Strategic Procurement Manager

FHLBank Chicago•Chicago, IL

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Strategic Procurement Manager plays a critical role in advancing the Bank’s Strategic Sourcing and Vendor Management (SSVM) objectives by translating enterprise and category strategy into consistent, executable sourcing outcomes. This role provides strategic oversight of sourcing activities, including RFPs and complex negotiations, while guiding Business Partners to apply standards, commercial judgment, and best practices across engagements. Serving as a bridge between strategy and execution, the Strategic Procurement Manager ensures sourcing decisions reinforce preferred supplier programs, strategic cost management goals, and risk‑aligned standards. This role manages and coaches direct reports, sets priorities, and ensures consistent application of sourcing standards across engagements, while partnering closely with SSVM leadership on strategy, escalation, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or commercial negotiation within a regulated or complex enterprise environment.
3+ years of experience leading or managing professionals, including setting priorities, coaching performance, and developing talent.
Demonstrated experience leading complex sourcing events and negotiations, including RFP development, evaluation, and vendor selection.
Strong commercial and contract judgment with the ability to balance cost, risk, and execution considerations.
Proven ability to translate strategy into practical standards and guide others in applying them consistently.
Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills across business, legal, risk, and executive audiences.
Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to inform sourcing and negotiation decisions.
High degree of professionalism, judgment, and commitment to ethical and regulatory standards.

Responsibilities

Bring sourcing strategy to life — Partner with leaders and stakeholders to guide RFPs, negotiations, and supplier selection that deliver strong value and support preferred supplier relationships.
Make complex sourcing easier to navigate — Provide thoughtful commercial leadership on high‑impact engagements, helping balance cost, risk, and business needs.
Grow people and practices together — Lead, coach, and develop a sourcing team while building consistent frameworks and scalable ways of working across the organization.
Define and evolve strategic sourcing approaches by category, including when to leverage preferred suppliers versus competitive sourcing.
Lead, coach, and develop a team responsible for sourcing execution, ensuring consistent application of standards, tools, and best practices.
Provide strategic oversight of RFPs and major sourcing events to ensure alignment with category strategy, evaluation standards, and commercial intent.
Translate sourcing strategy into reusable standards, including RFP frameworks, evaluation criteria, commercial guardrails, and negotiation posture.
Lead and support the Bank’s most complex and high‑impact negotiations where spend, risk, or strategic importance warrants senior commercial judgment.
Set priorities, allocate work, and remove obstacles for the sourcing team to enable efficient execution and timely decisions.
Use spend, contract, and sourcing data to identify consolidation opportunities, leverage, and improvements to sourcing models.
Partner with SSVM leadership to align sourcing thresholds, capacity, and engagement models to focus effort where it delivers the greatest value.