Vice President, Procurement

Vice President

The Business

Our client is one of the largest wood product producers and distributors in the US and among North America's top buyers of forest products, purchasing lumber and panel products directly from mills across multiple locations. This seat manages annual spend in the billions, making it one of the biggest procurement roles in the industry

This is a newly reshaped VP role sitting inside a large, sophisticated procurement organization. The company is not asking this leader to be the best trader in the room. It is asking this leader to build the next generation of traders and buyers, as the current bench of experienced commodity talent is aging out across the entire industry and there is no pipeline behind it.

The Opportunity

This Vice President will lead a procurement team of approximately 25, including 3 director-level direct reports, across lumber, panels, and related forest product categories.

The role will own landed cost and working capital performance, strengthen supplier relationships and purchasing strategy, and build a more formal talent development pipeline for buyers and traders.

Success within the first 2–3 years will mean a stronger bench of procurement talent, disciplined purchasing processes, and trusted relationships across suppliers and internal leadership. Approximately 30% travel is expected.

What You Will Need to Be Successful

• Proven leadership of a team of 20+ people, with several leaders reporting up through you
• A track record of training, developing, and promoting people
• History of cross-functional leadership, operating inside a large, multi-stakeholder, matrixed organization
• Strong negotiation skills and experience running a formal vendor evaluation and supplier-alignment process, including national or regional program negotiations
• Strategic and process systems thinking beyond the transaction
• Ability to lead a Cultural Bridge: harnessing the cowboy, while installing the discipline