Senior Commodity Manager

Socket.dev; Northbrook (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

HuFriedyGroup is seeking a Senior Commodity Manager to own the highest-spend, most complex commodity categories, driving category management and governance across Procurement, Finance, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, and Operations. The role emphasizes independence, strategic thinking, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders to deliver cost savings and supply continuity.

Ideal candidates will shape sourcing practices, build processes from the ground up, and translate sourcing

Qualifications

• Experience leading strategic sourcing initiatives across multiple functions.
• Ability to build processes from the ground up and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong negotiation and category management skills.
• Experience with cost-savings, TCO analyses, and supplier transitions.

Responsibilities

• Own sourcing strategy for largest, most complex, and highest-risk categories.
• Lead cross-functional, multi-site sourcing initiatives and supplier transitions.
• Develop should-cost, total-cost-of-ownership analyses, and market benchmarking.
• Establish savings governance, baseline definitions, and Finance validation requirements.
• Mentor Commodity Managers and Sourcing Specialists; review savings claims for consistency.
• Lead executive-level supplier negotiations and business reviews; manage key supplier relationships.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Supplier management

Cross-functional leadership

Job description

Join Our Team at HuFriedyGroup – Innovating Excellence in Dental Instrument Manufacturing

HuFriedyGroup is a leading manufacturer of dental instruments and infection prevention products. Our 10,000-plus products, hand-crafted by highly skilled artisans, are known for their precision, performance, longevity, reliability, and quality. To help dental professionals be The Best in Practice, HuFriedyGroup provides a unique combination of world class products, value-added services, clinical education, and dental community platforms that result in superior clinician performance and enhanced safety for dental professionals and their patients. Working at HuFriedyGroup is so much more than a job, as every employee has a part in driving and supporting the organization’s inspirational vision to be a global force in advancing dental performance through Best-In-Practice dentistry that improves lives around the world.

About the Role

The Senior Commodity Manager provides strategic ownership for the company's highest-spend, most complex, and highest-risk commodity categories while helping shape the overall sourcing organization.

This is a high-impact build role within a growing, private-equity-backed manufacturing organization. The Senior Commodity Manager will operate with significant independence and is expected to establish and strengthen category management practices, sourcing governance, supplier performance standards, and savings-validation processes that will be adopted across the broader procurement team.

This role has significant influence across the organization and serves as a key connection between Procurement, company leadership, Finance, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, and Operations. The Senior Commodity Manager will translate sourcing performance into measurable business results, including cost savings, margin improvement, supply continuity, supplier performance, and enterprise value creation.

The ideal candidate is a strategic sourcing leader who can think strategically, negotiate independently, build processes from the ground up, and confidently influence senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Category Leadership & Strategic Sourcing - 25%

• Own sourcing strategy for the company's largest, most complex, and highest-risk commodity categories, including approval of negotiation outcomes and supplier cost increases within delegated authority.
• Lead large-scale, cross-functional, and multi-site sourcing initiatives, including supplier transitions, dual-sourcing programs, and site or network consolidations.
• Develop and apply sophisticated should-cost models, total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) analysis, and market benchmarking to validate sourcing decisions and negotiated outcomes.
• Maintain a risk-adjusted pipeline of cost-reduction, cost-avoidance, value-engineering, and supplier-consolidation opportunities aligned with annual improvement targets.

Savings Governance & Financial Management - 20%

• Establish and govern the sourcing organization's savings methodology, including baseline definitions, Finance validation requirements, and the distinction between hard-dollar savings, cost avoidance, and soft savings.
• Lead quarterly savings reconciliation with Finance/FP&A and prepare Procurement's contribution to value-creation and executive reporting.
• Analyze supplier cost-increase proposals and develop negotiation strategies to protect product margins and minimize financial impact.
• Exercise delegated authority to accept or reject supplier cost increases and elevate significant financial exposure to leadership with a clear recommendation.

Procurement Organization & Process Development - 20%

• Design and document the category management operating model, including spend taxonomy, sourcing playbooks, supplier segmentation, sourcing governance, and savings-tracking standards.
• Establish supplier scorecards, business-review processes, preferred-supplier programs, and governance standards across the sourcing organization.
• Develop scalable procurement processes, tools, and reporting that improve visibility, accountability, supplier performance, and financial results.
• Mentor and provide strategic, technical, and negotiation guidance to Commodity Managers and Sourcing Specialists and review sourcing initiatives and savings claims for consistency and quality.

Supplier & Executive Relationship Management - 15%

• Lead executive-level supplier negotiations and business reviews for strategic, sole-source, and other critical suppliers.
• Build strong relationships with key suppliers while holding suppliers accountable for cost, quality, delivery, capacity, innovation, and overall performance.
• Partner with Legal