Vice President of Procurement

About the role

The Vice President of Procurement is a key executive responsible for leading all sourcing, supplier management, and procurement strategy. This role ensures supply continuity, cost competitiveness, and strong supplier partnerships across a highly cyclical, price-sensitive, and supply-constrained industry. The VP of Procurement will play a critical role in protecting gross margin, improving inventory turns, and strengthening supply resilience across core product categories such as HVAC, and related building materials.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Procurement Strategy

• Develop and execute a category-based procurement strategy aligned with revenue growth and margin expansion goals
• Build sourcing strategies that account for commodity volatility and industry demand cycles
• Align procurement priorities with branch operations, sales forecasts, and customer demand patterns

Supplier & Vendor Management

• Manage relationships with domestic and international suppliers across key building product categories
• Negotiate pricing agreements, rebates, and volume incentives
• Establish and maintain preferred supplier programs and strategic partnerships
• Diversify the supply base to reduce dependency on single-source or constrained suppliers
• Conduct regular supplier business reviews and performance evaluations

Cost Management & Margin Optimization

• Drive gross margin improvement through disciplined buying and price management
• Monitor product markets and adjust sourcing strategies accordingly
• Lead annual cost-down initiatives and rebate optimization programs
• Partner with Finance and Sales to ensure pricing alignment and margin discipline across branches

Inventory & Supply Chain Coordination

• Work closely with Operations to balance service levels with inventory investment
• Reduce stockouts, backorders, and excess inventory through improved supplier reliability and forecasting alignment
• Improve inventory turns while maintaining high service levels
• Support the branch network with allocation strategies during constrained supply periods

Risk Management & Supply Continuity

• Develop contingency sourcing strategies for high-demand or constrained materials
• Monitor global supply chain disruptions impacting building materials availability and pricing
• Implement supplier risk assessments and mitigation plans
• Ensure continuity of supply during peak construction seasons and market shortages

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and develop a procurement team by establishing clear KPIs
• Build a high-performance, data-driven procurement organization
• Foster collaboration between Procurement, Sales, Operations, and branch leadership

Systems & Process Improvement

• Optimize procurement systems, including ERP platforms, pricing tools, and supplier portals
• Improve purchase order workflows, approval processes, and spend visibility
• Leverage analytics to improve demand forecasting and supplier performance tracking
• Drive automation and standardization across procurement processes

Qualifications

Experience

• 10–15+ years of experience in procurement, sourcing, or supply chain leadership
• 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership role, preferably at the Director or VP level
• Strong experience in building products, construction materials, industrial distribution, or a similar sector required
• Proven success managing supplier-heavy, commodity-influenced categories
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-level procurement or sourcing teams

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field required
• MBA or other advanced degree preferred

Skills & Competencies

• Strong negotiation and supplier management expertise, with the ability to advance sourcing priorities confidently in commodity-driven markets
• Strong decision-making ability in fast-moving, commercially sensitive environments
• Deep understanding of building materials supply chain dynamics, market conditions, and supplier performance
• Ability to manage margin pressure, pricing fluctuations, supply disruptions, and changing business needs
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including pricing, margin, rebates, inventory economics, purchase price variance, and supplier performance
• Comfortable operating independently while coordinating across multiple business functions
• Able to shift direction quickly in response to market conditions, supply disruptions, and changing business needs
• Strong communication skills with executives, branch leaders, and suppliers regarding priorities, tradeoffs, and performance expectations
• Ability to work within structured systems and standards while improving process effectiveness
• Experience with ERP platforms such as P21, SAP, Oracle, Infor, NetSuite, or similar systems

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Gross margin improvement at both the category and enterprise level
• Purchase price variance compared with market benchmarks
• Supplier fill rate and on-time delivery performance
• Inventory turns and stockout reduction
• Annual cost savings and rebate capture
• Working capital efficiency through inventory optimization