The Associate Director of Operational Procurement plays a pivotal role in ensuring the efficient and cost-effective acquisition of goods and services for the company.
This position is responsible for the procure-to-pay process, raw material planning, and source-to-contract activities for select categories.
The Associate Director ensures compliance with company policies, procurement systems and practices, and legal requirements while striving for continuous improvement in procurement strategies.
Working in concert with various departments, they forecast needs and strategically plan procurement activities, leveraging strong analytical skills, strategic thinking, and a collaborative leadership approach.
Effective written and verbal communication skills are crucial for this position, including the ability to deliver executive summaries as well as detailed analyses.
Specific Duties and Responsibilities
• Develop and implement processes for meeting finished goods and raw materials forecast requirements, managing inventory levels, and optimizing ordering cycles across direct and indirect categories to ensure material and service availability.
• Support, lead, and develop the Operational Procurement team, provide resources and guidance, ensuring effective task allocation and quality of work, and report on progress and productivity; communicate and resolve escalations as required.
• Design and apply Operational Procurement policies, practices, standards, and procedures, ensuring they are managed, maintained, adhered to, and align with Penumbra values and processes.
• Understand ERP, MRP, P2P, and analytics systems used for executing and monitoring raw material planning, and order management areas.
• Identify opportunities to improve procurement practices and drive Operational Procurement compliance across standardized practices.
• Support the design, documentation and execution of raw material forecasting and order management processes for key suppliers and critical components, services, sub-contracting, and indirect spend.
• Create, document, and implement supplier capacity assessments and internal requirement analysis and work with Strategic Procurement, engineering, quality, and production to solve key issues with suppliers.
• Identify strategies to mitigate risks including service and component supply issues to mitigate business impact.
• Support procurement stability for new products transitioning from development to commercialization.
• Identify trends and opportunities for procurement through cross-functional engagement and industry involvement that continuously drives insights into best practices and improvement opportunities.
• Develop and implement strategies to coordinate with Strategic Procurement, Production, Planning, Quality, AP/Finance, and other business partners to proactively remove barriers.
• Coordinate with managers to ensure compliance to procurement systems and practices; assign projects and tasks; monitor quality and performance; forecast resource needs; and account for expenses.
• Select, manage, train, and develop staff. Establish objectives and assignments and provide ongoing feedback through performance reviews and development plans.
• Professionally engage with both internal/external parties to communicate status and performance across various levels.
• Adhere to the Company’s Quality Management System (QMS) as well as domestic and global quality system regulations, standards, and procedures.
• Understand relevant security, privacy, and compliance principles and adhere to the regulations, standards, and procedures that are applicable to the Company.
• Ensure other members of the department follow the QMS, regulations, standards, and procedures.
• Perform other work-related duties as assigned.
Position Qualifications: Required
• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain or related field with 10+ years of experience in material planning, inventory management, purchasing, and 6+ years of direct management experience or equivalent combination of education and or demonstrated experience
• Experience with SAP Materials Management solutions.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes and supply chain management.
• Strong oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Ability to process data, analyze information, think critically, identify cause-and-effect relationships, solve complex problems
• High degree of accuracy and attention to detail
• Proficiency with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Proficiency in SAP Materials management or similar ERP
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to prioritize assignments while handling various projects simultaneously.
• Formulate and report analysis using quantitative and qualitative analytic skills
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally
Position Qualifications: Preferred
• Degree in business, supply chain, logistics, inventory management, or a related field preferred.
• Medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech, or other regulated industry experience desired
Working Conditions
• General office environment.
• Willingness and ability to work on site.
• May have business travel from 0-25%.
• Requires some lifting and moving of up to 20 pounds
• Must be able to move between buildings and floors.
• Must be able to remain stationary and use a computer or other standard office equipment, such as a printer or copy machine, for an extensive period of time each day.
• Must be able to read, prepare emails, and produce documents and spreadsheets.
• Must be able to move within the office and access file cabinets or supplies, as needed.
• Must be able to communicate and exchange accurate information with employees at all levels on a daily basis.
Annual Base Salary Range: $165,000 to $230,000
We offer a competitive compensation package plus a benefits and equity program, when applicable.
Individual total compensation will vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies, and work location.