Director of Purchasing

Monoprice is seeking an experienced Director of Purchasing to lead the purchasing function and own the company's supplier base and Approved Vendor List (AVL). The Director owns vendor relationships end to end: qualifying and segmenting suppliers, assigning a single accountable owner to each vendor, negotiating pricing, payment terms, and supply agreements, and holding suppliers to measurable performance standards. The role sets purchasing policy and delegation-of-authority controls that empower buyers to move quickly while protecting margin, inventory health, and supply continuity.

Success is measured by product availability and total delivered value, not lowest unit price alone.

The ideal candidate is a supply chain leader who builds durable, win-win supplier partnerships and manages inventory as a business asset, balancing service levels against working capital through disciplined use of turns, safety stock, buffer inventory, and excess-and-obsolete reduction. Working closely with Demand Planning, Finance, Quality, Logistics, Sourcing, Product Management, and Sales, the Director leads a buying team across U.S. and offshore, time-zone-separated locations, develops that team, and uses modern ERP and analytics tools to run purchasing on data rather than instinct.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the supplier base and Approved Vendor List (AVL): qualify, onboard, segment, and offboard vendors, and maintain a single named owner for each vendor relationship.
• Lead vendor negotiations: negotiate pricing, payment terms, and supply agreements that reach win-win outcomes, protect total delivered value, and build long-term supplier partnerships rather than relying on short-term leverage tactics.
• Manage supplier performance: maintain vendor scorecards for on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness, and cost; run regular business reviews; and drive corrective action and continuous improvement.
• Assure continuity of supply: through collaboration with Sourcing and Product Management stakeholders, develop and qualify second sources or vendor consolidation as business needs require, manage dual-sourcing and business-continuity plans, and mitigate single-source and geographic risk across the portfolio.
• Establish and own purchasing policy and controls: maintain the delegation-of-authority matrix, PO approval routing, and exception controls that empower buyers with clear spending authority while gating price, quantity, and inventory risk for escalation.
• Manage inventory health in partnership with Demand Planning: steward inventory turns, safety stock, and buffer and replenishment targets; reduce excess and obsolete inventory; and balance product availability against working capital.
• Own the purchasing budget and cost performance: consolidate and leverage common spend, track purchase price variance, and manage material and inventory budgets to plan.
• Direct overseas purchasing and importing, primarily from Southeast Asia: coordinate with Logistics and Receiving on inbound freight, and apply working knowledge of international customs, tariffs, and HTS classification.
• Own the purchasing scorecard and reporting: define and report KPIs including PO cycle time, on-time PO release, fill rate, hold rate with reason codes, inventory turns, safety-stock adherence, excess and obsolete, purchase price variance, and vendor on-time delivery and quality; present results and recovery plans to leadership.
• Lead, coach, and develop the buying team across U.S. and offshore locations: set clear standards, build bench strength, and maintain a named backup at each level of purchasing authority.
• Partner cross-functionally with Demand Planning, Finance, Quality and Compliance, Logistics, Sales, and Product and Program Management to align purchasing with business needs and product availability.
• Drive process improvement and system adoption across the purchasing function, using ERP and analytics tools to standardize and scale operations.
• Performs other related duties as assigned

To perform this job successfully, the employee must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• 6+ years of progressive purchasing or procurement experience, including 5+ years managing a team, preferably within consumer electronics or a related hardware…