Sr. Manager, Direct Procurement

The Role

Sr. Manager, Direct Procurement for GTI is responsible for partnering with the Procurement, Brand, Marketing and Op Operations teams and will lead the sourcing and procurement of direct materials to support the company's needs. This role will be critical to ensure materials are procured in the most cost and time efficient manner by evaluating contracts and vendors while driving reporting and tracking for assigned spend categories.

This role will be accountable for driving profit enhancement through negotiations and enabling differentiated product sourcing solutions while maintaining quality and delivery to the business. This role will drive the continuous process of actualizing the best sourced material solutions to achieve organizational goals and efficiencies.

This is a hybrid role requiring in office work 1-2 days per week. Ability to travel up to 15% is required.

• Oversees day-to-day, full-cycle procurement activities for GTI's top brands and related categories.
• Leads the packaging procurement team by setting daily priorities, managing workload distribution, and ensuring timely execution of key deliverables.
• Evaluates market‑available solutions and provides strategic recommendations by partnering with engineering, brand, marketing, and project teams to drive alignment, collaboration, and successful execution.
• Leads the sourcing process, including preparing RFI/RFQ/RFPs by working closely with stakeholders to understand their needs, translating that into the sourcing process.
• Oversees the management of ongoing vendor relationships and supplier performance across their portfolio; acts as a point‑of‑contact and subject‑matter‑expert on contract terms; responsible for renewal of existing contracts and renegotiations of pricing.
• Identifies strategic opportunities which result in cost savings, areas for efficiency and opportunities for the Procurement team.
• Works closely with the accounting team to ensure vendor billing is correct and terms & conditions are adhered to.
• Partner with Innovation, Project Management, and Brand teams to coordinate and deliver new projects.
• Follows procurement strategies, policies and procedures as defined by the leadership team, develops a comprehensive understanding of the business and user requirements for assigned spend categories.
• Develops a business relationship with functional stakeholders on the Operations, Brand, Marketing & Project teams and solicits feedback on sourcing and vendor performance, shares and discusses supply base opportunities, and identifies new and changed needs.
• Builds a network of reliable and quality suppliers and vendors; forges close supplier relationships with specific vendors.
• Drives tracking and reporting for assigned spend areas; develops tracking mechanisms and supplier key performance indicators with the Director; tracks compliance and develops leakage reports; supports formal management reporting to director and other members of senior management.
• Manages complex negotiations with suppliers that require a detailed strategic plan.
• Monitors status of open purchase orders to ensure on‑time delivery of all materials, including timely resolution, communication, and mitigation of future potential problems.
• Determines and establishes optimal inventory levels based on forecast, demand variation and equipment lead times.
• Identifies and drives process improvement work streams to support both Procurement and cross‑functional business partners.
• Supports the development of cross‑functional teams by identifying internal customers and stakeholders for inclusion; interfaces with internal customers to understand requirements and resolves issues; involves key stakeholders in sourcing development and execution.
• Identifies and partners with business stakeholders to execute cost reduction opportunities to achieve financial goals without compromising quality or service.
• Leads or inputs on special projects as required.

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field: business, supply chain, finance.
• 7+ years in procurement (on‑shore, near‑shore and global) and contract administration/management; experience purchasing direct materials…