Vice President of Procurement

Blevins Inc.; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Blevins, Inc. in Nashville, TN seeks a strategic Vice President of Procurement to lead sourcing, supplier management, and procurement strategy across core building materials categories.

This executive drives margin, inventory turns, and supply resilience while partnering with Finance, Sales, and Operations. The role requires extensive leadership experience in procurement, strong negotiation skills, and a track record of improving margins in a material-intensive industry.

Qualifications

• 10–15+ years in procurement or supply chain leadership.
• 5+ years in a senior leadership role (Director/VP).
• Strong experience in building products, construction materials, or related sectors.
• Proven success managing supplier-heavy, commodity-influenced categories.
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-level procurement or sourcing teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a category-based procurement strategy aligned with revenue growth and margin expansion goals.
• Build sourcing strategies that account for commodity volatility and industry demand cycles.
• Align procurement priorities with branch operations, sales forecasts, and customer demand patterns.
• Manage relationships with domestic and international suppliers and negotiate pricing, rebates, and incentives.
• Establish and maintain preferred supplier programs and strategic partnerships.
• Diversify the supply base to reduce single-source risk; conduct supplier reviews and evaluations.
• Drive gross margin improvement through disciplined buying and price management.
• Monitor markets and adjust sourcing strategies; lead annual cost-down initiatives.
• Collaborate with Finance and Sales to ensure pricing alignment and margin discipline.
• Optimize inventory turns and support branch allocation during constrained supply periods.
• Develop contingency sourcing strategies and supplier risk assessments.

Skills

Procurement leadership

Supplier management

Negotiation

Forecasting

Analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

P21

SAP

Oracle

Infor

NetSuite

Job description

The Vice President of Procurement is a key executive responsible for leading all sourcing, supplier management, and procurement strategy. This role ensures supply continuity, cost competitiveness, and strong supplier partnerships across a highly cyclical, price-sensitive, and supply-constrained industry.

The VP of Procurement will play a critical role in protecting gross margin, improving inventory turns, and strengthening supply resilience across core product categories such as HVAC, and related building materials.

Core Responsibilities

Enterprise Procurement Strategy

• Develop and execute a category-based procurement strategy aligned with revenue growth and margin expansion goals
• Build sourcing strategies that account for commodity volatility and industry demand cycles
• Align procurement priorities with branch operations, sales forecasts, and customer demand patterns

Supplier & Vendor Management

• Manage relationships with domestic and international suppliers across key building product categories
• Negotiate pricing agreements, rebates, and volume incentives
• Establish and maintain preferred supplier programs and strategic partnerships
• Diversify the supply base to reduce dependency on single-source or constrained suppliers
• Conduct regular supplier business reviews and performance evaluations

Cost Management & Margin Optimization

• Drive gross margin improvement through disciplined buying and price management
• Monitor product markets and adjust sourcing strategies accordingly
• Lead annual cost-down initiatives and rebate optimization programs
• Partner with Finance and Sales to ensure pricing alignment and margin discipline across branches

Inventory & Supply Chain Coordination

• Work closely with Operations to balance service levels with inventory investment
• Reduce stockouts, backorders, and excess inventory through improved supplier reliability and forecasting alignment
• Improve inventory turns while maintaining high service levels
• Support the branch network with allocation strategies during constrained supply periods

Risk Management & Supply Continuity

• Develop contingency sourcing strategies for high-demand or constrained materials
• Monitor global supply chain disruptions impacting building materials availability and pricing
• Implement supplier risk assessments and mitigation plans
• Ensure continuity of supply during peak construction seasons and market shortages

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and develop a procurement team by establishing clear KPIs
• Build a high-performance, data-driven procurement organization
• Foster collaboration between Procurement, Sales, Operations, and branch leadership

Systems & Process Improvement

• Optimize procurement systems, including ERP platforms, pricing tools, and supplier portals
• Improve purchase order workflows, approval processes, and spend visibility
• Leverage analytics to improve demand forecasting and supplier performance tracking
• Drive automation and standardization across procurement processes

Qualifications

Experience

• 10–15+ years of experience in procurement, sourcing, or supply chain leadership
• 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership role, preferably at the Director or VP level
• Strong experience in building products, construction materials, industrial distribution, or a similar sector required
• Proven success managing supplier-heavy, commodity-influenced categories
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-level procurement or sourcing teams

Skills & Competencies

• Strong negotiation and supplier management expertise, with the ability to advance sourcing priorities confidently in commodity-driven markets
• Strong decision-making ability in fast-moving, commercially sensitive environments
• Deep understanding of building materials supply chain dynamics, market conditions, and supplier performance
• Ability to manage margin pressure, pricing fluctuations, supply disruptions, and changing business needs
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including pricing, margin, rebates, inventory economics, purchase price variance, and supplier performance
• Comfortable operating independently while coordinating across multiple business functions
• Able to shift direction quickly in response to market conditions, supply disruptions, and changing business needs
• Strong communication skills with executives, branch leaders, and suppliers regarding priorities, tradeoffs, and performance expectations
• Ability to work within structured systems and standards while improving process effectiveness
• Experience with ERP platforms such as P21, SAP, Oracle, Infor, NetSuite, or similar systems

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field required
• MBA or other advanced degree preferred

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Gross margin improvement at both the category and enterprise level
• Purchase price variance compared with market benchmarks
• Supplier fill rate and on-time delivery performance
• Inventory turns and stockout reduction
• Annual cost savings and rebate capture
• Working capital efficiency through inventory optimization

Blevins, Inc. is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.