Auburn Hills
Advanced Project Buyer
As a successful family-owned company on a path to global growth, the Brose Group offers challenging responsibilities and exciting career opportunities to performance-driven, skilled specialists with solid professional knowledge and proven career expertise who wish to contribute to our company’s success.
Your Tasks
- Support the early stages of new automotive programs by identifying cost optimization opportunities, evaluating manufacturing concepts, and contributing to competitive product cost targets.
- Collaborate closely with Engineering, Product Development, and Suppliers to evaluate component designs, materials, manufacturing processes, and technical specifications to identify design-to-cost opportunities before design freeze.
- Analyze engineering drawings, CAD models, and component specifications to assess manufacturability, cost drivers, and potential design improvements.
- Develop should-cost estimates, component cost breakdowns, and cost benchmarks considering raw materials, manufacturing processes, tooling, labor, and other relevant cost factors.
- Research and evaluate potential suppliers, emerging technologies, and alternative manufacturing solutions based on technical capabilities, cost competitiveness, quality, and feasibility.
- Support new business acquisitions by providing preliminary cost estimates, supplier assessments, and technical purchasing input during the quotation and concept development phases.
- Monitor raw material markets, commodity pricing trends, and manufacturing technologies to identify opportunities for improved cost competitiveness.
- Work cross-functionally with Commodity Buyers, Project Buyers, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Program Management, and Customer Teams to communicate recommendations and support purchasing decisions.
- Prepare cost analyses, business cases, supplier evaluations, and recommendations for management review.
- Coordinate the handover of identified cost-saving opportunities, supplier recommendations, and technical findings to Commodity Buyers for formal sourcing execution.
- Support project purchasing activities, acquisition documentation, and administrative coordination as needed.
Your Profile
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering highly preferred, particularly Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or a related engineering discipline. Applied experience in technical aspects of automotive product development and manufacturing preferred.
- 5–8 years of relevant experience in the automotive industry, preferably within a Tier 1 automotive supplier.
- Strong understanding of automotive manufacturing processes, particularly metal stamping, welding, metal fabrication, tooling, and component manufacturing.
- Experience interpreting engineering drawings, CAD models, and technical specifications to evaluate component design, manufacturability, and cost.
- Demonstrated experience in cost engineering, should-cost modeling, cost breakdown analysis, design-to-cost, or value engineering.
- Experience supporting automotive product development, new business acquisitions, advanced purchasing, or early supplier involvement.
- Ability to identify and evaluate supplier capabilities, manufacturing technologies, and alternative production processes.
- Experience with automotive seating systems, seat structures, or metal-intensive automotive components preferred.
- Understanding of automotive product development processes, program timing, and supplier qualification requirements.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate technical information into actionable cost improvement recommendations.
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills, particularly when working with Engineering, Purchasing, and Program Management.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications; experience with SAP, commodity pricing indices, or cost analysis tools preferred.
- Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and contribute to projects in a fast-paced automotive environment.