About the RoleThe
Commodity Manager owns the end-to-end sourcing strategy and supplier performance for assigned commodity categories within a regulated, highly engineered manufacturing environment.
This role will help establish and strengthen formal category management practices, strategic sourcing processes, supplier scorecards, savings tracking, and supplier performance management. The Commodity Manager partners closely with
Finance, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, Planning, and Operations to ensure reliable supply, improve supplier performance, and deliver measurable cost savings.
Procurement is a key component of the company's value-creation strategy, making this role highly visible and results-oriented. The Commodity Manager is accountable for delivering
finance-validated cost improvements and building sustainable sourcing strategies that support business and financial objectives.
Key ResponsibilitiesCategory Strategy & Strategic Sourcing - 30%- Develop and continuously refine category strategies for assigned commodities, including spend analysis, supply-market assessments, should-cost models, and make-versus-buy evaluations.
- Lead RFx events, supplier selection, contract negotiations, and long-term supply agreements using a consistent strategic sourcing process.
- Develop and maintain a pipeline of cost-reduction, cost-avoidance, value-engineering, and supplier-consolidation opportunities aligned with annual improvement targets.
- Apply total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) principles, considering price, freight, quality costs, working capital, and switching risk.
Savings Delivery & Financial Management - 20%- Identify, quantify, and track hard-dollar savings, cost avoidance, and service-level improvements, documenting the baseline, methodology, and validation source for each initiative.
- Partner with Finance/FP&A to reconcile negotiated savings with actual invoiced spend and confirm savings flow-through to budget and EBITDA.
- Maintain an accurate, auditable savings tracker to support management, sponsor, board, and value-creation reporting.
- Forecast, budget, and report commodity spend while proactively identifying price-increase exposure, cost pressures, and margin risks.
Supplier Relationship & Performance Management - 15%- Develop and maintain an effective supplier base aligned with business requirements, including supplier scorecards and periodic business reviews covering quality, delivery, cost, and innovation.
- Partner with Quality and Supplier Development teams to address corrective actions and improve supplier performance.
- Monitor supplier financial health, capacity, and operational performance as inputs to overall supply-risk management.
Cross-Functional Collaboration - 15%- Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, and R&D on new product introduction, supplier qualification, design-for-manufacturability, and value-analysis/value-engineering initiatives.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure sourced materials and components meet applicable regulatory, quality, and technical requirements for medical and dental manufacturing, including ISO 13485 and FDA requirements.
Supply Risk & Continuity - 10%- Assess and mitigate single-source, geographic, capacity, and financial-health risks within assigned categories.
- Develop and maintain contingency and dual-source strategies for critical materials and components.
- Partner with Planning and Operations to support inventory optimization, lead-time reduction, and supply continuity.
Procurement Process & Systems Development - 10%- Help build and mature the company's category management operating model, including spend taxonomy, sourcing playbooks, contract management, and procurement processes.
- Improve ERP/MRP data accuracy and governance and maintain complete, audit-ready sourcing and supplier records.
- Establish repeatable procurement practices and tools that improve visibility, accountability, and decision-making.
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Engineering, or a related field.
- 5-8 years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, commodity management, category management, or procurement within a manufacturing environment.
- Direct experience sourcing machined components, metals, castings/forgings, plastics, packaging, or comparable industrial/technical commodities.
- Demonstrated experience developing and executing strategic sourcing initiatives and delivering measurable cost improvements.
- Strong negotiation skills with a demonstrated ability to achieve and sustain cost savings.
- Strong analytical and financial skills, including experience developing should-cost and total-cost-of-ownership models in Excel.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems such as SAP or comparable platforms.
- Ability to analyze commodity markets, pricing trends, cost drivers, and supplier economics.
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings and technical specifications.
- Excellent cross-functional communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Strong self-direction and ability to work effectively in an environment with evolving processes and priorities.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in medical device, dental, or other regulated/highly engineered manufacturing.
- Experience working in a private-equity-backed, carve-out, newly formed, or rapidly scaling procurement organization.
- Experience building procurement processes and infrastructure rather than operating solely within an established procurement function.
- MBA preferred.
- CPSM, CPM, CSCP, CIPS, or similar professional certification.
- Experience with stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, specialty metals, and alloys.
- Familiarity with ISO 13485, FDA Quality System Regulation (QSR), or other regulated-manufacturing quality systems.
- Lean or continuous improvement experience, including Six Sigma, Kaizen, or similar methodologies.
- Experience with procurement analytics and spend-management tools.
What Success Looks LikeSuccess in this role means establishing disciplined, data-driven category strategies while delivering measurable and sustainable improvements in cost, supplier performance, and supply continuity. The ideal candidate is comfortable
building the procurement infrastructure while simultaneously delivering results and can confidently partner with Finance and operational leaders to translate sourcing initiatives into measurable business value.
Why Join Us?This is an opportunity to play a key role in strengthening a strategic procurement function within a growing, highly engineered manufacturing organization. The Commodity Manager will have significant visibility and influence across the organization and will directly contribute to
cost improvement, operational performance, supplier excellence, and long-term value creation.
