Senior Manager of Indirect Purchasing

Our client is a rapidly growing publicly traded $2B best in class manufacturer and category leading marketer of branded consumer packaged goods.

Job Title:              Senior Manager of Indirect Purchasing (JH09115)

Reports to:           VP of Finance, Dotted to Director Global Procurement & Strategic Sourcing

Location:              Chicago, IL

Position Purpose

 This position is responsible for leading efforts of purchasing indirect goods and services within this facility, and to the extent practical, globally. This role leads the initiative to develop and implement purchasing policies, practices and procedures for indirect expenses focusing on “Best Practices” for our industry, provides “subject matter expertise” support to functionally managed indirect purchasing and directly manages centrally purchased indirect goods and services.  This position coordinates with counterparts in other regions to assess opportunities for global or multi-regional spending consolidation and implements changes as appropriate.  The role also oversees the governance of commitments to assure all potential value is realized.

Indirect Spending approximates $70 million per annum globally and includes all expense categories such as transportation & logistics, corporate overhead and operational overhead. 

Types of indirect expenses include the following:

•  IT Services, Temp Labor, IT Hardware/Software, Outside Services, Utilities and Other Facility Costs, Telecommunications, Travel,  Meetings & Events, Freight and Distribution, Legal, Tax & Accounting


• Financial Services,  Pallets,  Office Supplies,  Office Equipment,  Equipment Rental,  Insurance – Casualty, Property & Liability,  Insurance - Health Care, - Repairs & Maintenance,  Manufacturing Supplies


•  Outside Services – Construction, Capital Projects, Outside Services – Real Estate, General Administrative, Packaging, Tooling, Government Fees and Taxes, Overnight Mail & Postage

 Job Description & Responsibilities

•  Works with third party professionals, internal stakeholders, and suppliers to identify best practices for indirect purchasing and then formulates a strategy and solution for each indirect purchasing category (functionally managed, centrally managed, or operations managed) for each location.


• Develops and maintains an accurate accounting of the purchasing/spend for each category on a location and corporate-wide basis through the collecting of spending diagnostics of the indirect spend categories.


• Leverages and negotiates pricing on combined volumes of purchases at various locations with industry leading suppliers to reduce the cost of goods and overheads. Prioritizes savings opportunities and takes a unified approach with our various purchasing locations to meet with the potential suppliers and get the lowest possible total cost.


• Develops, establishes, and coordinates RFPs (Requests for Proposals) on our major categories of indirect spending. Invites key/core suppliers to provide solutions and cost proposals for our business requirements, evaluates proposals, makes supplier recommendations, selects suppliers, awards business, and handles contracts for key stakeholders.


• Coordinates the indirect purchasing of all locations through supply agreements to reduce cost of each category of goods and services as business is awarded. Utilizes these agreements to manage pricing for extended periods of time and to expand our rebate\growth incentives to regional and global locations while increasing our purchases with industry leading indirect suppliers.


• Utilizes SAP and other IT systems as appropriate to ensure streamlined administration and optimized reporting which supports both budgetary control and ongoing cost reduction/opportunity assessment.  Provides support and training as needed and requested by users to ensure broad and effective system utilization.


• Works on supplier rationalization and other efforts to streamline the indirect procurement activities and team more closely with core suppliers.

Education/Requirements

•  BA/BS in Business, Finance, Engineering, Purchasing or other Operations related field, Graduate Degree in Business Preferred


• APICS, CPM, and/or NAPM certificate.


• 5+ years of relevant purchasing experience


• 7+ of experience in the indirect purchasing area at a senior buyer level or higher.


• Proficient in SAP, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word.


• Exceptional oral and written communications skills.


• Must be a team player to effectively manage and function throughout the organization.


• Ability to interact with all levels in the organization.


• Experience in materials management and logistics background will be considered as a benefit.


• Experience in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry preferred.


• Supervisory experience preferred