Procurement / Sourcing Specialist III

About the role

The Procurement/Sourcing Specialist III manages direct material procurement while driving sourcing, supplier performance, cost productivity, and supply assurance initiatives within a fast-paced manufacturing environment. The role combines strategic sourcing with strong operational execution and requires close collaboration with a global supply base and cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate is proactive, commercially minded, comfortable working independently, and has a strong willingness to learn, succeed, grow, and take on increasing responsibility.

Responsibilities

• Proactively identify and drive cost-saving, productivity, and supply assurance opportunities from ideation through implementation, delivering measurable year-over-year results.
• Develop and execute sourcing and supplier strategies that improve cost, supply continuity, lead times, and supplier performance.
• Apply strong negotiation and commercial skills to secure competitive pricing, terms, lead times, and overall value.
• Proactively identify supply-chain risks and develop mitigation and contingency plans with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Build strong relationships with a global supply base while holding suppliers accountable for delivery, quality, cost, and responsiveness.
• Partner with Category Management, Material Planning, Finance, Engineering, Quality, R&D, Operations/Value Streams, and other functions to execute projects and achieve business objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement by identifying better and more efficient procurement processes, sourcing approaches, and ways of working.
• Understand manufacturing workflows, Bills of Materials (BOMs), technical drawings, and specifications and apply this knowledge to sourcing and procurement decisions.
• Manage day-to-day direct material procurement, including demand analysis, purchase order placement, price updates, order confirmations, supplier follow-up, expedites, escalations, and invoice discrepancy resolution.
• Use SAP to execute purchasing activities, maintain procurement data, manage purchase orders, and support material availability.
• Work closely with Material Planning and suppliers to proactively resolve shortages, late deliveries, capacity constraints, and other supply issues.
• Independently manage competing priorities with limited supervision and proactively escalate issues when appropriate.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree plus 8+ years of procurement/supply chain experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing direct materials, suppliers, and purchasing activities.
• Experience with ERP systems; SAP experience strongly preferred.
• Understanding of manufacturing operations, BOMs, technical specifications, inventory, and material planning.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and effectively manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across functions, cultures, and geographical locations.
• Proactive sense of urgency – anticipates issues, acts before they become critical, and drives problems through resolution.
• Strong willingness to learn, succeed, grow, and take on new challenges and responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Experience sourcing plastics, resins, injection-molded components, packaging, or other direct materials.
• Strong negotiation experience involving pricing, commercial terms, lead times, and supplier agreements.
• Experience leading cost-reduction, productivity, sourcing, or supply-assurance projects.
• Familiarity with Power BI, data analysis, dashboards, and visualization.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled procurement, automation, or process optimization.
• Experience working with international suppliers and global teams.

Skills

• Ownership & Accountability – Takes responsibility and drives issues through resolution.
• Commercial Mind