VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT

POSITION SUMMARY

Industry: Technology, Telecommunications, Micro-Energy & Digital Infrastructure Distribution

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Function: Procurement, Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management

Level: Executive Leadership

The Vice President of Procurement is responsible for developing and executing the company's enterprise procurement, strategic sourcing, supplier management, and supply strategy across its technology, telecommunications, micro-energy, and digital infrastructure portfolio.

The VP of Procurement will build and lead a disciplined procurement organization that ensures competitive product cost, reliable supply, favorable commercial terms, strong supplier relationships, appropriate inventory availability, and effective management of supply-chain risk.

This executive will manage strategic relationships with manufacturers, OEMs, technology providers, distributors, and other supply partners while working closely with Sales, Product Management, Operations, Finance, Logistics, and executive leadership to align procurement decisions with customer demand, revenue objectives, gross-margin targets, inventory requirements, and working-capital goals.

The position requires a combination of strategic sourcing leadership, commercial negotiation expertise, technical market knowledge, financial discipline, supplier relationship management, and operational execution.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Enterprise Procurement Strategy

• Develop and execute the company's enterprise procurement and strategic sourcing strategy.
• Establish procurement priorities aligned with revenue growth, gross-margin objectives, inventory requirements, customer service levels, and working-capital targets.
• Develop category strategies across technology, telecommunications, micro-energy, data center, networking, connectivity, power, and digital infrastructure products.
• Establish sourcing strategies that balance cost, availability, quality, lead time, supplier concentration, and supply-chain risk.
• Identify opportunities to consolidate purchasing and leverage enterprise purchasing power.
• Establish procurement policies, approval authorities, controls, and operating procedures.
• Develop multi-year sourcing and supplier strategies supporting the company's growth objectives.

Strategic Sourcing & Purchasing

Lead strategic sourcing and purchasing activities across product categories that may include:

• Telecommunications equipment and infrastructure
• Fiber optic and broadband products
• Wireless and 5G infrastructure
• Networking and connectivity
• Data center infrastructure
• Structured cabling
• Outside plant products
• Power distribution
• Backup power and energy storage
• Batteries and battery systems
• Solar and renewable-energy components
• Microgrids and micro-energy systems
• UPS and power-conditioning systems
• Electrical infrastructure
• Cooling and thermal-management products
• Edge computing infrastructure
• Network security products
• Cloud and IT infrastructure
• IoT and connected infrastructure

Ensure sourcing strategies support both established product categories and emerging technologies.

Supplier & Manufacturer Management

• Develop executive-level relationships with strategic manufacturers, OEMs, suppliers, and technology partners.
• Establish supplier segmentation based on strategic importance, spend, profitability, risk, and growth potential.
• Develop joint business plans with strategic suppliers.
• Conduct regular supplier business reviews.
• Establish supplier scorecards and performance standards.
• Monitor supplier quality, delivery performance, lead times, pricing, responsiveness, and commercial compliance.
• Develop corrective-action plans for underperforming suppliers.
• Identify alternative and secondary sources for strategically important products.
• Reduce unnecessary supplier concentration and single-source dependencies.

Commercial Negotiations

Lead major supplier negotiations involving:

• Product pricing
• Volume discounts
• Rebates
• Growth incentives
• Marketing development funds
• Freight terms
• Payment terms
• Credit terms
• Stock rotation
• Inventory protection
• Price protection
• Return privileges
• Warranty terms
• Lead-time commitments
• Service-level agreements
• Exclusivity arrangements
• Territory rights
• Distribution agreements

Ensure supplier agreements improve the company's competitive position while appropriately protecting profitability and working capital.

Cost & Gross-Margin Management

• Develop procurement strategies that improve product cost and gross-margin performance.
• Monitor purchase-price variance and supplier cost changes.
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction and cost avoidance.
• Partner with Sales and Finance to understand the impact of supplier pricing on customer profitability.
• Negotiate supplier programs that support competitive customer pricing while preserving margins.
• Establish processes for communicating supplier price changes throughout the organization.
• Analyze landed cost, including product cost, freight, duties, tariffs, storage, and other acquisition expenses.

Inventory & Demand Alignment

Partner closely with Sales, Product Management, Finance, and Operations to align purchasing with:

• Sales forecasts
• Customer demand
• Pipeline
• Backlog
• Historical consumption
• Supplier lead times
• Inventory availability
• Safety-stock requirements
• Product life cycles
• Technology transitions
• Working-capital objectives

Establish purchasing disciplines that maximize product availability while minimizing excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory.

Working Capital & Inventory Optimization

• Establish inventory investment strategies by product category and supplier.
• Improve inventory turns and working-capital efficiency.
• Reduce excess and obsolete inventory exposure.
• Negotiate supplier stocking programs, consignment arrangements, vendor-managed inventory, stock rotation, and return rights where appropriate.
• Develop strategies for long-lead-time and constrained products.
• Partner with Finance to establish inventory targets and purchasing budgets.
• Monitor purchase commitments and inventory liabilities.

Supply-Chain Risk Management

Develop an enterprise supplier and procurement risk-management framework addressing:

• Supplier concentration
• Geographic concentration
• Product shortages
• Long lead times
• Manufacturer discontinuations
• Technology obsolescence
• Transportation disruptions
• Geopolitical risks
• Tariffs and trade restrictions
• Counterfeit products
• Supplier financial stability
• Cybersecurity considerations
• Natural disasters
• Regulatory changes

Develop contingency sourcing and business-continuity strategies for critical product categories.

Micro-Energy & Power Infrastructure Procurement

Develop specialized sourcing capabilities supporting the company's micro-energy and distributed-power portfolio, including:

• Battery energy storage
• Backup power
• Solar infrastructure
• Microgrids
• DC power systems
• UPS systems
• Power conversion
• Power distribution
• Renewable-energy components
• Monitoring and energy-management technologies

Evaluate suppliers based on technology maturity, reliability, certifications, warranties, financial stability, product roadmaps, and lifecycle support.

Partner with technical leadership to ensure emerging energy technologies meet customer, regulatory, safety, and performance requirements.

Technology & Product Lifecycle Management

• Monitor manufacturer product roadmaps and technology transitions.
• Identify end-of-life and end-of-sale risks.
• Coordinate sourcing strategies for new product introductions.
• Manage procurement implications of technology migrations.
• Establish transition plans for discontinued products.
• Partner with Product Management and Sales to evaluate new manufacturers and technologies.
• Ensure inventory exposure is managed during product transitions.

Procurement Operations

Establish efficient procurement processes covering:

• Purchase requisitions