Talent Authority Partners is a U.S. based recruiting firm engaged to support this confidential search on behalf of the client. Additional details about the organization will be shared with qualified candidates as the process progresses.
Company Overview
Our client is a well-established, privately held industrial distribution organization operating in a customer-facing, margin-sensitive environment. The business supports a diverse mix of end markets including DoD–related programs, automotive, OEM, and MRO customers where responsiveness, availability, pricing discipline, and execution matter.
This is a practical, operationally focused company with long employee tenure and direct communication. This is not a corporate bureaucracy. This is a distribution business where decisions impact inventory exposure and margin daily.
Your Role
As a Purchasing Manager (within Industrial Distribution), you will lead the purchasing and inventory function for a distribution-driven operation. This is a hands-on leadership role.
The ideal candidate has personally managed SKU-level purchasing decisions, inventory control, and price file exposure within an industrial distribution environment — and remains deeply fluent in the day-to-day mechanics of buying.
This is not a transformation role.
This is not a corporate supply chain strategy position.
You are being hired to:
- Protect inventory risk
- Set disciplined purchasing priorities
- Override system recommendations when necessary
- Lead & mentor buyers because you have done the work yourself
This role reports directly to the VP of Operations and leads an 11-person team across purchasing and inventory functions.
Responsibilities
- Lead and develop an 11-person team including buyers, inventory control analysts, and purchasing specialists
- Personally review and approve high-dollar inventory commitments
- Set and adjust min/max levels across SKUs
- Override system-generated recommendations when operational judgment dictates
- Monitor inventory turns, dead stock exposure, and forecast accuracy
- Manage price file updates, rebate tracking, and vendor allocation exposure
- Operate effectively within a legacy ERP system that requires manual validation and judgment beyond automation
- Serve as the escalation point for competing internal priorities, setting boundaries and protecting the team from overload
- Partner with operations and sales leadership while maintaining disciplined purchasing guardrails
Minimum Requirements
- U.S. Citizen
- Minimum 7 years of direct purchasing and inventory control experience within an industrial distribution environment
- Minimum 5 years of experience personally managing SKU-level purchasing decisions (not solely program oversight or supply chain strategy)
- Proven experience evaluating high-dollar inventory exposure and balancing demand against risk
- Background in industrial, fluid power, electrical, technical, or construction-adjacent distribution organizations
- Demonstrated ability to push back respectfully on internal stakeholders
- Comfortable operating in a legacy ERP environment requiring manual oversight and override
What “Good” Looks Like in This Role
The ideal candidate:
- Progressed from Buyer or Senior Buyer into leadership
- Has personally set min/max levels across SKUs
- Has approved high-dollar inventory commitments
- Has manually overridden ERP-generated purchasing recommendations
- Has lived in price files, rebate structures, and vendor allocation exposure
- Has pushed back on sales while protecting margin
- Delegates because they have personally done the work
This role requires fluency in the operational details of distribution purchasing — not just oversight.
This Role Is Not Suited For
This role is intentionally focused on hands-on industrial distribution purchasing. It is likely not a fit for candidates whose background has been primarily in:
- Manufacturing plant procurement where purchasing is tied to production scheduling rather than distribution inventory exposure.
- Automotive Tier 1 / Tier 2 supplier environments heavily focused on PPAP, production launches, and engineering change management rather than SKU-level stocking decisions.
- Corporate supply chain or enterprise procurement roles removed from day-to-day buying and inventory control.
- Integrated supply program oversight where inventory ownership was shared with or controlled by the customer.
- Global sourcing or strategic procurement roles focused primarily on long-term contracts rather than daily purchasing execution.
- Environments where MRP or ERP systems were highly optimized and largely automated, requiring minimal manual override or judgment.
- Roles where purchasing responsibility was indirect (e.g., supervising buyers without personally owning SKU-level decisions).
- Capital equipment procurement–heavy roles without ongoing inventory turn responsibility.
- Consulting or advisory roles without direct operational accountability.
- This role is not suited for candidates whose distribution experience has been primarily in retail, consumer packaged goods, grocery, or highly automated high-volume replenishment environments that differ from industrial MRO / OEM distribution models
Pay: $115,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Have you held a Buyer or Senior Buyer role with direct SKU-level purchasing and inventory responsibility?
Work Location: In person
