Director of Product Management, Purchasing & Inventory Planning

NATCO Products Corp•West Warwick, RI

About The Position

Natco Home is seeking a Director of Product Management, Purchasing & Inventory Planning to lead the operational execution of our floor coverings, rugs, and textiles portfolio and to serve as the Company’s central operational authority for purchasing and inventory planning. Reporting directly to the COO, this role owns purchasing decisions and processes across the Company—including purchase quantities, timing, supplier commitments, replenishment decisions, and inventory levels—within established financial, strategic, and approval parameters. The Director works at the intersection of Product Development, Sales, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations. The role translates customer demand, product requirements, supplier capabilities, and financial objectives into disciplined purchasing and inventory decisions, while ensuring accurate product setup, specifications, costing, packaging, factory execution, replenishment, and customer delivery. This is a hands-on leadership position. The successful candidate will set direction and decision standards, lead and develop the responsible team, and remain closely involved in forecasts, purchasing recommendations, supplier commitments, exceptions, and day-to-day problem solving.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive experience spanning operational product management, purchasing or procurement, demand forecasting, inventory planning, supply chain, or related disciplines, including significant responsibility for purchasing and inventory decisions.
Demonstrated leadership experience managing and developing teams across multiple related functions.
Proven ability to lead centralized purchasing processes and make disciplined decisions regarding order quantities, timing, supplier commitments, replenishment, and inventory investment.
Strong demand-planning and inventory-management expertise, including forecasting, replenishment parameters, safety stock, service levels, lead-time management, inventory turns, and excess/obsolete inventory.
Experience managing products through their operational lifecycle in a manufacturing, consumer-products, or retail-supplier environment.
Proven success working directly with vendors and factories on product specifications, costing, packaging, production, capacity, quality coordination, and delivery commitments.
Experience with domestic and overseas manufacturing partners, suppliers, and vendors, including the operational realities of longer lead times and complex supply chains.
Advanced ERP/MRP proficiency, product-master-data discipline, and experience translating business requirements into reliable planning parameters and reports.
Strong analytical, financial, and problem-solving capabilities, including the ability to evaluate tradeoffs among customer service, inventory, working capital, margin, lead time, and supply risk.
Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the judgment and confidence to create alignment, enforce process discipline, and make or escalate difficult decisions.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Operations Management, Product Development, Textiles, Engineering, Finance, or a related field; equivalent relevant industry experience will be considered.
Rugs, floor coverings, textiles, home furnishings, soft goods, or consumer-products experience.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) experience and strong familiarity with integrated ERP, forecasting, purchasing, and inventory-planning processes.
Track record of managing complex SKU portfolios, global supplier relationships, and customer-specific or seasonal programs.
Experience supporting large retail customers or national account programs.
Professional certification in supply chain, planning, inventory management, or procurement is a plus.

Responsibilities

Serve as Natco Home’s central operational authority for purchasing, with company-wide ownership of purchase quantities, order timing, replenishment decisions, supplier commitments, and inventory levels, subject to established financial and strategic approvals.
Establish and enforce consistent purchasing policies, approval disciplines, planning calendars, controls, and operating procedures across product categories and business functions.
Own the complete purchase order lifecycle—from requirements planning and PO issuance through supplier acknowledgment, production follow-up, shipment readiness, receipt, exception resolution, and closeout.
Approve, direct, or escalate purchasing decisions within defined authority levels; ensure commitments are supported by demand, inventory position, supplier capacity, lead times, cash-flow considerations, and business priorities.
Coordinate purchasing activity across Sales, Product Development, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Operations, and other stakeholders so that commitments reflect one aligned operating plan.
Monitor open orders, lead times, minimum order quantities, production constraints, inbound timing, and supplier commitments; intervene early when service, inventory, or financial objectives are at risk.
Lead supplier performance management, including delivery reliability, responsiveness, capacity, quality coordination, cost execution, and corrective-action follow-through.
Drive purchasing discipline and transparency through clear reporting, exception management, documented decisions, and measurable accountability.
Lead the Company’s demand forecasting, inventory planning, and replenishment processes for ongoing programs, seasonal needs, new product launches, customer-specific programs, and end-of-life items.
Convert sales forecasts, customer commitments, historical demand, promotions, lead times, supplier constraints, and business intelligence into actionable purchase and replenishment plans.
Establish, maintain, and routinely review planning parameters, including reorder points, order quantities, lead times, safety stock, service-level objectives, minimum order quantities, and other ERP/MRP settings.
Balance customer service and product availability against inventory investment, working-capital requirements, storage constraints, lead-time risk, and obsolescence exposure.
Own inventory health reporting and action plans, including inventory turns, stockouts, backorders, forecast accuracy, slow-moving inventory, excess inventory, and obsolete or discontinued goods.
Lead cross-functional inventory reviews and recommend buys, reductions, transfers, cancellations, substitutions, supplier negotiations, or disposition actions based on current facts and approved business priorities.
Identify forecast bias, demand changes, data issues, and planning exceptions; ensure assumptions and corrective actions are documented and communicated to affected stakeholders.
Partner with Finance and the COO on inventory investment plans, purchasing commitments, cash-flow implications, reserves, and material exceptions.
Own operational product execution throughout the lifecycle, from initial setup and commercialization through replenishment, maintenance, transition, discontinuation, and customer delivery.
Lead product and SKU setup, ensuring specifications, dimensions, packaging, labeling, case packs, country-of-origin information, supplier details, lead times, and planning attributes are complete and accurate.
Maintain product master data and ERP/PLM records as the operational source of truth; establish controls for data ownership, change management, approvals, and auditability.
Translate approved product concepts and customer requirements into clear operational specifications and executable instructions for vendors, factories, internal manufacturing, and support teams.
Coordinate commercialization readiness, including samples, specifications, costing, packaging, testing or quality requirements, production timing, initial buys, inventory availability, and customer launch dates.
Manage lifecycle and SKU maintenance activities, including product changes, cost updates, packaging revisions, supplier transitions, replacements, and discontinuations, in coordination with the appropriate business owners.
Ensure customer-specific purchase order, packaging, labeling, routing, and delivery requirements are incorporated into product and supplier execution.
Partner directly with domestic and international suppliers and manufacturing facilities to align specifications, capacity, production timing, quality expectations, packaging requirements, costs, and delivery commitments.
Build effective supplier relationships while maintaining clear performance expectations, commercial discipline, and accountability for commitments.
Partner with Product Development on operational feasibility and commercialization; with Sales on demand, customer programs, and priorities; with Finance on inventory investment and commitments; and with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations on capacity, inbound flow, and fulfillment.
Create a disciplined escalation process for supply disruptions, forecast changes, customer priorities, quality concerns, late orders, excess inventory, and other material exceptions.
Drive root-cause analysis and continuous improvement across forecasting, buying, supplier performance, master data, product execution, and inventory management.
Develop and lead the team responsible for product operations, purchasing, inventory forecasting and planning, supplier coordination, and vendor management; establish clear roles, priorities, performance standards, and development plans.
Design practical dashboards, operating reviews, and key performance indicators that provide timely visibility into purchasing commitments, forecast accuracy, service levels, inventory turns, excess and obsolete inventory, supplier performance, and execution risks.
Use data and sound judgment to make timely decisions, challenge unsupported assumptions, resolve conflicting priorities, and escalate matters that exceed established authority or risk tolerance.
Ensure purchasing and inventory decisions comply with approved budgets, delegation-of-authority requirements, internal controls, contractual obligations, and Company policies.
Act as the primary point of accountability for purchasing and inventory-planning performance, while fostering shared ownership among cross-functional partners.