Category Manager – Product Development & Engineering Services

Your role and your team:

We are looking for an ambitious and experienced Category Manager - Product Development, working closely with senior leadership in Program, Engineering and Quality, as well as major suppliers to ensure program objectives are met and stay on schedule. Reporting to the Head of General Procurement and Investments, you are responsible for the entire operational and strategic procurement activities for Engineering and Consulting Services. You will work with the Quality and Engineering teams to ensure that Lilium’s supply chain will comply to all necessary DOA part 21J requirements issued by EASA.

Procurement at Lilium means to work within a team of highly skilled experts managing the creation and establishment of a professional aircraft and non-aircraft supply base with the highest quality product available in time – while meeting technical corporate standards based on a complete new worldwide market eco system.  

Your Day to Day:

• Fully empowered to lead the Multi-functional team which will shape and manage the supply chain for Service Engineering
  o Create and evolve the Procurement Strategy & Policies aligned to the overarching company strategy
  o Sourcing Process - Market Assessment & Identify Potential Suppliers/Supplier Selection & Contracting
  o Orchestrating a global network of Strategic Engineering Suppliers suppliers to initiate best practice exchange and a continuous flow of innovations outside-in
  o Secure the delivery of Engineering services to safety, time, cost and quality targets
• Lead big scale supplier sourcing projects with end to end responsibility from start of analysis to ramp up at stable performance
• Ensure sufficient protection of Lilium Intellectual Property (IP) with systematic use of NDAs and IP sharing agreements. Work with Legal team to customize such agreements as required.
• Serves as a center of competence for the procurement of Value-added Services, and sporadically support the procurement of Consulting Services
• Supplier Monitoring
  o Performance control with high-responsive supply chain/supplier development, including cost improvement programmes
  o Ensure that Lilium uses only Approved Suppliers, compliant with DOA Part 21J
• Close co-operation with the Quality Engineering and Engineering teams during development projects to ensure full compliance to Lilium Quality Management System and to EASA Part 21J requirements
• High response & real-time work behaviour

Your Profile:

• Minimum qualifications/Education: mechanical engineering and/or business administration degree – excellent grade and industrial internships
• Procurement commodity position in a corporate with minimum experience in aerospace or automotive of three years, including “End to End” responsibility of implementing the purchase strategy with a minimum of two strategic supply chain projects
• Operations Purchase leadership position for value-add Services in a high technology environment for a minimum of three years
• Eager to learn and adopt his style to a start-up environment; puts the team first; robust and passionate to follow given objectives; uses failure as learning experience; excellent communicator; ability to facilitate workshops.
• Demonstrate cross-functional leadership within the company as well as with all the required roles of the supplier
• Excellent analysis and evaluation skills with a drive to challenge the status quo
• A strategic thinker with sound technical skills, analytical ability, good judgment and strong operational focus
• Must be a proactive, open, and direct communicator who engages comfortably and credibly with all levels of the organisation
• High personal influencing and negotiation skills. Strong leadership maturity and ability to lead through others.
• Knowledge of EASA Part 21J requirements is desirable
• Fluent in English. Practice of German or other languages is a plus.