Strategic Procurement Partner Lead

Evonik; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Evonik Group is seeking a Procurement Business Partner Manager to act as the key liaison between Indirect Procurement and sites in Houston. The role drives early procurement engagement, demand shaping, governance, and value creation through collaboration with site leadership, engineers, and finance teams.

Responsibilities include defining sourcing strategies, ensuring compliance, and delivering cost improvements while supporting category managers and supplier transitions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5–8 years of experience in Procurement, Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, or a related operational role.
• Experience supporting Indirect Procurement within a manufacturing, industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, or similar environment is preferred.
• Strong understanding of procurement processes, sourcing governance, supplier management, and contract adoption.
• Experience partnering with cross-functional teams, including Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Finance, and site leadership.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills with the ability to drive alignment and challenge requirements constructively.
• Ability to identify cost optimization opportunities, support procurement initiatives, and improve compliance and process effectiveness.
• Experience with procurement transformation, category strategy deployment, or additional language skills (Spanish, Portuguese, or German) would be considered an asset.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary point of contact between Indirect Procurement and assigned sites, engaging stakeholders early to understand business needs, challenge requirements, and shape procurement demand.
• Build strong partnerships with site leadership and cross-functional teams, including Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Finance, and Category Management, to align procurement activities with business priorities.
• Partner with stakeholders to identify cost-saving opportunities, optimize demand, support value creation initiatives, and contribute to site-level cost improvement plans.
• Support the execution of category strategies by driving adoption of preferred suppliers, contracts, sourcing initiatives, and supplier transition activities.
• Promote procurement policies and processes, improve sourcing discipline, and guide stakeholders in reducing non-standard, unmanaged, or after-the-fact purchasing.
• Coordinate business requirements, specifications, and timelines with Category Managers to ensure sourcing activities are aligned with site needs and priorities.
• Support resolution of supplier performance concerns, availability challenges, and operational issues in partnership with Category Managers and procurement teams.
• Monitor procurement KPIs, stakeholder satisfaction, compliance, and value realization while identifying opportunities to improve procurement effectiveness and business partnership.

Skills

Procurement

Supply Chain

Strategic Sourcing

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder management

Contract adoption

Sourcing governance

Supplier management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field

Job description

Evonik Group is seeking a Procurement Business Partner Manager to act as the key liaison between Indirect Procurement and sites in Houston. The role drives early procurement engagement, demand shaping, governance, and value creation through collaboration with site leadership, engineers, and finance teams.

Responsibilities include defining sourcing strategies, ensuring compliance, and delivering cost improvements while supporting category managers and supplier transitions.