Director of Information Technology Procurement

Position Title: Director of IT Procurement

Location: Southeastern Wisconsin

Position Summary:

Our client is a privately held, family-owned distributor of business, industrial, and operational supplies, known across its industry for the speed, breadth, and reliability of its fulfillment operations. It is a multibillion-dollar organization with a large, geographically distributed workforce and a long-standing reputation as one of the most stable and respected employers in its region.

The organization's technology team is substantial and largely in-house, building and supporting custom systems that run the business end-to-end — from warehouse management to e-commerce. As that technology footprint has grown, so has the complexity and scale of its vendor relationships and technology spend, creating the need for a dedicated procurement leader who can bring structure, strategy, and rigor to how the organization buys and manages hardware, software, SaaS, and cloud services.

This is a newly created role reporting to a senior IT finance leader, with a dotted line to the CFO. The Director of IT Procurement will take ownership of vendor management — everything from six-figure agreements up to multi-million-dollar annual commitments — and will partner closely with technology and business leaders to negotiate favorable terms, manage risk, and ensure the organization is getting real, demonstrable value from its technology investments.

Why this role?

• Build and shape a growth-stage procurement function inside a large, stable, and highly profitable organization — with real influence over how the company invests in technology
•  Step into a newly created leadership role with direct access to senior technology and finance executives
•  Genuine strategic ownership of key vendor relationships, not just tactical purchasing or contract administration
•  Exceptional organizational stability, low turnover, and consistent reinvestment in technology and people
•  Meaningful potential for the role and scope to expand as the procurement function matures

Responsibilities:

• Lead enterprise procurement strategy and vendor performance across hardware, software, SaaS, and cloud services
• Oversee contract lifecycles, partnering with Legal, Finance, and Security teams to ensure coverage and protections
•  Provide executive-level insights on technology spend, market trends, and vendor negotiations to inform strategic decisions
•  Own vendor management for critical, high-spend relationships, negotiating favorable long-term terms and mitigating risk
•  Partner proactively with business and technology leaders to get ahead of contract renewals and align vendor relationships with evolving organizational needs
•  Continuously refine procurement processes and best practices, identifying improvements that support business goals
•  Guide and develop the IT procurement team, building a positive, high-performance culture
•  Translate complex vendor and technology spend decisions into clear, business-friendly terms for executive and non-technical stakeholders

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, or a related field; MBA preferred
• 10+ years of IT procurement experience, including IT contract negotiation
• 5+ years of experience managing teams and large vendor portfolios
• Proven experience using procurement software and organizing procurement initiatives
• Strong negotiation and analytical skills
• Comfortable operating in a hands-on, in-office, fast-paced environment, with the credibility to negotiate directly rather than delegate through layers of staff
• Executive presence and the ability to translate technical and vendor complexity into clear business value for senior, non-technical stakeholders