Commodity Manager-Metals

Twin City Fan Companies•Plymouth, MN

21h

About The Position

The Commodity Manager owns metal category strategy and supplier relationships for carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum across manufacturing locations. The role develops sourcing strategies, evaluates mills, service centers, and processors, establishes primary and backup sources, analyzes spend and purchasing patterns, and aligns sourcing decisions with production requirements, inventory objectives, and market conditions. The position monitors metal prices, lead times, capacity, availability, alloy surcharges, and other market indicators. It evaluates supplier price changes, explains delivered-cost impacts, and communicates market updates and recommended actions to leadership, Buyers, Planning, Finance, and quoting stakeholders. The Commodity Manager leads supplier negotiations, agreements, performance reviews, escalations, and corrective actions, partnering with Quality and Engineering on qualification, audits, discrepancies, and supplier development. The role works with Buyers, Planning, Operations, and Engineering to support purchasing practices, supply needs, inventory, specifications, alternate sources, new product introductions, and supplier transitions. It uses Epicor, Passport, Power BI, and Excel across two ERP systems and manual and automated processes to analyze spend, pricing, inventory, performance, and total cost. The Commodity Manager tracks validated savings, improves purchasing practices and reporting, and maintains a documented category strategy with measurable objectives. During the first 60 days, the manager is expected to learn TCF products, processes, specifications, and plant requirements; review spend, suppliers, agreements, and risks; build stakeholder relationships; assess systems and practices; and provide an initial market update. By 90 days, the manager should independently manage assigned supplier relationships and escalations, complete a category assessment, present a prioritized plan, establish recurring market communications and supplier reviews, and begin priority negotiations or corrective actions. After 12 months, the manager should execute a documented strategy, implement supplier and sourcing improvements, establish agreements and qualified backup sources for critical materials, and deliver validated results against agreed objectives. The successful candidate demonstrates metal market expertise, category ownership, commercial judgment, clear communication, accountability, integrity, collaboration, and a continuous improvement mindset. The role offers pay of $89,000–$110,000, dependent on experience, and eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus tied to overall organizational performance.

Requirements

5–8+ years of purchasing, sourcing, or commodity management experience, including at least 5 years directly managing metal purchases or metal supplier relationships.
Demonstrated experience with carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, including sheet and angle; familiarity with plate, coil, and other manufacturing-relevant forms.
Strong working knowledge of domestic metal markets, mills, service centers, and processing capabilities.
Understanding of material grades, gauges, dimensions, weight-based pricing, and applicable specifications.
Experience analyzing metal pricing structures, market trends, surcharges, conversion costs, and freight.
Proven ability to lead supplier negotiations, establish agreements, and manage supplier performance.
Ability to communicate market changes and recommend actions based on operational and financial impact.
Strong Excel, analytical, and total-cost comparison skills.
Experience working in ERP systems and adapting to manual and automated purchasing processes.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.
Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.
Ability to manage competing strategic category work and urgent supplier and production needs, as described in the role.
Demonstrates ownership, follow-through, sound judgment, integrity, flexibility, collaboration, and proactive communication.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing metal sourcing across multiple manufacturing locations.
Established knowledge of domestic mills and service centers serving industrial manufacturers.
Experience with fabricated metal products and material processing such as slitting, cut-to-length, leveling, or blanking.
Experience developing index-based pricing agreements or other structured metal purchasing arrangements.
Familiarity with material certifications, traceability, and supplier quality requirements.
Experience managing supplier transitions and qualifying alternate material sources.
Experience with Epicor, Passport, Power BI, or similar procurement analytics tools.
Professional certification such as CPSM, CPM, CPIM, or CSCP.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute sourcing strategies for carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum across manufacturing locations.
Evaluate domestic mills, service centers, and processors for capability, capacity, competitiveness, quality, and reliability.
Establish primary and secondary sourcing options to reduce supplier concentration and supply disruption risk.
Analyze spend, material requirements, and purchasing patterns to identify consolidation, standardization, and sourcing opportunities.
Align supplier allocations and sourcing decisions with production requirements, inventory objectives, and market conditions.
Maintain a documented category strategy with clear actions, owners, and expected results.
Monitor metal pricing, mill lead times, capacity, availability, alloy surcharges, and relevant raw material and economic indicators.
Evaluate supplier price changes against market information and negotiated agreements, and recommend purchasing, contracting, or inventory actions.
Provide regular market updates explaining changes, expected business impact, and recommended actions.
Communicate material cost and availability changes to leadership, Buyers, Planning, Finance, and quoting stakeholders.
Own commercial relationships with assigned metal suppliers and establish performance expectations.
Lead negotiations covering pricing, volume commitments, lead times, payment terms, freight, and other commercial conditions.
Develop and maintain supply agreements with pricing mechanisms, service requirements, and escalation processes.
Conduct supplier business reviews covering delivery, quality, capacity, cost, responsiveness, and improvement actions.
Lead escalations and corrective actions for recurring delivery, quality, and service issues.
Partner with Quality and Engineering on supplier qualification, audits, material discrepancies, and supplier development.
Partner with Buyers to translate category strategies into consistent purchasing practices and support day-to-day supply issues.
Work with Planning and Operations to align demand, supplier capacity, replenishment practices, and inventory coverage.
Partner with Engineering to evaluate material specifications, alternate sources, yield improvement, and waste reduction opportunities.
Support new product introductions through material sourcing, supplier selection, and capacity validation.
Coordinate supplier transitions to protect production continuity and manage remaining inventory and commitments.
Use Epicor, Passport, Power BI, and Excel to analyze spend, purchase prices, receipts, inventory, and supplier performance.
Partner with Buyers and Planning to maintain accurate supplier pricing, lead times, and purchasing parameters.
Build cost comparisons accounting for material grade, gauge, dimensions, weight, processing, freight, and purchasing units.
Track sourcing savings and cost avoidance using documented baselines and Finance-aligned validation methods.
Identify data gaps and process limitations and establish practical controls for reliable decisions.
Improve metal purchasing practices across locations while accounting for plant-specific requirements.
Identify total-cost opportunities through material utilization, order quantities, processing arrangements, and supplier performance.
Establish consistent category reporting, supplier reviews, and escalation practices.
Demonstrate TCF Core Values in supplier and internal interactions.
Learn TCF products, manufacturing processes, metal specifications, plant requirements, supplier arrangements, pricing structures, and open supply risks during the first 60 days.
Within 90 days, complete a category assessment, present a prioritized category plan with measurable objectives, establish recurring market communications and supplier reviews, and begin priority negotiations or corrective actions.
After 12 months, execute a documented metal category strategy, establish appropriate agreements and qualified backup sources for critical materials, and deliver documented results against agreed objectives.