What are the responsibilities and job description for the Manager, Commodity Strategy and Procurement position at Supply Leadership Administration & Management LLC?
SLAM Supply Leadership Administration & Management
Spartanburg, SC | Full-Time | Up to 10–15% Travel
SLAM is seeking a Manager or Senior Manager, Commodity Strategy & Procurement to translate commodity market conditions into commercial decisions while directly managing an assigned portfolio of food categories. This procurement role combines market analysis and recommendations with hands-on sourcing, negotiation, contracts, and supplier management. The position reports to the Chief Procurement Officer.
Key Responsibilities
• Track and interpret food commodity markets, crop conditions, livestock cycles, energy, freight, foreign exchange, and other relevant cost drivers.
• Develop short- and long-range forecasts, ranges, and scenarios that inform SLAM’s budget and category decisions.
• Recommend contract timing, duration, index structures, and fixed versus floating pricing approaches to category managers and the Chief Procurement Officer.
• Quantify commodity exposure and present monthly assessments of risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Evaluate and challenge supplier cost change requests, index selections, conversion costs, yields, freight, and margins.
• Own assigned categories, including sourcing, negotiations, contracts, supplier performance, savings, and continuity of supply.
• Partner with the Pricing Analyst on reliable data and with category managers on approved actions.
• Establish governance before any financial hedging is considered; do not independently trade or take financial positions.
• Help category managers and leadership understand commodity economics and the commercial implications of market changes.
Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance, Agricultural Economics, Supply Chain, or a related field; advanced degree a plus.
• Typically seven or more years of experience in commodity procurement, food sourcing, risk management, or a related commercial role.
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and own procurement results beyond producing market research.
• Strong forecasting, financial modeling, communication, and judgment under uncertainty.
Success in this role will be measured by the quality and timeliness of recommendations, visibility into budget exposure, mitigation of cost increases, improvements to pricing formulas and contracts, savings in directly managed categories, effective evaluation of supplier proposals, useful forecasts, and adoption of recommendations by category managers.
Location and Travel
- This exempt position is based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with travel of approximately 10–15% at most. The role has no supervisory responsibility initially.