SA Supply Chain Operations Manager

Lead the Supply Chain Center of Excellence (CoE) for South America ensuring standardized efficient and compliant processes across Direct and Indirect Purchasing Business Office and Purchasing Systems. The role governs policies processes and systems secures audit and regulatory compliance and provides performance visibility to management. A critical mandate is to lead for South America the business side of the IERP program driving the successful implementation and adoption of SAP S/4HANA and Ariba for Supply Chain and Purchasing enabling datadriven decisions and sustainable operational excellence.

Main Activities / Key Responsibilities

• Process Governance and Standardization
  • Lead the definition mapping documentation and continuous improvement of endtoend Direct and Indirect Purchasing processes across South America.
  • Ensure alignment with global standards internal controls legal and compliance requirements harmonizing practices across countries and plants.
  • Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for Supply Chain and Purchasing processes and drive corrective/improvement actions.
• Policy Procedure and Audit Management
  • Own and maintain regional Supply Chain and Purchasing policies procedures work instructions and standards ensuring regular review and updates.
  • Plan coordinate and support internal and external audits related to Purchasing (e.g. ISO9001 MCRP SA DRIM AFR campaigns OIC Direct & Indirect Purchasing).
  • Lead the response to audit findings define corrective actions track implementation and embed lessons learned into processes and systems.
• Business Office Leadership
  • Manage Business Office routines for South America Supply Chain including governance calendars meeting preparation and action followup.
  • Consolidate and analyze performance data preparing management reports dashboards and executive presentations that provide clear visibility of results risks and opportunities.
  • Support regional and global leadership in strategic planning target setting and tracking of major initiatives.
• Purchasing Systems Ownership
  • Act as regional business owner for Purchasing and Supply Chain systems and tools in coordination with global process owners and IT.
  • Ensure robust system configuration data quality master data governance and proper access management.
  • Provide guidance and support to users including issue resolution enhancement requests and coordination of training needs.
• IERP (SAP S/4HANA & Ariba) Leadership South America
  • Lead from the business side the South America implementation of SAP S/4HANA and Ariba for Supply Chain and Purchasing (IERP).
  • Coordinate the collection and validation of business requirements process design and solution blueprinting ensuring fitforpurpose and standardized processes.
  • Oversee integration testing user acceptance testing data migration preparation and validation cutover planning and postgolive stabilization.
  • Develop and execute changemanagement communication and training plans to drive strong user adoption and realize expected benefits.
  • Act as key interface between regional business teams and global program/IT ensuring timely issue resolution and decisionmaking.
• Stakeholder Management and Continuous Improvement
  • Coordinate crossfunctional and crosscountry teams (Purchasing Supply Chain Finance IT Plants and Corporate functions) to ensure consistent deployment of processes and systems.
  • Identify optimization opportunities in cost quality lead time compliance and data reliability; prioritize and lead or sponsor related improvement projects.
  • Promote a culture of process discipline digitalization and continuous improvement across the South America Supply Chain organization.

Profile / Requirements

Education

• University degree in Engineering Business Administration Supply Chain Management Information Systems or related field.
• Postgraduate degree or MBA is a plus.

Professional Experience

• Solid experience in Supply Chain and/or Purchasing preferably in a multinational and multiplant environment.
• Proven track record in process governance standardization and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex crossfunctional projects; prior ERP implementation experience (ideally SAP S/4HANA and/or Ariba) is strongly preferred.
• Experience with audits compliance programs and policy/procedure management.

Technical and Functional Skills

• Strong knowledge of Purchasing and Supply Chain processes (Direct and Indirect).
• Good understanding of ERP systems; handson familiarity with SAP and eProcurement solutions (e.g. Ariba) is highly valued.
• Experience working with Agile methodologies (e.g. Scrum Kanban or SAFe) in project delivery including backlog management sprint or increment planning and iterative delivery.
• Competence in process mapping and documentation tools; experience with KPI design and performance dashboards (e.g. Excel Power BI or similar).
• Solid analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and translate it into actionable insights.

Languages

• Fluency in Portuguese and/or Spanish.

Fluency in English required for regional and global interaction.

. Competencies and Behaviors

Aligned with Ford Behaviors Focus Excellence and Collaboration:

• Focus
  • Sets clear priorities and focuses the organization on the highestvalue Supply Chain and IERP outcomes for South America.
  • Translates strategy into an executable roadmap ensuring resources and attention are directed to what matters most for customers and the business.
• Excellence
  • Drives disciplined execution process rigor and high standards in policies audits data quality and systems usage.
  • Uses data and structured problemsolving to deliver continuous improvement in cost quality timing and compliance.
  • Champions best practices and lessons learned from audits and projects embedding them into standard work.
• Collaboration
  • Builds strong trustbased relationships across countries plants and functions (Supply Chain Purchasing Finance IT global CoEs).
  • Facilitates crossfunctional alignment resolves conflicts constructively and creates a one team mindset for IERP and operational initiatives.
  • Communicates clearly and transparently ensuring stakeholders are informed engaged and heard.

Additional Behavioral Capabilities

• Change Leadership:Guides teams through transformation particularly digital and ERP changes with strong emphasis on communication training and user adoption.
• Results Orientation:Delivers on commitments manages priorities and deadlines and ensures projects achieve expected outcomes in terms of cost quality and timing.
• Customer and Stakeholder Focus:Balances global standards with local needs; actively listens to internal customers and provides pragmatic valueadding solutions.
• Integrity and Compliance Mindset:Acts as a role model for ethical behavior policy adherence and audit readiness.

5. Key Interfaces

• Regional Purchasing Supply Chain and Logistics teams
• Plant and Country management in South America
• Finance Controlling and Compliance functions
• Global Supply Chain and Purchasing Centers of Excellence
• Global IERP (SAP S/4HANA & Ariba) program team and IT organization
• External auditors consultants and solution providers (as needed)

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