About the RoleThe Director, Enterprise Systems, reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer and is the single leader of Workhorse's business systems. The role owns the full business systems framework: the applications that run the company from quote to cash, the data and controls inside them, and the infrastructure, cybersecurity and plant technology underneath them. Information technology reports into this role as one part of that wider remit. The Director sets the business systems strategy and budget, runs the QAD Phase 2 portfolio, and ensures one plan drives what Workhorse builds, buys, ships and invoices. The Director develops and overseas a small team and a committed year-end plan, then builds the organization in phases through 2027. This is a hands-on leadership role that partners closely with Operations, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, Sales, Service and Finance, and travels frequently to the Union City plant.
What You Will DoPriorities for the First Six Months- Take ownership of the year-end plan and the five business outcomes due by December 31, 2026, working with the current team and the QAD implementation partner.
- Deliver a phased hiring plan and a sequenced 2027 roadmap to the Chief Financial Officer by January 31, 2027.
- Remove single points of failure in QAD administration, plant infrastructure and program management, using contractors to bridge gaps until hires are in seat.
- Establish the weekly scorecard, portfolio intake and master data ownership that the rest of the role depends on.
Enterprise Applications & ERP- Schedule and develop plans to consider current and future enterprise infrastructure needs, ensuring the scalability of infrastructure design to handle expected growth.
- Own QAD Adaptive ERP as the system of record for planning, procurement, production, inventory, sales orders, invoicing and costing.
- Set and maintain the enterprise architecture and roadmap across QAD, Salesforce, CPQ, PLM (3DEXPERIENCE), ServiceMax and reporting tools.
- Make MRP a trusted planning tool, including forecast consumption, planning parameters, lead times, production order release and exception management.
- Lead integrations between Salesforce and QAD for forecast, capacity, build slots and customer due dates, and between PLM and QAD for items and bills of material.
- Deliver the annual model year change over in QAD and CPQ on time, including costing, pricing, configuration, finished goods and VIN updates.
Infrastructure & Plant Technology- Lead the design, operation and support of networks, servers, cloud platforms (including QAD on AWS) and end-user computing across offices, the Union City plant and R&D facilities.
- Ensure high availability of production-critical systems, including MES, quality systems, line-side labeling and printing, and industrial networks.
- Own disaster recovery, backup and business continuity planning to minimize production downtime.
- Keep support lean and responsive, with clear service levels for plant and office users.
Cybersecurity- Lead the cybersecurity program with internal and external resources, scaled to Workhorse's risk, people and budget.
- Own vulnerability management and patching across office and plant environments, including tested releases of business applications.
- Own the incident response lifecycle, including monitoring, triage and response across IT and OT environments.
- Advance IT/OT segmentation, zero-trust principles and secure remote access, and protect intellectual property in vehicle design and manufacturing processes.
- Run cybersecurity awareness training and phishing testing, and manage third-party and supplier technology risk.
Portfolio Delivery- Lead one prioritized technology portfolio, including QAD Phase 2, with named owners, estimated hours, dependencies and committed dates.
- Run intake, prioritization and capacity planning so that work is sequenced to available resources and trade-offs reach leadership with a recommendation.
- Translate business requirements into designs, test plans and training, and hold go-live criteria for every release.
- Report progress to the Chief Financial Officer and executive team through a scorecard of dated milestones and operating measures.
Data, Controls & Compliance- Establish master data governance for items, bills of material, routings, lead times, planning parameters, customers and suppliers, with named owners and regular audits.
- Develop the policies and procedures utilized in the design and maintenance of Workhorse's enterprise infrastructure.
- Define the system of record and reporting ownership for every critical data element across QAD and Salesforce.
- Own IT general controls and business application controls, including user access, role design, segregation of duties and delegation of authority workflows, and support SOX and external audit testing.
- Maintain technology and cybersecurity policies aligned with recognized frameworks such as NIST and ISO 27001, and with cyber insurance requirements.
- Standardize order-to-cash in QAD with Finance, including deposits, invoicing, cash application and customer statements.
Leadership & Partnership- Build and lead the enterprise systems team in phases, covering business applications, infrastructure and support, security, program management and contract resources.
- Own the business systems budget, forecast and cost optimization, and negotiate and manage vendor, partner and software contracts.
- Serve as the business partner to Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, Sales, Service, Human Resources, and Finance leaders.
- Set policies and controls for responsible use of AI and analytics across the company.
Requirements
Required Skills and Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, Supply Chain, Accounting or equivalent experience.
- 12+ years of progressive experience in business applications and technology in discrete or automotive manufacturing, including 5+ years leading teams across applications, infrastructure and security.
- Hands-on ownership of MRP, production orders, procure-to-pay and order-to-cash in QAD, Epicor, Plex, Infor, SAP or a comparable ERP.
- Experience running infrastructure and a cybersecurity program in a manufacturing environment, including incident response and disaster recovery.
- A track record of running a portfolio of business systems initiatives with owners, hours, dates and scope trade-offs, and of building a team in phases against a budget.
- Experience with IT general controls, application controls and master data governance in a SOX-compliant public company.
- Experience managing implementation partners and technology vendors, including contract negotiation and budgets.
- Strong business acumen and the ability to explain technology issues in operational and financial terms.
- Excellent communication skills; a team builder who leads across functions without direct authority.
- Able to work on site in Wixom, MI and travel frequently to the Union City, IN plant.
Preferred Qualifications- QAD Adaptive ERP or QAD Enterprise Edition experience, ideally at an automotive supplier or vehicle manufacturer.
- Salesforce and CPQ integration experience.
- PLM to ERP integration experience (3DEXPERIENCE, Teamcenter or similar).
- Knowledge of IT/OT security standards such as IEC 62443.
- Experience in an early-stage, turnaround or high-growth manufacturing company.
- APICS/ASCM CPIM or CSCP, PMP, or CISSP certification.
