Strategic Commodity Specialist

Solar Turbines Incorporated; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Paid time off

401(k) savings plans

Health Savings Account (HSA)

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Career Development

Incentive bonus

Parental leave

Tuition Reimbursement

Job summary

Caterpillar Inc. is seeking a seasoned supplier strategy professional to support a facility by aligning procurement with engineering, operations, and finance to drive excellence in supplier collaboration.

You will create and maintain roadmaps for assigned categories, identify sourcing opportunities, assess supplier capacity, and mitigate risks to ensure demand alignment and growth. This onsite role collaborates across teams to deliver cost savings and resilience.

Qualifications

• Business or Engineering degree.
• Extensive experience in a strategic sourcing role.
• Experience in supply chain sourcing, ideally in machining and forging.

Responsibilities

• Create, maintain, and continuously improve roadmaps for assigned categories.
• Ensure roadmaps align with organizational goals, future market trends, and global supply chain strategy.
• Drive standardization, automation, and consistency of supplier planning tools and systems across the organization.
• Maintain deep knowledge of global supplier markets, emerging technologies, and alternative manufacturing methods.
• Identify new sourcing opportunities, potential suppliers, and disruptive capabilities that enhance competitiveness and supply chain resilience.
• Assess and monitor supplier production capacity, scalability, and contingency capabilities to ensure alignment with demand forecasts and growth plans.
• Support sourcing decisions with robust capacity and risk evaluations as sourcing strategies mature.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate supply chain risks, including capacity constraints, geopolitical exposure, and supply continuity threats.
• Develop and maintain contingency and risk mitigation plans in collaboration with value‑stream and stakeholders.
• Work closely with Engineering, Operations, Finance, and other internal teams to align strategies with business needs, technical requirements, and financial objectives.
• Monitor supplier performance metrics.
• Implement best practices and continuous improvement initiatives to drive efficiency, resilience, and cost savings across the supply base.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Supply chain sourcing

Education

Business or Engineering degree

Job description

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Career Area:

Supply Chain and Logistics

Role Definition

Support supply related activities for a facility to deliver excellence and integration between procurement and the team supporting facility.

Responsibilities

• Create, maintain, and continuously improve roadmaps for assigned categories.
• Ensure roadmaps align with organizational goals, future market trends, and global supply chain strategy.
• Drive standardization, automation, and consistency of supplier planning tools and systems across the organization.

• Maintain deep knowledge of global supplier markets, emerging technologies, and alternative manufacturing methods.
• Identify new sourcing opportunities, potential suppliers, and disruptive capabilities that enhance competitiveness and supply chain resilience.

• Assess and monitor supplier production capacity, scalability, and contingency capabilities to ensure alignment with demand forecasts and growth plans.
• Support sourcing decisions with robust capacity and risk evaluations as sourcing strategies mature.

• Identify, assess, and mitigate supply chain risks, including capacity constraints, geopolitical exposure, and supply continuity threats.
• Develop and maintain contingency and risk mitigation plans in collaboration with value‑stream and stakeholders.

• Work closely with Engineering, Operations, Finance, and other internal teams to align strategies with business needs, technical requirements, and financial objectives.

• Monitor supplier performance metrics.
• Implement best practices and continuous improvement initiatives to drive efficiency, resilience, and cost savings across the supply base.

Desired Qualifications

• Business or Engineering degree
• Extensive experience in a strategic sourcing role
• Experience in supply chain sourcing, ideally in machining and forging.

This Job Description is intended as a general guide to the job duties for this position and is intended for the purpose of establishing the specific salary grade. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive summary of all responsibilities, duties and effort required of employees assigned to this job. At the discretion of management, this description may be changed at any time to address the evolving needs of the organization. It is expressly not intended to be a comprehensive list of “essential job functions” as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Summary Pay Range

$128,470.00 - $192,710.00

Compensation and benefits offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, job level, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, individual performance and experience. Please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Caterpillar.

Benefits

Subject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits.

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits*
• Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)*
• 401(k) savings plans*
• Health Savings Account (HSA)*
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)*
• Health Lifestyle Programs*
• Employee Assistance Program*
• Voluntary Benefits and Employee Discounts*
• Career Development*
• Incentive bonus*
• Disability benefits
• Life Insurance
• Parental leave
• Adoption benefits
• Tuition Reimbursement
• These benefits also apply to part-time employees

This position requires working onsite five days a week.

Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position.

Posting Dates

October 13, 2026 - November 10, 2026

Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Including Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply.