Fluence (Nasdaq: FLNC) is a global market leader delivering intelligent energy storage and optimization software for renewables and storage. Our solutions and operational services are helping to create a more resilient grid and unlock the full potential of renewable portfolios. With gigawatts of successful implementations across nearly 50 markets, we are transforming the way we power our world for a more sustainable future. For more information, please visit fluenceenergy.com.
Job Description:
Role Summary
The Vice President, Power and Systems leads Fluence's global direct materials strategy and execution across the power conversion, electrical systems, systems integration, and balance of plant portfolios. The role carries approximately $1.2B in annual spend today. As Fluence converts contracted backlog and pipeline into deployed capacity, that portfolio is expected to exceed $5B in annual spend within three years.
Scaling the function to carry that volume is the central mandate of this role. The supplier base, commercial structure, organization design, and cost discipline required at $5B differ materially from what supports the business today. This leader builds that capability while continuing to run the portfolio, without compromising cost performance, supply continuity, or quality through the ramp.
Scale is not the objective on its own. Growing volume is leverage, and this role is accountable for converting it into significant year over year cost reduction and measurable gross margin improvement. Unit costs are expected to come down as volume goes up. Every incremental gigawatt is expected to strengthen Fluence's commercial position with its supply base. A leader who administers a larger portfolio at today's cost structure will not succeed here.
This is a builder role rather than a caretaker role. It calls for a senior leader who is equally credible leading an enterprise cost review with the CFO and the CPO and reviewing a should cost teardown on a power conversion system at a supplier facility. Fluence is seeking an ambitious supply chain executive who wants a highly visible platform, accepts the demands of a multiyear scaling effort, and expects to be measured on results.
The role reports directly to the Chief Procurement Officer and is a proving ground for the next level of executive leadership at Fluence.
Scope and Organization
This role consolidates the full non battery direct materials portfolio under a single leader, organized into two category towers led by Directors.
- Director, Power Conversion & Electrical Systems.Power conversion systems, inverters, transformers, UPS, and electrical and electronic controls. Also owns the Advanced Procurement function covering new product introduction, early supplier involvement, and design for cost.
- Director, Systems Integration & Balance of Plant.Enclosures, contract manufacturing, thermal management including HVAC, chillers and plumbing, fire detection and suppression, and system monitoring, software, and controls hardware. Also owns the Claims and Contracts function covering claims management, back charge recovery, contract administration, and dispute resolution.
Beneath the two Directors sit Category Managers and Specialists across multiple regions. The Vice President owns the growth and design of that organization as spend scales.
The Vice President sets portfolio strategy, cost targets, and supplier architecture, and leads the largest and most strategic negotiations. The Directors own category level execution, day to day supplier management, and delivery against committed targets. The Vice President is the escalation point on commercial disputes, capacity constraints, and cross tower tradeoffs.
Key Responsibilities
1. Organizational Design and Scale
- Design and build the direct materials organization required to carry the portfolio from its current level to more than $5B in annual spend. Own org design, job architecture, headcount planning, and the build, buy, or develop decision for each seat.
- Establish the operating rhythm that makes scale possible: governance cadences, category strategy reviews, quarterly business reviews, cost reviews, and a single reporting standard across both towers.
- Set category level KPIs and one source of truth on commercial contracts, quality, delivery, innovation, sustainability, and risk. Report a consolidated view to executive leadership.
- Build process and systems capability that scales faster than headcount, so that growth in spend does not require proportional growth in team size.
2. Category Strategy and Supplier Architecture
- Own and evolve the multiyear category strategy across the full portfolio, including commodity segmentation, make or buy decisions, and regional supply balance.
- Architect a globally diversified and regionalized supplier base that is resilient to geopolitical exposure and single source risk, and that holds the physical capacity to support Fluence volume three to five years forward.
- Translate the product roadmap and manufacturing footprint into actionable sourcing strategies in alignment with Engineering, Product, and Manufacturing.
- Shape the contract manufacturing footprint strategy, including regional capacity placement, domestic content qualification, and total landed cost.
- Own the direct materials position on domestic content, FEOC eligibility, and tariff exposure so that Fluence and its customers continue to qualify for available incentives without sacrificing cost competitiveness.
3. Cost Leadership and Margin Expansion
- Own the cost structure for the portfolio and deliver aggressive year over year cost reduction, with direct and quantifiable accountability for COGS and gross margin improvement.
- Convert volume growth into commercial leverage. Structure Tier 1 agreements with tiered pricing, volume based price down curves, rebate mechanisms, and capacity commitments that improve unit economics as spend scales, rather than allowing cost to rise in line with volume.
- Set and defend an annual productivity target expressed as a percentage of spend, and cascade it to both Directors category by category.
- Attack cost on every available lever, including consolidation and rationalization of the supply base, regional cost arbitrage, competitive rebidding, specification and design change, and elimination of premium freight and expedite spend.
- Lead or co lead negotiations on the largest and most strategic supplier agreements, including master supply agreements, long term agreements, and contract manufacturing agreements. Secure pricing mechanisms, IP protections, volume adherence terms, and liability governance.
- Build and defend a multiyear cost reduction roadmap covering value engineering, design to value, index and FX mechanisms, volume leverage, and clean sheet negotiation.
- Review and stress test cost models covering labor, materials, overhead, scrap, OEE, non recurring engineering, and tooling before they reach Finance or executive leadership.
- Establish PPV, forecast accuracy, and budget governance so that category level commitments roll up to one credible enterprise number.
- Own accountability for excess and obsolete exposure, underutilization penalties, and volume adherence enforcement embedded in supplier agreements.
4. Advanced Procurement and Product Lifecycle
- Sponsor the Advanced Procurement function at portfolio level. Ensure procurement engineering is embedded in new product introduction programs to drive early supplier involvement, sourceability, and cost targets from concept through launch.
- Maintain current command of the engineering and bill of materials structure of Fluence core product lines, sufficient to challenge suppliers and internal engineering on design to cost and manufacturability tradeoffs.
- Represent procurement in product lifecycle decisions including end of life planning, engineering change management, and excess and obsolete exposure.
5. Supply Assurance, Quality, and Risk
- Ensure continuity of supply through new product introduction, ramp, and sustaining phases. Sponsor dual sourcing, buffer, and capacity option strategies for the highest risk commodities.
- Own the enterprise risk playbook for direct materials, addressing geopolitical exposure, raw material volatility, trade and regulatory compliance, and business continuity. Report risk posture to executive leadership and the Board as required.
- Partner with Quality and Engineering on supplier quality maturity, first article approval, corrective action discipline, and new product introduction readiness at contract manufacturing sites.
- Sponsor the Claims and Contracts function and act as the escalation point on commercial disputes with strategic suppliers, partnering with Legal on escalated matters.
6. Talent and Succession
- Recruit, develop, and retain a high performing Director and Category Manager bench. Build succession depth so that at least one Director is ready for this seat within three years.
- Establish technical and commercial training pathways in should cost modeling, negotiation, and supplier business review leadership.
- Model a coaching forward, data driven leadership style that scales through delegation without losing command of the details that matter most.
7. Executive and Cross Functional Partnership
- Serve as the senior supply chain voice into Product Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, Finance, and Legal on all direct materials matters.
- Represent direct materials in quarterly business reviews, board materials, and customer facing proposal reviews where bill of materials cost, lead time, and supply risk are at issue.
- Act as executive sponsor for Tier 1 strategic suppliers, leading executive business reviews, escalation resolution, and joint roadmap alignment.
Performance Expectations
- Year one.Portfolio strategy set and funded against the growth trajectory. Organization designed and critical seats filled. Supplier base mapped against the demand curve with capacity gaps identified. Multiyear cost reduction roadmap built, committed, and the first year target delivered. Governance rhythm established and running.
- Year two.Cost commitments delivered on a materially larger spend base, with volume leverage mechanisms embedded in the major Tier 1 agreements. Capacity contracted ahead of demand. Dual source coverage in place on the highest risk commodities. Director bench operating independently on day to day category management.
- Year three.A direct materials organization absorbing more than $5B in annual spend with supply continuity and quality intact, unit costs materially below today's levels, a demonstrable contribution to gross margin expansion, and a successor prepared.
Qualifications
- 15-20+ years in direct materials, category management, strategic sourcing, or supply chain leadership, including 10+ years leading multiple layers of an organization within technology hardware, energy storage, renewable energy, automotive or EV, or complex industrial manufacturing.
- Ownership of at least $500M in annual direct materials spend, with direct accountability for COGS and gross margin outcomes.
- Demonstrated experience scaling a portfolio and an organization through rapid growth. Experience taking spend through a step change of 2x or more is strongly preferred.
- A verifiable record of sustained year over year cost reduction on a growing spend base, with the results traceable to gross margin rather than to cost avoidance.
- Technical depth in power electronics, high voltage equipment, enclosures and balance of plant, contract manufacturing, and complex electromechanical supply chains, sufficient to engage personally in specification, should cost teardown, and bill of materials level discussion rather than reviewing summaries.
- Direct experience negotiating and closing complex multiyear Tier 1 agreements, including non recurring engineering, volume commitments, and performance terms.
- Strong financial acumen across TCO, should cost, PPV, and index and FX mechanisms, with budget ownership at scale.
- Experience partnering directly with CFO, CPO, and executive leadership. Board level reporting exposure preferred.
- Working knowledge of regulatory, tax, and government manufacturing incentive compliance, traceability requirements, and domestic content rules relevant to energy storage supply chains.
- Bachelor degree required in engineering, supply chain, or business. MBA or advanced technical degree preferred.
Leadership Profile
- A builder and an operator, equally credible presenting a business case to the executive team and standing on a supplier shop floor. Has progressed through doing and delivering rather than advising.
- Ambitious and clear about it. Understands that scaling a portfolio of this size is how a leader earns the next seat, and wants that outcome.
- Prepared for the demands of a multiyear scaling effort and motivated by the difficulty rather than deterred by it.
- Treats scale as leverage. Sees every increase in volume as an opening to reset commercial terms, not as a reason to accept higher cost.
- A systems level thinker with the discipline to go deep personally on the two or three issues that matter most in any given quarter.
- A multiplier who builds team capability faster than the business adds headcount, rather than becoming the constraint.
- Comfortable being measured on hard numbers, including COGS impact, PPV, OTIF, and supply continuity, rather than narrative or cost avoidance.
- Executive presence that holds upward with the Board, the executive team, customers, and suppliers, and downward with Directors, Category Managers, and Engineers, without losing credibility in either direction.
Location and Travel
- Based in Houston, Texas, with an expectation of 3 to 4 days per week in the office.
- Travel of 25 to 35 percent, domestic and international.
Our Culture
At Fluence, our culture is the foundation that drives our ambitious growth strategy and fuels our mission to transform the future of energy. Our core cultural pillars empower us to innovate, collaborate, and lead with purpose, ensuring we continue to deliver unparalleled value to our customers and the world.
Unleash Voices
We believe every voice matters. We encourage openness, active listening, and decisive action to create a culture where everyone has the opportunity to contribute to our success. We foster an environment where diverse perspectives are heard and valued, driving innovation and progress.
Customer Fluent
Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We’re committed to delivering exceptional value that exceeds expectations by understanding our customers' needs and adapting swiftly to meet them. Our deep focus on customer satisfaction drives us to continuously improve and innovate.
Infinite Impact
We are committed to creating the impossible. We push boundaries to deliver sustainable, game-changing solutions that shape a brighter, more energy-efficient future for all. Our team is passionate about making a lasting impact that will resonate for generations to come.
All In
We are all in for growth. Our teams are relentlessly focused on identifying and seizing opportunities that propel us forward. We embrace an ownership mindset, pushing ourselves and each other to accelerate progress and create lasting success.
Equal Opportunity Employer
At Fluence, we believe great teams are built on a collaborative and connected culture. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and welcome qualified applicants of all backgrounds. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other status protected by law.
Work Authorization
To join our team, you’ll need to be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application and throughout your employment, without the need for employer sponsorship. Please note that Fluence does not sponsor work visas for this position.