Job Summary:

Our client is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Manager to join their team. This role is responsible for supplier selection, implementation of the sourcing strategy and managing cost of operations within project scope, establishing standard costs; developing and executing cost reduction strategies; analyzing market and negotiating pricing; forecasting cost impacts; explaining price variances; leading all commercial negotiations with suppliers; contract management, and problem solving supply issues and recommending actions. Maintains favorable relationships with cross-functional departments (manufacturing, finance, engineering). 

Responsibilities:

Essential Job Functions:

• Understand total spend, pricing structure, commercial terms and trends for raw materials, purchased finished products, and manufactured assemblies with a particular knowledge of market dynamics and supply chain in mechanical products.
• Identify and develop business cases for a healthy year-over-year cost reduction pipeline with suppliers through should costing, process improvement, and innovative strategies.
• Develop strategic component roadmaps, which include identifying and developing new suppliers for potential savings capture and new product development opportunities.
• Review product BOMs, technical drawings, and engineering specifications to determine strategic sourcing decisions and provide manufacturing readiness feedback.
• Develop risk mitigation measures to combat the continuous supply constraints
• Manage Purchase Price Variance (PPV) containment and avoidance solutions minimizing negative P&L impact while maintaining material availability to support manufacturing operations.
• Monitors overall supplier performance and develops & implements corrective action and recovery plans as required alongside Supplier Quality Engineering.
• Collaborate with various internal stakeholders including Engineering, Product Line Management, Project Management, Manufacturing, and Finance partners.
• Conduct and assess RFQs/RFPs/RFIs, negotiations, supplier evaluations, and determine supplier selection for direct spend on mechanical related categories.
• Support End of Life products and part legacy support workstreams with the development and execution of strategies to sustain operations and revenue expectations.
• Implement performance management processes, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) metrics, and measurement dashboards to ensure supplier performance and key initiatives.
• Provide strong commercial and technical direction within the mechanical categories by evaluating and guiding product strategy throughout the product development and manufacturing lifecycles.
• Driving savings cost analysis and working with the Finance team to deliver cost analysis and project management activities to track and support execution of savings initiatives.
• prioritizing tasks efficiently, and communicating complex matters to all levels of the business effectively.
• Manage procurement savings calculation and ensure compliance according to savings guidelines.
• Advocate on behalf of the PSM organization function with business units and operational partners to ensure support for core business objectives.
• Analyzing, selecting/recommending, approving, and auditing suppliers based upon supplier evaluation metrics relative to procurement, engineering, quality, and manufacturing requirements.

Required Work Experience:

• 10+ years of strategic sourcing, procurement, and relevant category experience in direct spend, focus on mechanical domains.
• Significant background with mechanical component demand-supply cycles with varied approaches in partnering with suppliers to ensure high demand-supply alignment in a volatile environment.
• Well-versed in TCO analysis to ensure data-driven analytics tied to component and supplier selection, in a product-based ecosystem.
• Ability to interact and negotiate with Key suppliers and internal stakeholders in complex and ever-changing environments.
• Must have the ability to demonstrate expertise across a complex set of mechanical spend categories, including knowledge of marketplace dynamics, supplier profiles, current events, and technical processes/capabilities.
• Experience with ERP systems, Spend Data Analytics & Reporting, eSourcing, and contract management systems required.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills to build and maintain trusted relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to confidently present complex information to senior executives.
• A flexible, dynamic, self-demanding and proactive individual; able to motivate him/herself.
• Ability to think strategically and develop the organization’s future state strategy.
• Strong Business Acumen – the ability to understand challenges through the eyes of the business leaders.
• An agile and strategic leader with proven results and the ability to collaborate across multiple business functions leveraging facts and data to influence.
• High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency to deliver results.
• Proven track record in leadership roles within sourcing and procurement organizations and transformations
• Experience in the OEM, elevator industry, aerospace, oil & gas, or similar industries
• Must be willing to travel 10% or more as required including but not limited to any business-specific requirements for training or last-minute mitigation items.

Required Education, Certifications, Training:

• Bachelor’s degree: Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or Business Administration is required; Master’s/MBA preferred.
• Certifications: Supply Chain Management, Purchasing, Six Sigma Green/Black Belt or PMP desired.
• Expert understanding of purchasing policies, procedures, practices, and the value and use of procure-to-pay (P2P) digital platforms.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Power Point, Excel, Word, Visio), SAP, Oracle and/or Jaggaer.
• Deep understanding of strategic sourcing and procurement processes and strategies.
• Advanced understanding of mechanical supply landscapes, manufacturing, and product lifecycles.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and adapt to changing business needs and priorities.
• Ability to work with ambiguous data and transform it into a clear story used for analysis and decision-making.      

Salary/Rate: $70-$80/HR (depends on experience level). This is a contract position with candidates expected to work 40 hours/ week.

About Us

Peterson Technology Partners (PTP) is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to creating a transparent, inclusive, and human-centered hiring experience.

For more than 28 years, PTP has operated as one of the top IT staffing and recruiting firms in the USA—built on trust, long-term partnerships, and technical excellence.

Based in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, IL, our team of more than 500 employees and consultants is dedicated to:

• Helping every client make the best hiring decisions possible
• Matching professionals with the right IT jobs and career opportunities

As part of that commitment, we believe in providing clear information about how our hiring technologies work and how your data is used. The following section outlines our AI-assisted interview process and your rights as a candidate.

AI-Assisted Interview Experience (Pete & Gabi – Rebecca):

To provide a consistent, fair, and flexible experience for all candidates, we use AI-assisted tools to support parts of the interview process. This includes our proprietary AI platform Pete & Gabi, which includes AI recruiter Rebecca.

These AI hiring tools help us:

• Conduct recorded video interviews
• Transcribe interviews
• Summarize candidate responses
• Generate job-related insights
• Streamline communication and scheduling

Please note that:

• The AI does NOT make hiring decisions; all decisions are made by our human recruiters, hiring managers, or client partners.
• The AI does not evaluate facial expressions, emotions, or physical traits; it is used only to support fairness, consistency, and efficiency.

If you prefer a non-AI interview format, we will gladly provide an alternative.