VP of Procurement

PRIMARY PURPOSE

The Vice President of Procurement provides enterprise-wide leadership for strategic sourcing and procurement across Formulated Solutions’ multi-site Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). Reporting to the Chief Supply Chain Officer, this role is responsible for building and executing procurement strategies that ensure reliable supply, improve cost competitiveness, optimize working capital, and support profitable business growth. The Vice President leads the sourcing and management of direct materials, indirect goods and services, and capital expenditures while balancing cost, quality, service, regulatory compliance, customer commitments, and cash requirements.

The position must develop creative, sustainable solutions involving supplier terms, inventory levels, minimum order quantities, lead times, consignment arrangements, sourcing strategies, and payment prioritization. The Vice President partners closely with Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, R&D, Engineering, Commercial, and Business Development to manage liquidity without compromising product quality, regulatory compliance, customer service, or continuity of supply.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring strategic vision, strong commercial and financial acumen, disciplined execution, and the ability to build trusted supplier relationships. The Vice President leads Category Managers and site procurement teams and establishes consistent procurement practices across the organization.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Procurement Strategy and Leadership

• Develop and execute an enterprise-wide procurement strategy aligned with the company’s business objectives, customer commitments, operating plans, and financial requirements.
• Lead strategic sourcing and category management for direct materials, packaging components, indirect goods and services, and capital expenditures across the company’s multi-site network.
• Establish procurement priorities, policies, processes, governance, and performance standards across all locations.
• Build, organize, develop, and lead a high-performing procurement team while remaining actively involved in critical sourcing, negotiation, supplier, and operational matters.
• Develop category strategies using spend analytics, market intelligence, supplier capabilities, demand forecasts, cost drivers, and industry trends.
• Serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and contribute to enterprise and cross-functional initiatives.

Cash and Working-Capital Management

• Partner closely with the Chief Supply Chain Officer and Finance to develop procurement strategies that support cash-flow and working-capital objectives.
• Optimize payment terms, lead times, minimum and economic order quantities, safety-stock levels, consignment arrangements, vendor-managed inventory, and inventory ownership models.
• Balance liquidity requirements with supplier sustainability, continuity of supply, contractual obligations, customer commitments, and long-term commercial relationships.
• Develop fact-based recommendations for supplier payment prioritization when cash is constrained, considering supply risk, production requirements, customer impact, and business continuity.
• Negotiate extended payment terms and other working-capital improvements without creating unacceptable supply, quality, legal, or reputational risk.
• Identify and reduce excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and at-risk inventory in partnership with Supply Chain, Operations, Commercial, Quality, and Finance.
• Improve purchasing discipline and demand visibility to prevent unnecessary purchases, expedited freight, inventory accumulation, and cash leakage.

Strategic Sourcing and Value Creation

• Lead competitive sourcing, supplier selection, negotiations, contracting, and ongoing commercial management for direct, indirect, and capital purchases.
• Apply structured category management and strategic sourcing methodologies to clarify requirements, analyze supply markets, evaluate options, reduce total cost, and increase business value.
• Identify, validate, and deliver measurable cost savings, cost avoidance, productivity improvements, and working-capital benefits.
• Partner with Finance to ensure procurement savings and other value-creation initiatives are appropriately forecasted, validated, tracked, and reflected in the P&L and cash flow.
• Develop strategies to manage inflation, tariffs, duties, freight costs, commodity volatility, foreign exchange exposure, and other market risks.
• Establish should-cost models, total-cost-of-ownership analyses, supplier benchmarks, and fact-based negotiation strategies.
• Lead negotiations for high-value, high-risk, and business-critical supplier agreements.

Supplier Management and Supply Assurance

• Establish a comprehensive supplier relationship and performance management program addressing quality, cost, delivery, service, innovation, compliance, financial health, and responsiveness.
• Identify critical suppliers and materials and implement appropriate risk mitigation, contingency, dual-sourcing, safety-stock, and business-continuity strategies.
• Monitor supplier capacity, financial stability, geopolitical exposure, regulatory status, operational performance, and other potential supply risks.
• Partner with Quality to ensure suppliers meet applicable specifications, quality agreements, change-control requirements, audit expectations, and regulatory standards.
• Lead commercial resolution of supplier quality, delivery, capacity, pricing, and contractual issues.
• Develop strategic supplier relationships that provide access to innovation, competitive pricing, improved terms, capacity, and supply priority.
• Ensure procurement decisions do not compromise product quality, patient or consumer safety, regulatory compliance, or customer requirements.

New Product Introductions and Commercial Support

• Partner with Business Development, Commercial, R&D, Quality, Engineering, Operations, and Supply Chain to support new product development, quoting, technical transfers, and product launches.
• Ensure supplier identification, material availability, pricing, lead times, capacity, tooling, quality requirements, and commercial terms are addressed early in the NPI process.
• Provide timely, accurate, and competitive material and service cost estimates for customer quotations and business-development opportunities.
• Engage suppliers to identify new materials, packaging solutions, technologies, and cost-saving innovations.
• Ensure procurement commitments associated with customer proposals are commercially sound, operationally achievable, and aligned with company financial objectives.

Procurement Operations, Systems, and Compliance

• Lead the continuous improvement and digital transformation of procurement.
• Establish accurate procurement data, spend visibility, supplier master-data controls, approval workflows, and purchasing compliance.
• Improve purchase-order accuracy, contract utilization, invoice matching, exception management, and on-time supplier payment processes in partnership with Finance and Accounts Payable.
• Develop procurement dashboards and key performance indicators covering savings, working capital, supplier performance, purchase-price variance, contract compliance, inventory, sourcing progress, and supply risk.
• Ensure procurement activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, company policies, delegated authority, ethical standards, and contractual requirements.
• Oversee applicable international trade compliance activities, including import and export requirements, tariffs, customs classifications, country-of-origin documentation, and restricted-party controls.
• Maintain appropriate procurement documentation and audit readiness in support of regulatory, customer, financial, and internal audits.
• Anticipate business requirements, market trends, and performance variances and implement timely corrective actions.

People and Organizational Leadership

• Recruit, develop, coach, and retain a capable procurement organization with strong strategic, analytical, technical, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Establish clear roles, goals, accountability, performance measures, and development plans for team.
• Create a collaborative operating model that balances enterprise category leadership with site-level responsiveness and execution.
• Promote open communication, disciplined decision-making, constructive challenge, and cross-functional problem-solving.
• Lead change-management efforts necessary to standardize processes, improve purchasing discipline, and strengthen procurement’s strategic contribution.
• Model and reinforce Formulated Solutions’ values of People First, Quality Obsessed, Customer Focused, Innovation Driven, and Ownership Mindset.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

• Strategic Procurement Leadership: Ability to develop and execute comprehensive sourcing and category strategies across direct, indirect, and capital spend.
• Financial Acumen: Strong understanding of P&L impact, cash flow, working capital, inventory, cost accounting, purchase-price variance, and total cost of ownership.
• Cash and Working-Capital Management: Demonstrated ability to improve liquidity through payment terms, inventory optimization, lead-time reduction, order-quantity management, consignment, and related strategies.
• Negotiation and Contracting: Advanced ability to negotiate complex commercial agreements that balance price, payment terms, quality, service, flexibility, risk, and continuity of supply.
• Supplier Risk Management: Ability to assess supplier financial health, capacity, quality, regulatory compliance, geographic exposure, and business-continuity risks.
• Regulated Manufacturing Knowledge: Understanding of procurement and supplier-management requirements in FDA-regulated and cGMP manufacturing environments.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Ability to build strategic supplier partnerships while maintaining clear performance expectations and commercial accountability.
• Business and Commercial Judgment: Ability to balance short-term financial needs with long-term supply, customer, quality, and business requirements.
• Analytical Decision-Making: Ability to analyze spend, pricing, inventory, market, supplier, and operational data and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Ability to influence and align Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, Finance, R&D, Engineering, Commercial, and Business Development.
• Change Leadership: Demonstrated ability to implement new processes, systems, controls, organizational structures, and procurement practices.
• Execution and Accountability: Ability to translate strategy into measurable results and personally engage in critical issues when necessary.
• Communication: Ability to clearly present procurement strategies, financial impacts, risks, and recommendations to executives and other stakeholders.
• People Leadership: Ability to select, develop, motivate, coach, and hold accountable a multi-site procurement team.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 12 years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, supply chain, category management, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of seven years of procurement leadership experience, including responsibility for category managers, procurement professionals, or site-based purchasing teams.
• Procurement experience within regulated manufacturing industry.
• Demonstrated experience sourcing direct materials, packaging components, indirect goods and services, and capital equipment.
• Proven success delivering measurable cost savings, working-capital improvements, supplier performance improvements, and supply-risk reductions.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex negotiations and managing significant supplier contracts and commercial relationships.
• Experience supporting multiple manufacturing sites and working within a cross-functional, matrixed organization.
• Working knowledge of cGMP requirements, supplier qualification, change control, quality agreements, and regulated supply-chain practices.
• Experience supporting new product introductions, technical transfers, customer quotations, commercialization, and product launches.
• Experience using ERP, e-procurement, spend-analytics, contract-management, and supplier-performance systems.
• Experience developing procurement metrics, business cases, forecasts, and executive-level presentations.

PREFERED EXPERIENCE

• Procurement leadership experience within a CDMO or contract manufacturing organization.
• Direct experience supporting OTC, prescription pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, or consumer healthcare products.
• Experience with international sourcing, import and export compliance, tariffs, customs requirements, and global supplier networks.
• Experience leading procurement transformation, ERP implementation, or process-standardization initiatives.
• Experience in a private-equity-sponsored, turnaround, or high-growth organization.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Business Administration, Finance, Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field.

Preferred

• Master of Business Administration or other relevant advanced degree.
• Certified Professional in Supply Management, Certified Purchasing Manager, Certified Supply Chain Professional, or equivalent professional certification.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous-improvement certification.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to travel between company locations and to supplier sites as business needs require.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and make timely, well-reasoned decisions in a fast-paced and evolving manufacturing environment.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality when handling supplier, customer, financial, and contractual-related information.