Senior Director, Global Product Cost & PLM

Fluence; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Fluence seeks a Senior Director to lead the Product Lifecycle Management and Global Product Cost function. This high-visibility role governs end-to-end PLM, BOM, and cost data across markets, partnering with Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Commercial to drive cost-down execution and margin targets.

You will build and lead a team, report to executive leadership, and translate cost data into strategic narratives for the CFO, CEO, and Board while ensuring data accuracy in pricing

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field; MBA or equivalent is a plus.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in product management/operations, cost engineering, or supply chain leadership in battery energy storage or related hardware sectors.
• Direct experience leading PLM and product cost functions for complex configurable hardware at industrial scale.
• Proven ability to build and develop cross-functional teams and to manage cost-down initiatives across functions.
• Strong financial fluency, cost modeling, margin walks, and EAC discussions with executives.

Responsibilities

• Lead the PLM and Global Product Cost function; set strategy, policies, and cadence across markets and platforms.
• Own monthly review of rolling multi-quarter product cost curves with senior leadership; surface risks and cost-reduction status.
• Maintain standard product configurations across systems; ensure time-phased, current configuration data for pricing and quotes.
• Drive attainment of the corporate cost configuration commitments via governance forums; delegate ownership to market Product Managers.
• Chair change request governance; balance commercial responsiveness with cost and complexity.
• Oversee BOM governance across EBOM/MBOM/SBOM; ensure data consistency through design to field.
• Manage product data master policies and audit cadence; single source of truth for product definition and cost.
• Coordinate with Engineering on ECN/ECO and ensure updates reflect in PLM data and CPQ.
• Lead cross-functional cost-down execution with Supply Chain, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Engineering.
• Represent the function in executive reviews with CFO/CEO/Board; translate data into decisions.
• Partner with Engineering on NPI cost validation and component-level cost-down.
• Collaborate with Commercial on bid governance, pricing strategy, and margin trajectory.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Financial fluency

PLM governance

Cost governance

Education

Engineering degree (B.S./M.S.)

MBA or commercial training

Tools

Windchill

Teamcenter

Arena

SAP PLM

CPQ systems (e.g., Salesforce CPQ)

Job description

Fluence seeks a Senior Director to lead the Product Lifecycle Management and Global Product Cost function. This high-visibility role governs end-to-end PLM, BOM, and cost data across markets, partnering with Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Commercial to drive cost-down execution and margin targets.

You will build and lead a team, report to executive leadership, and translate cost data into strategic narratives for the CFO, CEO, and Board while ensuring data accuracy in pricing