Purchasing & Procurement Program Manager

National Life Insurance Company•Montpelier, VT

1d•$86,625 - $127,050•Onsite

About The Position

The Purchasing and Procurement Manager executes day-to-day purchasing activities across the company, including office supplies, equipment, and marketing sales events. The role personally manages purchasing requests, obtains and evaluates quotes, negotiates commercial terms, prepares purchase orders, coordinates supplier onboarding, and resolves purchasing issues. It focuses on accurate and efficient purchasing, appropriate approvals and documentation, and balancing an active workload with process improvement and reporting. The position works closely with business owners, Accounts Payable, Finance, Legal, Information Technology, Information Security, and Risk Management. It also supports implementation and ongoing use of Workday procurement processes, including workflow testing, employee training, and troubleshooting. The position currently has an onsite schedule of four days per week on core days, currently Monday through Thursday. The schedule and core days may change with advance notification and manager discretion.

Requirements

At least 10 years of progressively responsible purchasing and procurement experience, including hands-on sourcing, negotiations (including RFP processes), vendor management, and daily purchasing operations.
Ability to develop and manage budgets, forecast spending, monitor commitments, analyze variances, and implement cost-control measures.
Ability to build productive vendor relationships, negotiate effectively, resolve disputes, and maintain accountability for vendor performance.
Strong working knowledge of purchasing workflows, purchase orders, vendor onboarding, approval requirements, internal controls, and Accounts Payable coordination.
Experience managing competing priorities and personally completing detailed purchasing work while providing leadership and guidance to others.
Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and relationship-building skills.
Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, supply chain management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Use approved AI tools where appropriate, remain open to AI-enabled ways of working, and review and validate AI-generated content.
Maintain accountability for accuracy, quality, fairness, and integrity while using AI in accordance with company policies on confidentiality, data privacy, security, compliance, retention, and intellectual property.
Demonstrate service focus, sound decision-making, results orientation, planning and alignment, learning agility, relationship-building, effective communication, and support for diversity and inclusion.
Visa sponsorship is not offered for this position.

Responsibilities

Execute day-to-day purchasing activities from request submission through vendor selection, approval, purchase-order issuance, and order completion.
Develop, manage, and monitor procurement and purchasing budgets; track expenditures and commitments, analyze variances, and recommend corrective actions.
Build and maintain vendor relationships, set expectations, address concerns, and hold vendors accountable for pricing, quality, delivery, and service commitments.
Partner with business owners to clarify purchasing needs, specifications, and timing, and confirm budget availability and approvals before commitments are made.
Obtain and evaluate vendor quotes and proposals, comparing cost, quality, capabilities, service, and business requirements; conduct competitive sourcing appropriate to the purchase.
Negotiate pricing and commercial terms within delegated authority and coordinate legal and specialized reviews with stakeholders.
Prepare, issue, and maintain requisitions and purchase orders with accurate pricing, quantities, legal-entity information, accounting details, approvals, and supporting documentation.
Track open orders and resolve delivery, pricing, order-completion, return, and credit issues; coordinate confirmation that goods or services were received.
Work with Accounts Payable to resolve invoice exceptions and reduce recurring issues and avoidable payment delays.
Coordinate contract reviews and manage renewals, including expiration dates, cancellation notice periods, pricing changes, and purchasing commitments.
Identify and implement cost-saving opportunities and partner with Finance to validate and report savings.
Maintain purchasing policies, controls, and records, including approvals, documented exceptions, and separation of purchasing, vendor banking verification, and payment release.
Support Workday procurement implementation and ongoing operations through workflow design, testing, troubleshooting, employee training, and process improvements.
Prepare procurement reporting on budget performance, spending trends, outstanding orders, vendor performance, renewals, savings, and policy exceptions.
Perform other duties as assigned.