The Procurement Manager is a critical operations role responsible for sourcing, supplier relationships, and purchasing activities across all raw materials, components, and indirect spend categories. This individual will own the full procurement lifecycle - from supplier identification and qualification through negotiation, purchase order management, and performance monitoring - ensuring our client maintains a reliable, cost-competitive supply chain that supports their manufacturing and product development operations.

This is a hands-on leadership role for a procurement professional who is equally comfortable negotiating with copper rod suppliers and building internal processes from scratch. The ideal candidate brings manufacturing industry experience, strong analytical skills, and a bias for building long-term supplier relationships grounded in quality, reliability, and value.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management

• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for all direct materials including copper, lead, connectors, lugs, terminals, and packaging
• Identify, evaluate, and qualify new suppliers; maintain an approved vendor list aligned with quality, delivery, cost, and compliance requirements
• Lead supplier negotiations for pricing, payment terms, lead times, and contractual agreements - targeting year-over-year cost reductions without compromising quality
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers; conduct regular business reviews and performance assessments
• Develop dual-source or alternate-source strategies for critical materials to reduce single-source risk

Purchasing & Order Management

• Own the purchase order process end-to-end: requisition review, PO issuance, confirmation, expediting, and receipt coordination
• Manage inventory replenishment in partnership with Operations to maintain appropriate safety stock levels without excess • Resolve invoice discrepancies, delivery issues, and supplier disputes in a timely and professional manner
• Implement and enforce purchasing policies, approval thresholds, and compliance standards
• Leverage ERP system to manage procurement workflows, track orders, and report on spend and supplier performance

Supply Chain Resilience & Risk Management

• Proactively identify supply chain risks - geopolitical, logistical, capacity, or financial - and develop contingency plans
• Lead qualification of domestic and allied-nation suppliers in support of defense and government contract requirements (BAA/DFARS compliance)
• Coordinate with Engineering and Quality on supplier corrective actions, material non-conformances, and first article inspections
• Track supplier lead times and capacity; communicate proactively with internal stakeholders when supply risks are identified

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Engineering and Product Development on new product introductions - sourcing components, issuing RFQs, and managing sample qualification timelines
• Work closely with Operations, Planning, and Finance to align procurement decisions with production schedules, inventory targets, and cash flow objectives
• Support Sales and Customer Service with lead time information and supply availability for key customer commitments
• Report on procurement KPIs - cost savings, supplier on-time delivery, purchase price variance, and spend analytics - to senior leadership

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or related field
• 5+ years of procurement or purchasing experience in a manufacturing environment
• Demonstrated experience managing direct material sourcing (raw materials, components, assemblies)
• Strong negotiation skills with a track record of achieving cost savings and improved supplier terms
• Proficiency with ERP purchasing modules (Epicor or similar) • Solid understanding of supply chain risk management, supplier qualification, and dual-sourcing strategies
• Excellent analytical skills - comfortable working with spend data, cost models, and commodity price indices
• Strong communication skills - able to manage supplier relationships and present to senior leadership
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience sourcing copper, wire, cable, electrical components, or industrial MRO materials
• Familiarity with defense/government procurement requirements - DFARS, BAA, ITAR awareness • CPSM, CIPS, or equivalent professional certification
• Experience with commodity hedging or price index-linked purchasing contracts
• Background working with both domestic and international supplier bases

Benefits

If you are looking to join a company that truly values a positive workplace culture and your contributions can make a genuine impact, then this could be the place for you. This is a pivotal role within a fast-growing organization, offering a competitive salary, performance bonus eligibility, generous PTO, comprehensive benefits, a 401k, upward mobility and more. This position is onsite at the client's corporate offices.