Sr. Procurement Specialist
About The Position
The Senior Procurement Specialist leads strategic and tactical procurement activities supporting IPS operations and objectives. Based at the Winston-Salem manufacturing facility, the role serves as the primary procurement partner to local manufacturing, planning, R&D, logistics, finance, and commercial teams, aligning procurement activities with Global Procurement strategies, policies, and best practices. The position combines operational procurement execution with senior-level sourcing responsibilities for category strategies covering approximately $40 million in annual spend across direct materials such as adhesives, fillers, specialty compounds, films, membranes, siliconized paper, and related materials. It supports multiple manufacturing locations, manages strategic supplier relationships, and helps ensure uninterrupted supply while delivering cost competitiveness, working capital improvement, supply continuity, innovation, and risk mitigation. The role offers an opportunity for an experienced operational procurement professional to expand into strategic category management through collaboration with Global Procurement leadership, participation in enterprise sourcing initiatives, and ownership of broader category responsibilities.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in procurement, business administration, engineering, materials management, finance, or an accepted discipline.
- At least three years of relevant experience in procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, operations, or strategic sourcing within a manufacturing environment.
- Ability to negotiate commercial agreements, pricing mechanisms, and supplier contracts.
- Experience with supplier qualification, material co-qualification, business continuity planning, and risk mitigation practices.
- Experience with commodity-based raw materials such as plastics, polymers, resins, films, packaging, chemicals, adhesives, paper, or similar manufacturing materials.
Nice To Haves
- Experience supporting direct materials procurement and supplier negotiations is highly preferred.
Responsibilities
- Deliver measurable procurement value through cost optimization, working capital improvement, supplier innovation, and risk mitigation.
- Support annual procurement savings and cash flow objectives.
- Use digital procurement tools, market intelligence platforms, ERP systems, and AI-enabled spend analytics to support sourcing decisions and category strategies.
- Build partnerships across Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, R&D, Planning, Quality, Finance, and Commercial teams to align procurement priorities with business objectives.
- Expedite critical materials and resolve supply disruptions, shortages, late deliveries, and service issues.
- Maintain accurate procurement data, supplier records, pricing information, and planning parameters in company systems.
- Support inventory optimization while maintaining appropriate service levels and risk profiles.
- Participate in S&OP, supply planning, inventory reviews, and operational meetings as required.
- Communicate with suppliers about forecasts, demand changes, production schedules, and operational requirements.
- Manage supplier relationships, performance, and corrective action plans as needed, serving as the primary commercial interface for assigned categories.
- Support procurement reporting, KPI tracking, spend analysis, and operational reviews.
- Execute sourcing strategies and contribute to strategy development with Global Procurement.
- Lead supplier negotiations, commercial discussions, and strategic sourcing initiatives to optimize total cost of ownership.
- Support contract negotiations and work with Legal to ensure compliance with commercial, financial, and contractual requirements.
- Support innovation, sustainability, and new product development projects by identifying, qualifying, and sourcing new materials and suppliers.
- Conduct market intelligence analysis and monitor commodity trends, supply-demand fundamentals, geopolitical risks, inflationary pressures, tariffs, and other cost drivers.
- Lead or support RFQs, RFPs, supplier benchmarking, should-cost analysis, and supplier evaluations.
- Support supplier risk assessments and business continuity plans.
- Identify, evaluate, qualify, and develop alternative suppliers and materials to reduce single-source dependency and mitigate risk.
- Work with Global Procurement to align with category strategies, best practices, supplier management programs, and procurement governance.
- Track and report procurement performance metrics, savings initiatives, working capital improvements, and supplier performance.
- Ensure compliance with enterprise policies, category strategies, supplier governance, regulatory requirements, and ethical sourcing standards.
- Perform other duties and special projects as assigned by Procurement Leadership.
Benefits
- Target bonus incentive
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
