Manufacturing Sourcing Manager

Overview

You're part detective, part project manager, and part relationship builder—and you're really good at all three. When someone says, "we need a new manufacturing partner," you already have a mental Rolodex of who's best at what, where they're located, and what they can handle. You live for the challenge of turning a complex RFP into a streamlined process, complete with clear timelines, decision criteria, and stakeholders who actually know what's happening.

If you're someone who gets energized by building supplier networks, managing multiple moving pieces without breaking a sweat, and seeing a new partner go from "nice to meet you" to first successful production run, we should talk. Our team is looking for a CoMan Sourcing Manager who can own the entire journey—and we think that might just be you.

• Those who know you and have worked with you in the past endearingly call you the ‘Marie Kondo’ of contract manufacturing sourcing! What can you say? Seamless supply chains spark joy.
• Spreadsheets? Love them. Site visits? Already packed and ready to go. Ambiguity? You turn it into action plans. You’re a project manager through and through!
• Y-O-U know everything there is to know about R-F-Ps. And you are able to translate that knowledge into the ways you manage work streams, onboard suppliers, and keep every stakeholder informed, too.
• “Data makes the heart grow fonder!” Or at least that’s what you always say! You’ve seen first-hand how everyone on a team benefits from decisions informed by insights and driven by data.
• A mantra you repeat daily: “It’s the little things that make the big picture.” Each of your decisions stems from a deep understanding of broader strategy and long-term planning.
• Your pride and joy? The tools and systems you’ve built to enable scalable sourcing execution that’s repeatable and transparent. (Oh, and your color-coded spreadsheet of all your favorite taco spots, too!)

• Own end-to-end contract manufacturer sourcing and onboarding projects, from initial RFP development and supplier evaluation through award, onboarding, and first successful production execution.
• Lead RFPs as formal projects, establishing clear scopes, timelines, milestones, and decision criteria, and managing cross-functional inputs to ensure timely, data-driven supplier selection.
• Develop and manage project plans for new CoMan onboarding, coordinating activities across internal teams (Operations, QA, R&D, Finance, Commercialization) and external manufacturing partners.
• Serve as the primary project owner during early-stage execution, ensuring new CoMans are operationally ready and aligned ahead of first production runs.
• Be onsite at CoMan facilities as required to support onboarding, audits, line trials, and first production runs, ensuring readiness across equipment, processes, staffing, and documentation.
• Partner closely with Contract Manufacturing Managers to ensure new sourcing decisions align with category strategy, capacity requirements, redundancy goals, and long-term network plans.
• Build and own standardized onboarding processes, templates, and governance models to enable consistent, repeatable CoMan launches as the network scales.
• Develop and maintain a metric-driven evaluation framework for RFP candidates, clearly documenting trade-offs related to cost, capability, risk, and scalability.
• Own the Contract Manufacturer Search Database and internal information sheets, ensuring all sourcing and onboarding data is accurate, current, and accessible.
• Identify and manage risks proactively throughout the sourcing and onboarding lifecycle, escalating issues early and driving resolution to protect timelines, cost, and service.
• Provide clear, structured updates to internal stakeholders on project status, risks, and readiness leading up to and through first production.
• Research product category industry trends and create reports summarizing industry manufacturing partners and capabilities for both core and innovation products, including estimated available industry capacity.
• Travel an average of 50% of the time.

• 2-3 years of sourcing, operations, supply chain, or food & beverage…