Supply Chain Tactical Manager

Description

Position Summary:
We are seeking a hands-on Supply Chain Tactical Manager to lead day-to-day purchasing execution and material availability activities in support of manufacturing operations. This role supervises and develops tactical Buyers, drives purchase order execution and supplier follow-up, and works directly with Production, Planning, Inventory, Quality, and Engineering to identify and resolve shortages before they impact the production schedule. The Supply Chain Tactical Manager will maintain strong supplier accountability, ensure accurate ERP purchasing data, prioritize critical material needs, and provide clear visibility of supply risks, recovery actions, and committed delivery dates. This role is focused on tactical execution, continuity of supply, delivery performance, and supporting cost, quality, and production objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Tactical Buyer Supervision & Daily Priorities: Supervise, coach, and support tactical Buyers. Establish daily and weekly priorities, balance workload, review open actions, and ensure timely follow-up on purchase orders, shortages, supplier commitments, and production-critical requirements.
• Purchase Order Execution & Management: Oversee the creation, issuance, and management of purchase orders for machined components, fabricated parts, raw materials, outside processing, shop supplies and services. Ensure Buyers maintain accurate order status, acknowledgments, pricing, lead times, and committed delivery dates.
• Supplier Coordination & Accountability: Lead tactical supplier communication and escalation regarding quotations, order acknowledgments, delivery schedules, past-due orders, quality concerns, and invoice discrepancies. Drive suppliers to provide realistic recovery plans and committed dates when performance is at risk.
• Shortage Management & Production Support: Work directly with Production, Planning, Inventory, and Buyers to identify current and near-term shortages, prioritize requirements based on the production schedule, and execute recovery actions. Lead regular shortage reviews and ensure critical items are expedited to minimize production disruptions.
• Material Availability & Expediting: Monitor open purchase orders, inventory levels, supplier lead times, and production demand. Coordinate expedites, alternate sourcing, partial shipments, outside processing priorities, and other tactical actions required to maintain continuity of supply.
• ERP & Purchasing Data Management: Ensure accurate purchasing data within Global Shop Solutions (GSS), including supplier information, pricing, lead times, purchase order dates, and committed delivery dates. Drive Buyer discipline and data integrity so Planning and Production have reliable material visibility.
• Performance Reporting & Escalation: Maintain visibility of shortages, past-due purchase orders, supplier delivery performance, open actions, and recovery plans. Escalate significant supply risks promptly and communicate status, ownership, and expected resolution to Supply Chain and Operations leadership.
• Team Development & Standard Work: Develop Buyers through coaching, performance feedback, cross-training, standard work, and clear expectations for supplier follow-up, ERP accuracy, shortage management, escalation, and KPI ownership. Build team capability and accountability to support company growth and increased production requirements.
• KPI Reviews & Corrective Actions: Lead recurring tactical Supply Chain performance reviews with Buyers and cross-functional stakeholders. Use KPI data to identify root causes, assign ownership, establish recovery actions, and escalate systemic supplier, planning, ERP-data, or purchasing execution issues that could impact production.
• Shortage & Material Readiness Metrics: Develop reporting to measure current and projected shortages, production-critical material risks, recovery dates, inventory coverage, and recurring-program material readiness. Work with Production and Planning to prioritize shortages based on schedule impact and ensure actions are assigned and tracked to closure.
• Buyer & Supplier Performance Metrics: Establish and manage performance expectations for the tactical buying team and key suppliers. KPIs may include supplier on-time delivery, past-due PO lines, purchase order acknowledgment compliance, committed-date accuracy, shortage aging, expedite activity, supplier recovery actions, open PO aging, and Buyer action closure.
• KPI Development & Ownership: Develop, maintain, and continuously improve tactical Supply Chain KPIs and reporting that provide clear visibility to purchasing execution, supplier performance, shortages, and material availability. Establish measurable targets, review trends, identify gaps, and drive corrective actions with Buyers and suppliers.
• Cross-Functional Execution & Continuous Improvement: Partner closely with Production, Planning, Engineering, Quality, Inventory, and Program Management to resolve material constraints and changing priorities. Support cost reduction, supplier performance improvement, inventory optimization, and purchasing process improvements while ensuring compliance with company and customer requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or a related field preferred; equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
• 5+ years of purchasing, procurement, supply chain, or materials management experience in a manufacturing environment; prior experience leading, supervising, or mentoring Buyers or purchasing personnel preferred.
• Experience procuring machined components, fabricated parts, raw materials, or manufacturing services.
• Proficiency with ERP systems and purchasing software; experience with Global Shop Solutions (GSS) ERP is a plus.
• Strong understanding of tactical purchasing execution, shortage management, expediting, purchase order management, supplier coordination, and inventory replenishment processes.
• Ability to analyze supplier quotations, pricing, lead times, and delivery performance.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams, with the ability to perform data analysis, reporting, document preparation, and purchasing-related tracking
• Strong leadership, organizational, communication, escalation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to drive accountability across Buyers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, respond quickly to production shortages, and coordinate recovery actions across Supply Chain and Operations.

Preferred Skills:

• Familiarity with Global Shop Solutions (GSS) ERP procurement systems is a plus.
• Familiarity with U.S. federal procurement requirements, including FAR/DFARS, within aerospace and defense manufacturing environments.