing activities, resources, and decisions based on program requirements, risk, and enterprise value.
• Establish visibility and governance for NPD sourcing performance, risks, decisions, and escalations enabling early supply chain risk mitigations and ownership clarity.
• Aligning with Robotics Venture long term vision, strategy and values, own and continuously improve the Robotics NPD Supply Chain process, including sourcing tools, processes, the NPD Sourcing Checklist, and phase-gate requirements.
• Lead or assist in identification, assessment, selection and onboarding of strategic sourced product partners, including market analysis, RFx activities, company assessments, and commercial evaluation.
• Lead or assist in developing and negotiating complex commercial agreements covering cost, capacity, quality, delivery, flexibility, and future product-growth requirements.
• Develop scalable partnership and sourcing models across contract manufacturing, private label, sourced finished products, joint ventures, M&A, and other strategic business arrangements to allow Robotics to select and deploy the appropriate business model based on speed, investment, economics, risk, control, and strategic value.
• Own management of Robotics sourced product category by owning end to end lifecycle.
• Partner with Engineering, Operations, Program Management, and Supply Chain to establish make/buy strategies and embed design-for-supply-chain principles early in product development enabling Product and sourcing decisions optimize manufacturability, supply availability, cost, capacity, and launch readiness while reducing late-stage supply chain risk.
• Drive cross-functional alignment on sourcing strategies by partnering with category management on supplier selections, commercial trade-offs, and significant supply chain decisions ensuring key stakeholders’ accountabilities, enabling faster execution with fewer late-stage changes.
• Partner with Global Strategic Supply and Operations to manage supply-base readiness and performance for new product launches ensuring suppliers meet required cost, quality, delivery, and launch-readiness expectations.
• Lead, coach, and develop the NPD Sourcing team to create a high-performing organization that has the capability and accountability required to support Robotics growth.
• Model the Robotics Venture values of Bold, Creative, Decisive, Focused, and Transparent in sourcing and partnership decisions thus creating a team culture that is comfortable operating with greater speed, constructive challenge, transparency, accountability, and willingness to learn and adapt.
• Communicate decisions and rationale candidly, share material successes and failures promptly, and elevate when action is required. Effectively communicate upward in the organization for reporting on key performance indicators and for escalation purposes.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Supply chain management

Leadership

Contract negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Excel

PowerPoint

Education

Bachelor’s Degree with MBA preferred

Tools

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Tennant Company in Eden Prairie, MN is seeking a Senior Manager – Strategic Partnerships and Global NPD to lead the team of NPD sourcing professionals and accelerate robotics venture growth. This role owns end-to-end sourcing, governance, and cross-functional integration across Robotics and Core Tennant.

You will develop and manage strategic partnerships, negotiate complex contracts, and drive speed to market through phase-gate processes.