Director of Purchasing – Construction & Infrastructure

Talent Wave Associates; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Talent Wave Associates seeks a Director of Purchasing to lead strategic sourcing, trade partner development, contract negotiations, budgeting, and cost management for Texas-based real estate development.

The role focuses on large-scale data center and infrastructure projects, managing a broad partner network and cross-functional teams to optimize procurement, pricing, and delivery across markets.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in construction purchasing and procurement.
• Established Texas trade partner and subcontractor network.
• Experience with large-scale commercial, industrial, or data center projects.
• Experience sourcing and negotiating subcontractors and contracts.
• Strong budgeting, cost management, and procurement practices.
• 2+ years of leadership or team management experience.
• Bachelor's degree preferred in a related field.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain network of trade partners across Texas.
• Lead subcontractor sourcing, bidding, negotiations, and purchasing agreements.
• Collaborate with construction, development, and finance to align procurement with schedules.
• Manage purchasing budgets and identify cost savings.
• Monitor supplier performance and mitigate procurement risks.
• Lead and develop the purchasing team.
• Improve procurement processes and reporting.
• Forecast material requirements using market intelligence.

Skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Strategic sourcing

Budgeting

Vendor management

Cross-functional collaboration

Relationship building

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, construction management, engineering, or related

High school diploma or GED

Tools

Microsoft Office

Purchasing systems

Estimating systems

Project management systems

Job description

Are you a construction purchasing leader with a strong network of trade partners and subcontractors across Texas?

We are seeking a Director of Purchasing to lead strategic sourcing, trade partner development, contract negotiations, budgeting, and cost management for a growing Texas-based real estate development organization.

As the company expands into large-scale data center and infrastructure development, this role will play a critical part in identifying, developing, and maintaining the trade partner network needed to support increasingly complex construction projects.

The ideal candidate brings strong relationships across the Texas construction market and has experience sourcing, evaluating, negotiating with, and managing subcontractors and trade partners supporting large-scale commercial, industrial, mission-critical, infrastructure, or data center construction.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a strong network of trade partners, subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers throughout Texas and other key project markets.
• Proactively identify and engage qualified trade partners capable of supporting large-scale and technically complex construction projects.
• Build relationships across key construction trades, including electrical, mechanical/MEP, civil/sitework, concrete/structural, utilities, controls, fire protection, and other specialty construction disciplines.
• Lead subcontractor and vendor sourcing, qualification, competitive bidding, bid evaluation, contract negotiations, and purchasing agreements.
• Leverage industry relationships and market intelligence to understand contractor capabilities, capacity, pricing, and availability.
• Negotiate competitive pricing and favorable commercial terms while balancing cost, quality, schedule, capacity, reliability, and project requirements.
• Partner closely with construction, development, engineering, design, finance, and project leadership to develop procurement and trade-partner strategies aligned with project schedules.
• Lead purchasing budgets and cost objectives, analyzing expenditures and market conditions to identify savings and value-engineering opportunities.
• Monitor procurement performance and proactively address cost variances, contractor capacity, material availability, supplier performance, and other potential project risks.
• Evaluate and improve purchasing processes, controls, reporting, vendor management, and performance metrics to support continued growth and scalability.
• Utilize purchasing data and market intelligence to forecast trade and material requirements and anticipate potential supply-chain or contractor constraints.
• Lead, coach, and develop the purchasing team, establishing clear expectations, accountability, and performance goals.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration and a solutions-oriented culture across purchasing and the broader organization.

Minimum Requirements

• Significant experience in construction purchasing, procurement, preconstruction, subcontractor management, or a closely related construction function.
• Demonstrated network of established Texas trade partner and subcontractor relationships, with the ability to bring qualified contractors to the table for major construction projects.
• Experience supporting large-scale commercial, industrial, infrastructure, mission-critical, data center, or similarly complex construction projects.
• Demonstrated experience sourcing and qualifying subcontractors and negotiating construction contracts, trade packages, materials, and services.
• Strong understanding of construction budgeting, cost management, competitive bidding, contract negotiation, and procurement practices.
• Strong knowledge of the Texas construction market and contractor landscape.
• Minimum of 2 years of leadership or team management experience.
• Strong negotiation, communication, relationship-building, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and relevant purchasing, estimating, or project management systems.
• High school diploma or GED required; bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, construction management, engineering, or a related discipline preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting data center, mission-critical, advanced manufacturing, energy, power, or other large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Established relationships with major electrical, mechanical/MEP, civil, structural, utility, and specialty contractors.
• Experience developing a trade-partner network in new markets or geographic regions.
• Experience with large subcontractor bid packages, buyout, and contractor capacity planning.
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.

Work Environment

• This role can be based in the DFW or Houston areas.
• Travel to project sites throughout Texas, including West Texas, will be required.

We're proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and are committed to fostering an inclusive, people-first recruiting experience.

As part of our commitment to a fair, consistent, and efficient recruitment process, we may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the initial screening of applications submitted through our applicant tracking system. These tools help identify qualifications and experience that align with the role requirements. Please note that AI is used solely to support our recruiters. Final decisions are always made by the hiring manager and the hiring team. Importantly, no applicant data is shared externally through these AI tools. All information remains securely within our systems and is handled in accordance with our privacy and data protection policies.