Director of Procurement

Copa Airlines • Bakersfield, CA

3d

About The Position

The Senior Director of Procurement provides strategic and commercial leadership for the airline’s procurement function, covering goods, services, and institutional agreements across operational and corporate categories. The role drives enterprise value through strategic sourcing, complex negotiations, supplier governance, risk management, compliance, and operational efficiency, balancing cost, reliability, business continuity, and long-term value.

Requirements

• Strategic and commercial leadership for procurement function
• Expertise in goods, services, and institutional agreements
• Experience in strategic sourcing, complex negotiations, supplier governance, risk management, and compliance
• Ability to balance cost, reliability, business continuity, and long-term value
• Experience leading high-value and complex commercial negotiations
• Experience optimizing total cost of ownership
• Ability to partner with business leaders to develop sourcing and contracting strategies
• Experience establishing procurement and contracting policies, governance frameworks, controls, and performance standards
• Experience defining supplier performance and risk-management frameworks
• Ability to anticipate market dynamics, supply constraints, regulatory developments, and geopolitical risks
• Experience ensuring vendor third-party integrity due diligence

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise-wide procurement strategy, aligning sourcing priorities with the airline’s operational, financial, and growth objectives.
• Lead high-value and complex commercial negotiations with domestic and international suppliers and institutional counterparties, including airports and other strategic service providers.
• Optimize total cost of ownership through strategic sourcing, demand management, specification optimization, commercial structuring, payment terms and supplier negotiations.
• Partner with business leaders to develop sourcing and contracting strategies that balance cost, service levels, operational requirements, risk, and long-term value.
• Establish procurement and contracting policies, governance frameworks, controls, and performance standards, ensuring appropriate oversight throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Define supplier performance and risk-management frameworks, monitor compliance and key performance indicators, and drive escalation and corrective actions in partnership with the contracting business areas.
• Anticipate market dynamics, supply constraints, regulatory developments, geopolitical risks, and other disruptions that could affect operational readiness, service continuity, or cost.
• Ensure vendors clear third-party integrity due diligence before contracting and at defined intervals thereafter, under the framework owned by Compliance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed