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Current search: GM China – North China for a Tier 1 automotive parts supplier
Our client is a well-established, family-owned industrial business from Germany with a long track record in engineering-led solutions for the automotive sector. In China, the company operates a production site in North China and a technical center in East China, serving the local market while also supporting wider regional priorities. The business is known for its expertise in high-performance plastics technologies, its long-term view, and its strong focus on quality, customer relationships, and sustainable growth.
Role Overview
As GM China, you will take full leadership responsibility for the company’s China business, with ownership of performance, transformation, and day-to-day operational excellence across both sites. This is a senior executive role with full P&L accountability and a clear mandate to shape and carry out the China strategy in line with group direction from Germany. The position will focus on strengthening the company’s role in automotive and mobility while also supporting expansion into adjacent sectors such as commercial vehicles, agriculture, building systems, battery storage, and other industrial applications. The role is based in North China and involves regular travel across the country.
Your Responsibilities
- Strategic leadership: Define and drive the company’s China direction by identifying the right markets, customer groups, product areas, technologies, and operating priorities to support long-term growth and competitive advantage.
- Business planning: Build a strategy-led organization and translate the business plan into a clear multi-year growth roadmap covering revenue, profitability, and cash flow targets.
- Customer growth: Win new business, deepen existing customer relationships, and support market development across automotive as well as selected new sectors in China.
- Operational performance: Lead continuous improvement across manufacturing, quality, supply chain, procurement, and related functions to strengthen competitiveness, meet local market needs, and improve overall profitability.
- Transformation and change: Guide the organization through change and strategic realignment, helping move the business further toward a more technology-led and innovation-focused model.
- Leadership and team development: Lead and develop the functional heads across Manufacturing, Finance, Sales, Project Management, Design & Development, Tooling & Procurement, Quality, and Supply Chain / Logistics, while building a strong internal culture across the China organization.
- Group collaboration: Work closely with the China management and Board in Germany to align local execution with wider company priorities and support group-level objectives.
Ideal Candidate Profile
- Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering or another relevant scientific or technical discipline.
- Around 12 to 15 years of experience in the automotive supply industry, including at least 5 years in a senior general management role with full P&L responsibility.
- Proven success in business transformation, scaling organizations, and managing multi-site operations in China.
- Strong understanding of industrial production systems, operational KPIs, lean manufacturing principles, and regulatory requirements.
- Experience handling senior-level commercial discussions and managing key customer relationships in both local and international business settings.
- Strong financial and analytical skills, including the ability to interpret P&L performance and make sound decisions under pressure or with incomplete information.
- A leadership style that combines sound judgment, initiative, emotional intelligence, and a practical approach to building teams and improving performance.
Interested in learning more about this position? Please send your CV to Hannah Zeng (Hannahzeng@fespartners.com). You may also reach out to Thaddaeus Mueller (tmueller@fespartners.com) for more information.