Responsibilities

The Sourcing Manager for the xylenes and derivatives category is a full-time position in the Direct Procurement organization, based in Kingsport, TN, USA, reporting to the Sourcing Director. The primary responsibilities of this role are to manage global sourcing and procurement of the significant spend in this highly impactful category and to provide support for other materials that are used in the Strategic Business Unit. This includes, but is not limited to, developing sourcing strategies for the needed materials in line with business need and an overall direction for the category, securing the needed materials at the lowest total cost of ownership, negotiating pricing and supply contracts with existing suppliers, working to develop new supply sources as needed, managing product supply and supplier risk and meeting with external suppliers and internal customers. 

In fulfilling this role, the Sourcing Manager will be supporting a Strategic Sourcing Manager in developing and driving the strategic direction and in managing strategic supplier relationships for the xylenes and derivatives category and will interface closely with the Strategic Business Unit and the Technology, Manufacturing and Supply Chain organizations.
 

• Works closely with key stakeholders in business leadership, quality, operations, finance, legal, and across global procurement to develop effective sourcing, inventory, cost reduction and category plans
• Develops deep market expertise in the assigned categories and monitors market trends to inform sourcing decisions and make recommendations to business leadership
• Facilitates supplier exploration, negotiation and contracting processes and ensures contract compliance
• Builds and manage Supplier Relationships, Performance, Risks and Contracting based on Sourcing Strategy and Business needs
• Leads and oversees cross functional sourcing strategy development and execution aligned to business needs, covering any opportunity across the levers of commercial, specification or demand​ 
• Negotiate and execute supply contracts in line with the product and category strategies​ 
• Leads total cost of ownership savings opportunities and working capital improvements via negotiations with suppliers
• Assesses product and supplier risk of business interruption and establishes and executes effective mitigation plans
• Responsible for monthly forecasting and quarterly forecast reviews with senior management
• Upholds internal and external policies, regulations and laws
• This role will have some requirement for travel (including international on occasion) at ~20%
   

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science or Arts required (MBAs and/or chemical/engineering degrees are preferred)
• 5+ years successful track-record in Procurement or other Commercial roles, preferably within the Chemicals and/or petrochemicals preferred
• Strong commercial and negotiating skills to drive to lowest total cost of ownership for the business
• Strategic mind-set to identify improvement opportunities, with balance of short term and long-term interests
• Has the ability to represent all aspects of Eastman’s position with suppliers and other external contacts
• Proactive and self-motivated in recognizing needs, solving problems, anticipating issues and developing solutions
• Adaptive to change, embraces challenges
• Demonstrates a global mindset
• Strong bias for action and goal oriented to drive to positive outcomes
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills