Director Purchasing

Sonepar; Maryland; On-site; USD 150,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Excellent benefits

Career growth opportunities

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Capital Electric, part of the Sonepar group, is seeking an senior procurement leader in Maryland to drive enterprise procurement strategy and supplier management across major product categories. You will lead negotiations, improve inventory and working capital, and build a high-performing team.

The role requires a track record of strategic supplier relationships, experience in electrical distribution, and strong ERP/Excel proficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Operations, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in procurement, purchasing, sourcing, category management, inventory management, or supply chain.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience leading managers or professional procurement teams.
• Demonstrated success leading strategic supplier relationships, negotiations, category strategies, and procurement improvement initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of inventory management, working capital, purchasing operations, supplier performance, and commercial decision-making.
• Experience in electrical distribution, wholesale distribution, industrial distribution, manufacturing, or a related industry preferred.
• Proficiency with ERP, purchasing, reporting, and business intelligence tools; advanced Microsoft Excel capability preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an enterprise procurement strategy aligned with profitable growth, customer service, margin, inventory, and working capital objectives.
• Establish annual priorities, operating plans, performance targets, and a clear governance cadence for the procurement organization.
• Lead procurement transformation, process standardization, and adoption of enabling systems, analytics, and continuous improvement practices.
• Provide market intelligence and procurement recommendations to executive leadership to support business planning and investment decisions.
• Own the strategic supplier management framework across major product categories and ensure vendor strategies align with company priorities.
• Lead high-impact negotiations involving cost, rebates, terms, lead times, stocking programs, service expectations, and other commercial agreements.
• Establish supplier scorecards, business reviews, escalation paths, and corrective action plans to improve performance and accountability.
• Drive vendor rationalization, product line reviews, sourcing alternatives, and supplier development opportunities.
• Partner with Inventory Management, Operations, and Sales to establish inventory investment and replenishment strategies that balance availability, turns, and risk.
• Monitor excess, slow-moving, obsolete, reserve, and non-returnable inventory and sponsor recovery, transfer, return, and disposition plans.
• Improve forecasting inputs, purchasing parameters, stock-and-flow strategies, and network inventory deployment.
• Drive accountability for inventory productivity and the financial impact of procurement decisions.
• Oversee daily purchasing operations and ensure timely, accurate, and consistent execution across the business.
• Develop and maintain procurement policies, approval standards, supplier requirements, and operating procedures.
• Create consistent purchasing and category-management practices while preserving appropriate flexibility for regional, customer, and product needs.
• Identify and mitigate supplier, commodity, market, and supply continuity risks through practical contingency planning.
• Lead, coach, and develop procurement managers, category leaders, buyers, specialists, and analysts.
• Establish clear roles, decision rights, objectives, performance expectations, and development plans.
• Build succession plans and strengthen technical, commercial, analytical, and leadership capability across the team.
• Promote a culture of ownership, collaboration, responsiveness, professionalism, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with Sales and branch leadership to support customer commitments, strategic opportunities, large projects, and market growth.
• Collaborate with Operations and distribution centers to align purchasing, inventory deployment, logistics, and service priorities.
• Work with Finance to improve visibility to inventory investment, supplier rebates, cost changes, savings, margin impact, and working capital.
• Communicate priorities, risks, decisions, and results clearly to stakeholders across the organization.
• Develop actionable procurement dashboards, scorecards, and executive reporting.
• Use spend, sales, margin, inventory, supplier, customer demand, lead-time, and market data to drive decisions.
• Establish corrective action plans when performance is below target and track execution through completion.

Skills

Strategic procurement

Negotiation

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Operations, or related field

Tools

ERP systems

Microsoft Excel

Job description

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A career at Capital Electric is more than a job. You’re investing in a brighter, more sustainable future together and joining a team that makes a real difference for our customers. Capital Electric offers electrical products and services to contractors. If it helps bring electricity to an office, home, factory or other building – you can find it here. We operate in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and are part of the Sonepar group, the world’s #1 electrical distributor with over 45,000 associates around the globe.

Being “Powered by Difference” means we respect and value diverse perspectives. WithinCapital Electric, we offer a supportive culture and great benefits, and as part of the larger Sonepar group, we can offer exciting opportunities to grow your career.

Key Accountabilities

Strategic Procurement Leadership

• Develop and execute an enterprise procurement strategy aligned with profitable growth, customer service, margin, inventory, and working capital objectives.
• Establish annual priorities, operating plans, performance targets, and a clear governance cadence for the procurement organization.
• Lead procurement transformation, process standardization, and adoption of enabling systems, analytics, and continuous improvement practices.
• Provide market intelligence and procurement recommendations to executive leadership to support business planning and investment decisions.

Supplier and Category Management

• Own the strategic supplier management framework across major product categories and ensure vendor strategies align with company priorities.
• Lead high-impact negotiations involving cost, rebates, terms, lead times, stocking programs, service expectations, and other commercial agreements.
• Establish supplier scorecards, business reviews, escalation paths, and corrective action plans to improve performance and accountability.
• Drive vendor rationalization, product line reviews, sourcing alternatives, and supplier development opportunities.

Inventory and Working Capital

• Partner with Inventory Management, Operations, and Sales to establish inventory investment and replenishment strategies that balance availability, turns, and risk.
• Monitor excess, slow-moving, obsolete, reserve, and non-returnable inventory and sponsor recovery, transfer, return, and disposition plans.
• Improve forecasting inputs, purchasing parameters, stock-and-flow strategies, and network inventory deployment.
• Drive accountability for inventory productivity and the financial impact of procurement decisions.

Procurement Operations and Governance

• Oversee daily purchasing operations and ensure timely, accurate, and consistent execution across the business.
• Develop and maintain procurement policies, approval standards, supplier requirements, and operating procedures.
• Create consistent purchasing and category-management practices while preserving appropriate flexibility for regional, customer, and product needs.
• Identify and mitigate supplier, commodity, market, and supply continuity risks through practical contingency planning.

Team Leadership and Talent Development

• Lead, coach, and develop procurement managers, category leaders, buyers, specialists, and analysts.
• Establish clear roles, decision rights, objectives, performance expectations, and development plans.
• Build succession plans and strengthen technical, commercial, analytical, and leadership capability across the team.
• Promote a culture of ownership, collaboration, responsiveness, professionalism, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Sales and branch leadership to support customer commitments, strategic opportunities, large projects, and market growth.
• Collaborate with Operations and distribution centers to align purchasing, inventory deployment, logistics, and service priorities.
• Work with Finance to improve visibility to inventory investment, supplier rebates, cost changes, savings, margin impact, and working capital.
• Communicate priorities, risks, decisions, and results clearly to stakeholders across the organization.

Analytics and Performance Management

• Develop actionable procurement dashboards, scorecards, and executive reporting.
• Use spend, sales, margin, inventory, supplier, customer demand, lead-time, and market data to drive decisions.
• Establish corrective action plans when performance is below target and track execution through completion.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Operations, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in procurement, purchasing, sourcing, category management, inventory management, or supply chain.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience leading managers or professional procurement teams.
• Demonstrated success leading strategic supplier relationships, negotiations, category strategies, and procurement improvement initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of inventory management, working capital, purchasing operations, supplier performance, and commercial decision-making.
• Experience in electrical distribution, wholesale distribution, industrial distribution, manufacturing, or a related industry preferred.
• Proficiency with ERP, purchasing, reporting, and business intelligence tools; advanced Microsoft Excel capability preferred.

Working Relationships

This role works closely with executive leadership, Sales, Operations, Finance, Inventory Management, distribution center leadership, branch leadership, procurement team members, suppliers, and other internal stakeholders to align procurement decisions with business goals, customer commitments, supplier capabilities, inventory priorities, and operational execution.

Measures of Success

• Procurement strategy is clearly defined, aligned with company priorities, and consistently executed.
• Supplier programs, commercial terms, service levels, and accountability improve over time.
• Inventory availability, turns, reserve exposure, and working capital performance improve.
• Purchasing operations are timely, accurate, standardized, and responsive to the business.
• Procurement decisions support profitable growth, margin protection, customer service, and supply continuity.
• The procurement team demonstrates clear accountability, strong capability, effective succession, and high-quality cross-functional support.

Physical and Other Requirements

• Ability to work in an office, distribution, branch, and supplier environment as business needs require.
• Ability to travel periodically to company locations, supplier meetings, industry events, and business reviews.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and make sound decisions in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Compensation: $150,000–$175,000+.base & discretionary bonus

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What We Offer You

We offer great family-friendly benefits to full-time associates:

• Paid time off
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k) retirement savings with company match
• Professional and personal development programs
• Opportunity to become a shareholder
• Employer-paid short- and long-term disability
• Employer-paid life insurance for spouse and dependents
• Robust wellness program
• Gym reimbursement
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

We’re proud to be a military-friendly company, and our many employee resource groups (ERGs) help you make connections and feel supported.

Sonepar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability unrelated to ability, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, genetic information, sexual orientation, order of protection status, protected veteran or military status, or an unfavorable discharge from military service, or any other categories protected by federal, state or local law.

Sonepar and our family of brands are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. In keeping with our commitment, we will take the steps to assure that people with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. Accordingly, if a reasonable accommodation is required to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of the position, and/or to receive all other benefits and privileges of employment, please call 843-745-2420 or email [e-mail] .

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Applicants and employees are protected under Federal law from discrimination. To learn more, Click here .

Pay Transparency Non-Discrimination Provision

Sonepar follows Executive Order 11246, including the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision. To learn more, Click here.