Mobius Motors - Kenya Operations Director
Mobius is an early stage social business working to enable mobility across Africa by transforming its automotive market. We recognise that appropriate transport is a key enabler to socio-economic development in deprived communities across the developing world and aim to unlock this vast potential by designing, manufacturing and selling a new vehicle for Africa, starting in Kenya.
We are seeking a minimum two year commitment from an exceptional early-mid career automotive professional to lead the end-to-end development of vehicle production operations, including initial rollout and scale-up of manufacturing, procurement and supply chain management functions – a truly unique opportunity to create impact on a global scale. The role will require a close working relationship with the venture's CEO, Supply Chain Associate, Automotive Engineer, Cost Engineer, Marketing Associate and future manufacturing, procurement and logistics teams as well as various international vendors. Specific duties include, but are not limited to:
Production Management
- Create and review a production scaling strategy – considering capital investment, cash flow, volume targets, human resource, external suppliers etc. – with CEO and Operations group.
- Create and review a detailed production plan both for initial delivery of 2012 production units and longer-term scaling of production volume with CEO and Operations group.
- Lead overarching production operations to ensure end-to-end delivery of high quality vehicles – ensuring full compliance with local vehicle regulations – against annual production targets.
- Collaborate with R&D group to ensure manufacturability and cost-efficiency of on-going design and engineering work.
- Collaborate with Sales & Marketing group to ensure on-going production schedules meet short-term vehicle orders and longer-term customer demand requirements.
- Lead a growing team of manufacturing, procurement and supply chain staff; including on-going performance review feedback to members of your team.
- Support supply chain function to identify, evaluate and select suppliers and contract manufacturers to deliver the production of cost-effective vehicle parts and subassemblies.
- Support supply chain function to define sourcing and schedule requirements and material ramp strategy for progressively sourced domestic production components.
- Support supply chain function to critically evaluate key Tier 1 suppliers and determine appropriate improvement and incentive strategies.
- Identify optimal scope of initial internal vehicle production capability (potentially within Kenya) with CEO, Operations group and key expert advisors.
- Lead end-to-end setup of initial vehicle production facility with external equipment and constructor suppliers and oversee staff training program to ensure a skilled workforce.
- Support all involved functions to ensure continuous operation and maximal achievable efficiency of the internal production line.
- Support manufacturing function to identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities across the production line ensuring minimal disruption to the output of the line.
- Support manufacturing function to identify and implement best practice lean manufacturing methodologies into a rapidly evolving internal production capability and factory infrastructure.
- Support supply chain function to identify logistics requirements and other operational needs that may significantly impact the successful delivery of production and total cost of product.
- Approve all commercial terms and conditions with suppliers for the procurement and delivery of parts, materials, tools, equipment and services.
- Act as senior contact point for key supplier relationships and activities, both strategic and tactical, for components and subsystems.
- Provide timely support as needed with critical manufacturing, procurement and supply chain issues, including on-site implementations and cross-functional process improvements.
- Work flexibly in a highly cross-functional team environment involving Supply Chain Associate, Automotive Designer, Automotive Engineer, Cost Engineer as well as future manufacturing and product development teams, buyers, Manufacturing Engineers, Quality Engineers and Logistics Coordinators and Finance personnel.
Project Management
- Take ownership of projects; plan milestones, timelines, budgets, resources and identify potential risks to deliver supply chain aspects within agreed completion dates.
- Be proactive regarding task completion and periodically advise wider team on project status, timing, resources, issues, and ability to deliver on-time with excellence.
- Ensure adherence and compliance to general automotive industry production standards and best practices; maintain structured and versioned data outputs daily and backup data weekly.
- Work as an active member of the team, ensure effective communication between colleagues and positively contribute regularly to meetings and briefings.
Qualifications
An ideal candidate should combine outstanding technical skills in engineering and operations management with excellent interpersonal and communication skills to work effectively with a multidisciplinary team. They should possess a strong skill set in leading multi-function teams, defining operations strategy and identifying continuous improvement opportunities along with experience in managing global suppliers, production line configurations and new product introductions - preferably within the automotive industry.
Required
- Bachelor degree (minimum) in Operations Research, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Business, Economics or similar
- 3.4 GPA or higher from a top university worldwide
- 2+ years related experience in mechanical engineering, production line operations, purchasing management, supply chain management or international logistics
- Exceptional leadership and clear sense of direction
- Extreme patience and a good sense of humour
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills to build strong rapport with others
- Excellent creative questioning approach
- Excellent knowledge of strategy and operational planning
- Excellent business acumen, organisational and strategic agility
- Exceptional integrity and a strong sense of ethics
- Exceptional persistence and endurance to overcome significant challenges
- Strong negotiation and persuasion skills
- Deep knowledge of manufacturing, equipment and processes within final assembly, body shop, paint shop and powertrain
- Broad knowledge of global automotive market and associated industries
- Ability to take ownership and accountability of project timeline and results
- Ability to manage difficult suppliers and resolve disputes while preserving relationships with suppliers and internal staff
- Excellent problem solving ability in cross-functional and multi-cultural environment; able to define problems, collect relevant data, extract meaning from data, and draw valid conclusions
- Exceptional analytical skills with regards to logistics analysis, data manipulation, and the ability to create information from data; including analysis of product costs, lead-time, project and production scheduling
- Ability to interpret both abstract and concrete concepts to develop a real-world understanding of logistics operations and requirements
- Ability to effectively communicate timelines and project progress with both internal and external management teams
- Global business perspective, with experience in manufacturing organisations
- Strong technical writing ability; able to read and interpret mechanical drawings
- Proficiency in Excel, Project, Power Point, Word, Access, Visio
- High sense of drive and urgency in achieving our vision
- Ability to adapt to a dynamic working environment and work within a diverse team
- A start-up personality; entrepreneurial, ambitious, independent, systematic attention to detail, structured thinker, goal-oriented, flexible and able to deal well with setbacks
- Comfort with spending 10-30% of time travelling internationally, possibly on short notice
Desired
- Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree from a top university worldwide
- Masters degree (or higher) in Operations Research, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Economics or similar
- 4+ years related experience in mechanical engineering, production line operations, purchasing management, supply chain management or international logistics
- Fluency in Kiswahili (the national language of Kenya)
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Mobius Motors - Kenya Operations Director
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