Director, Category Management - Mechanics

Position Summary

The Director, Category Management - Mechanics is a strategic leader accountable for owning and executing a comprehensive, forward-looking sourcing and supplier strategy to build a resilient global supplier network and drive innovation and value creation across the Mechanics category.   The leader will shape ASM’s long-term sourcing roadmap, create leverage, negotiate contracts and ensure cost, quality, and supplier excellence.

As part of the ASM’s Global Sourcing leadership team, the Category leader will collaborate closely with Engineering, Operations, Quality, and Business Units to translate business needs into strategic sourcing solutions — enabling ASM to scale globally with resilience, agility, and technological leadership.

ASM products use a variety of machining, sheet metal and plastic fabrication parts that are built-to-print per ASM design. These categories encompass close to 20% of ASM’s total direct spend and cover a number of parts that are critical to deliver the technology that ASM develops for its customers. The category leader will need to engage supply partners who are able to deliver to ASM’s next-gen precision manufacturing requirements, while understanding raw materials, and outside process requirements and continually looking for opportunities to improve the supply base.

What you will be working on

Architect a Future-Ready Supply Base

• Develop and execute a 3–5 years global category sourcing strategy, ensuring our supplier capabilities are 2-3 years ahead of product introduction
• Achieve year-over-year total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction through deep technical value engineering, not just negotiation.
• Establish a "Zero-Defect" quality culture with key suppliers, driving toward Six Sigma levels and achieving a >95% OTD for complex, long-lead items.
• Continually evaluate new suppliers that can vertically integrate and scale with ASM. Uplevel the commercial relationships with key partners through Supplier Relationship Management programs that help to deliver long-term value for ASM.

 Technical Leadership & Supplier Innovation

• Act as the primary technical authority for your category, leveraging deep expertise to evaluate emerging technologies and supplier capabilities.
• Drive supplier-led innovation, establishing joint development roadmaps that result in the adoption of at least two new technologies or processes per year.
• Champion early supplier involvement in New Product Introduction (NPI), thereby significantly reducing time-to-market.
• Be able to engage engineering and suppliers on technical level discussions on design and opportunities to improve yield, quality and costs.

Team Leadership & Development:

• Build, coach, and develop a high-performing, global sourcing team.
• Foster a culture of excellence and data-driven decision-making, leveraging tools like SAP S/4HANA, Power BI and other analytics tools.
• Achieve high team retention rate through active mentorship and development planning.
• Influence and manage internal stakeholders such as manufacturing, quality, purchasing, planning, business units and finance. Ensure team responsiveness towards supporting cross functional initiatives that relate to continuity of supply, cost management, quality enhancement, lead time reduction, capacity management, etc.

Operational Excellence & Execution

• Own end-to-end supplier relationship management, implementing standardized scorecards and metrics, holding quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and driving continuous improvement.
• Lead cross-functional efficiency programs and improvements to reduce overhead, lead times, liabilities and costs.
• Ensure supply chain resilience by developing and maintaining robust business continuity plans, including second sourcing, raw materials management other relevant potential risks to cover short term and Long-Range-Planning.

 What we are looking for

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, engineering, materials science or equivalent degree.
• Minimum of 15 years of progressive strategic sourcing, procurement, or engineering experience in a high-mix, low-volume / high-complexity manufacturing environment (e.g., semiconductor, aerospace, medical devices).
• Proven track record in managing complex global supply chains and categories such as mechanical systems, advanced materials, contract manufacturing, or electrical categories.
• Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills, and experience managing suppliers across globally.
• Demonstrated leadership in driving sourcing transformation and building high-performing teams.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, technology-driven industry with demanding supply chain challenges.
• Experience using SAP/S4 Hana preferred.
• Deep technical acumen in the Mechanics category
  • Mechanics: Expertise in managing a global network of suppliers for complex machine components, sheet metal, frames, plastics and special processes. You need to understand precision manufacturing, tolerances, design standards, raw materials properties, surface cleaning and treatment, and material science for ultra-high vacuum and plasma environments.

What sets you apart

• Excellent written and verbal Communication skills. Can clearly and succinctly articulate clear strategies and action plans. Are able to deliver dynamic presentations to share information, drive alignment, update and influence to various levels of audiences.
• Strategic Visionary: You anticipate technological shifts and build supply chains to capitalize on them.
• Influential Leader: You build trust and exert influence at the highest levels, both internally and with supplier executive teams.
• Relentless Problem-Solver: You thrive on solving problems that have no existing solution.
• Business Acumen: You seamlessly translate a technical challenge into its financial and strategic implications for ASM.
• Proactive, entrepreneurial mindset with continuous improvement orientation.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, technology-driven industry with demanding supply chain challenges.

Job's mission

As a key member of our Global Supplier Development team, this role supports the organization's objective to strengthen supplier capability, elevate design and manufacturing performance, and ensure long-term supply resilience across our global network. The mission of the team is to proactively build supplier maturity, drive continuous improvement, and align supplier capability growth with mid- and long-term category strategies to support product quality, operational excellence, and New Product Introduction (NPI) readiness.

What you will be working on

• Assess supplier quality and technology gaps, and execute plans to address them.
• Review and influence Design Engineering early in design phase to achieve target costs and DFx. Identify areas for cost down during design phase plus manufacturing methods and eliminate waste.
• Evaluate supplier processes and risks; collaborate to improve capabilities through lean supplier development methods (i.e. six sigma) and implement mitigation plans.
• Apply engineering and material science expertise with suppliers to boost capacity, product quality, yield and reduce costs.
• Partner with Category leaders to drive long-term category strategies to support aggressive production scaling.
• Align development efforts with long-term category strategies and develop partners within the suppliers.
• Conduct on-site supplier assessments (capabilities, MSA, PCS/SPCE, etc) and identify gaps during selection.
• Implement improvement plans with suppliers to ensure readiness and support NPI.
• Coordinate globally with Business/Key Product Unit Engineering teams to meet end-use specifications.
• Advance manufacturing capabilities, DFMEA / FMEA, and implement Process Control Systems, PFMEA, at key sites.
• Support statistical PCS / SPC (lean six sigma) data analysis for internal and external stakeholders.
• Perform root cause failure analysis and report findings to relevant teams.
• Lead supplier engagement, support surveillance audits, and qualification activities globally.
• Independently manage supplier improvement projects, including onboarding training and qualification.
• Oversee multiple projects to resolve issues and enhance product performance, reliability, and efficiency.
• Lead / mentor group of Supplier Development team on best practices and develop skillsets to support group growth and expansion

What we are looking for

• MS, or PhD preferred, in Engineering, Science, or related technical field (Engineering, Physics, Material Sciences) relevant to semiconductor equipment, or proven expertise.
• At least 10 years of experience or significant expertise in engineering, designing, and manufacturing of complex mechanical systems.
• Experience in the semiconductor capital equipment industry with technical background in semiconductor manufacturing technologies required.
• Strong English communication skills for complex technical topics.
• Effective collaboration across regions, cultures, and disciplines.
• Proven Lead Engineer in matrix environments and ability to work independently while managing a team.
• Proficient in project and time management skills required
• Drive business process efficiencies and improvements with key internal stakeholders

Candidate should have knowledge of the following tools, but will be trained to more advanced levels in:

• Applied Operational and Engineering Statistical Methods
• Process Control Systems (PCS) and Statistical Process Control (SPC)
• FMEA include Design FMEA (DFMEA) and Process FMEA (PFMEA)
• Structured Problem Solving (8D) and Effective Problem Solving (EPS)
• Operational Excellence tools including Failure Analysis, Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping
• Project Management, Team Management, Escalation Management and Communication Techniques across a broad range of business escalation types, (Customer, Supplier, Technical, Manufacturing, etc.)
• Should costing estimate modeling (aPriori)