Senior Manager Global Strategy & Footprint (m/w/d)

Your Role

As Senior Manager Global Footprint & Strategy, you will shape the global production footprint and drive the strategic direction within Operations Transportation. This role combines two key areas of responsibility: executing the strategy within Global Operations Transportation and initiating global strategic operations activities.
In addition, you will have full line management responsibility for a dedicated team, fostering development and ensuring high performance.
You will work closely with Global Operations Management Leaders as well as international senior executives and directors, ensuring seamless alignment through strong collaboration with all relevant stakeholders. In doing so, you will play a pivotal role in advancing the strategic development of global operations. In this role, you will report directly to the Vice President Global OPS Projects & Strategy and Global OPS IndustrialFiltration.

Your Challenge

• Define strategic projects in collaboration with the Operations Transportation leadership team
• Implement harmonized processes across the group to ensure effective strategy execution
• Organize and continuously enhance the group-wide strategy execution process
• Anticipate future requirements and drive continuous improvement of processes and systems in collaboration with relevant teams
• Develop and disseminate best practices and frameworks to strengthen strategic thinking across the organization
• Ensure and maintain high governance standards
• Initiate and manage global strategic activities within Global Operations Transportation to achieve operational excellence
• Coordinate global production footprint analyses and optimize the production setup
• Collaborate with Business Units to define the most efficient global operations setup to meet worldwide customer requirements
• Analyze optimal production targets and footprints for new products and market growth
• Promote cross-functional knowledge sharing to develop optimized production layouts and guiding principles for standardized, product-type-specific layouts
• Assess the commercial impact of decisions related to production footprint and layout

Your Profile

• Education: Successfully completed degree with a focus on production or manufacturing engineering
• Professional Experience: At least 5 years of experience in procurement and/or category management within an international corporate environment
• Expertise:
  • Solid project management expertise with the ability to design, structure, and successfully execute projects and activities in a complex, cross-functional matrix organization
  • Proven experience in leading demanding, cross-functional projects and strategic initiatives – including efficient planning, active issue tracking, and proactive communication of progress against defined milestones
  • Extensive experience in managing global and strategic projects as well as implementing international, cross-functional activities
  • Strong leadership skills combined with coaching and mentoring capabilities to develop teams and ensure effective people management
• Language Skills:
  • Excellent command of English and at least good proficiency in German, both written and spoken
• Personality:
  • Strategic mindset combined with the ability to quickly and effectively execute short-term priorities
  • High flexibility and confidence in managing changing requirements and competing priorities
  • Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills, including experience in collaborating with senior leadership at the highest level
  • Strong interpersonal skills to build trust and maintain robust relationships internally and externally
  • High level of initiative, openness to new ideas, and the ability to assess risks in a well-founded manner

Social Benefits

• You will work with a high degree of autonomy and decision-making authority
• Performance-based compensation and comprehensive social benefits
• Trust-based working time (depending on the position), plus 30 days of vacation
• Hybrid working model (4 days on-site in Ludwigsburg, 1 day remote) – for employees with children under 12: 3 days on-site, 2 days remote
• Everyone has Talent: Our talent management process supports your professional development
• On-site company restaurant
• Reserved spots in a nearby private daycare center (both under-3 and over-3 places available)
• Modern company pension plan as a supplement to your statutory retirement insurance
• Additional private health insurance (e.g., dental coverage)
• Access to numerous discounts via our Corporate Benefits portal (e.g., travel, fashion, insurance, and more)
• Mobility benefits: Subsidy for the Deutschlandticket, JobRad leasing, and e-charging stations in the free company parking garage with a special company charging rate