Senior Director of Purchasing & Global Sourcing

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Location:

High Point, NC

Functional Area:

Purchasing

With over 100 years of corporate development and experience, Jowat is a worldwide leader in the manufacture of industrial adhesives. We have a highly motivated team of 1500 employees worldwide and are proud to provide our customers with innovative adhesive solutions in a number of markets.

Senior Director of Purchasing & Global Sourcing

We are the U.S. subsidiary of a leading German multinational manufacturer of industrial adhesives, serving customers across a broad range of manufacturing industries.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Director of Purchasing & Global Sourcing to lead the purchasing and sourcing activities for our U.S. operations in North Carolina. This highly visible leadership role is responsible for developing and executing sourcing strategies, securing competitive and reliable sources of supply, and building strong supplier partnerships in North America and internationally.

The successful candidate will combine strategic global sourcing expertise with a strong understanding of manufacturing operations. We are looking for a commercial leader who is comfortable negotiating at the highest level while remaining close to suppliers, markets, materials, and the day-to-day needs of the business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead purchasing and strategic sourcing activities for our U.S. manufacturing operations.
• Develop and execute global and regional sourcing strategies for raw materials, packaging, and other key spending categories.
• Identify, evaluate, qualify, and develop suppliers in North America and international markets.
• Negotiate supply agreements, pricing, payment terms, logistics conditions, and other commercial terms.
• Continuously identify opportunities for cost reduction, value improvement, and total-cost optimization without compromising quality, service, or supply security.
• Monitor global raw-material markets, supply-and-demand developments, geopolitical risks, tariffs, logistics constraints, and other factors affecting availability and cost.
• Develop sourcing alternatives and contingency strategies to improve supply-chain resilience and reduce single-source dependencies.
• Build strategic relationships with key suppliers and conduct regular supplier and commercial reviews.
• Partner closely with Production, R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, and Finance to ensure purchasing strategies support operational and commercial objectives.
• Collaborate with purchasing colleagues and other stakeholders across our international organization, particularly our European headquarters and global manufacturing network.
• Support the qualification and commercialization of alternative raw materials and suppliers in cooperation with technical and quality teams.
• Establish and track meaningful purchasing KPIs, savings initiatives, supplier performance, and sourcing projects.
• Lead, develop, and mentor the U.S. purchasing organization.
• Ensure purchasing activities are conducted in accordance with company policies, ethical standards, contractual requirements, and applicable regulations.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Chemistry, Engineering, or a related discipline. An advanced degree or relevant professional certification is a plus.
• Significant progressive experience in strategic purchasing, procurement, or global sourcing, including senior-level responsibility within a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated success sourcing raw materials and components internationally and developing suppliers across multiple regions.
• Strong track record of negotiating complex commercial agreements and delivering sustainable cost improvements.
• Experience with chemical raw materials, specialty chemicals, adhesives, coatings, polymers, resins, or related process industries is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing supply chains, inventory considerations, supplier qualification, and risk management.
• Ability to analyze markets, cost structures, supplier economics, and total landed cost.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to balance cost, quality, availability, working capital, and long-term supply security.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suites is required. SAP knowledge is preferred.
• Experience working effectively in a multinational and cross-cultural organization.
• Ability and willingness to travel…