Kevin Maher

Entrepreneurial and solutions-focused Senior Leader with 25+ years of diverse success delivering multi-million global material cost reduction projects. Well-prepared to leverage experience and drive business improvement in a Senior Exec role. Expertise in many aspects of engineering, finance, purchasing, and consultancy within the aerospace, automotive, general manufacturing and retail sectors. Has influenced how cost is approached in large organizations, building new teams to improve EBIT utilizing cross functional experience, outstanding communication skills and high aptitude for building robust relationships with key stakeholders from diverse demographics. Excels at identifying opportunities, innovating by engaging external organizations and developing team members.

• Served as Jaguar Land Rover industry lead and won the Cambridge Judge Business School MPhil Management Consulting Project award in 2015 for Global Electrification trends delivering Commodity Volumes 2020 project.
• Established and oversaw £1B p.a. cost reduction project alongside Board of Management team; rolled out transformation to meet business financial targets.
• Took ownership of £18M annual departmental budget and £40M project budget, propelled profitability improvements for all product lines.

• Chairperson, Multiple Sclerosis Fundraising Charity Project, raised £5K.
• Voluntary Steward / Welcoming Officer, Irish National Agricultural Show, 15 years’ service

• Transformation Project Director (Cost), 09/20, Present, Jaguar Land Rover, UK, Leverage outstanding leadership skills and direct 50+ Engineers and Programme Managers; ensure team fulfils cost transformation objectives., Manage the Teardown and Value Engineering Departments as well as creator and leader of the Cost Transformation Project., Serve as cross-functional committee chairperson on a weekly basis with cross functional Senior Leaders., Influenced teams to embrace cost material changes and update Board on progress weekly., Initiate governance function to monitor expenditure; conduct weekly budget and business case evaluations on project finances., Reporting into CPO and Vehicle Programmes Board Member, Pioneered largest self-driven material cost transformation project in 15 years as Project Director aimed at reducing product costs by 10% across all vehicles; secured £700M p.a. approval and realised a cost reduction of £40m in monthly cash improvements through strategically directing the project cross functionally., Created, managed, and delivered cost reduction in a time-critical period managing a budget of £40m and influencing over 500 cross-functional employees supporting transformation delivery., Led the Teardown and Value Engineering departments to create multiple ideation activities and competitor comparisons., Delivered a Strategic and Operational Development proposal to the CEO to evolve variable costs which was approved., Established team and spearheaded project comprising of managing cross-functional buy-in within a hostile-to-change environment and engaging external organisations for innovative solutions., Collaborated closely with CFO and CPO to coordinate material cost financial modelling whilst taking into account external shareholder’s willingness for the project., Accelerated business transformation on all aspects of product and organisational operations to enhance focus on cost., Made product decisions with the Chief Engineers, tracked Engineering and Purchase delivery performance through a gateway process into night-letters and governance forums.
• Cost Engineering & Global Purchasing Director, 09/11, 08/20, Jaguar Land Rover, UK, Built a Cost Engineering department, calculation methodology and cross functional engagement from scratch which included improving Should Cost science, recruiting 200 Cost Engineers, and integrating work into product development system., Supported business in many areas of saving such as direct material cost, logistics and packaging, design to cost and software development., Merged Teardown and Value Engineering departments into one Cost Engineering department., Rationalised Engineering and Finance to elevate product profitability by leveraging a consulting diligence approach knowledge., Brought in benefit of approximately £200M pa (incl. cost increase mitigation) for six years by optimizing internally developed digital tool alongside Engineers; reported directly to the Purchasing Board Member., Managed an annual departmental budget of £18m and cost reduction implementation annual budget of £20m., Instigated Should Cost calculation implementation for future vehicles in setting targets and identified 10% opportunities., Obtained high managerial Pulse scores by cultivating high-performance team members., Leader for all external consulting supported projects on cost.
• Senior Consultant, 02/08, 08/11, Management Engineers (now Strategy&, PwC Network), UK, Provided strategic consultancy services in several countries., Governed a variety of consultants and client professionals., Leveraged external market insights to maximise on opportunities and propel business development goals., Performed cost-analysis and led value engineering and supplier negotiations activities., Managed strategic supplier positioning to meet all targets., Directed a £1M project as client lead and delivered £6.6M cost reduction p.a. benefits for an Engine OEM; partnered with the Board to develop a cost management model., Generated revenue by surfacing consulting project opportunities worth approximately £500K p.a.; implemented best practices, established valuable partnerships, and improved Purchasing and Engineering product cost control.
• Project Engineer & Vehicle Safety Lead, 01/00, 02/08, Jaguar Land Rover, UK & Sweden, Oversaw occupant safety delivery activities of the Freelander 2, the first Jaguar Land Rover to obtain a five-star Euro NCAP., Acted as Technical Lead and ensured program delivery of the safety functions for a future Land Rover., Completed 100+ crash tests on time and obtained CAE qualification to become a Team Supervisor., Recognized for remarkable leadership and received invitation to roll out Jaguar crash test process at Volvo for six-months in Sweden; completed numerous crash tests.
• Graduate Professional Engineer, Wing Structures, 09/97, 12/99, Airbus UK, UK & Toulouse, France

Chartered Engineer IMechE