Procurement Lead

Description:

Seeking a detail-oriented and highly organized Procurement Lead to oversee and manage inventory across the organization. This role is responsible for ensuring accurate tracking, availability, and stewardship of network equipment and materials, while supporting field teams and operations with timely, reliable inventory management. The ideal candidate is proactive, systems-minded, and comfortable coordinating across departments to maintain inventory accuracy and control.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain accurate inventory records for network equipment, materials, tools, and telecommunications assets.
• Track inventory levels, consumption, transfers, deployments, and returns across multiple warehouse locations, cell sites, and broadband network projects.
• Coordinate receiving, inspection, labeling, stocking, and distribution of network infrastructure materials, including fiber optic components, wireless equipment, routers, switches, antennas, radios, batteries, and power systems.
• Lead procurement activities for broadband and cellular network construction, maintenance, and expansion projects.
• Develop sourcing strategies and manage the end-to-end procurement process, including supplier identification, RFQs, RFPs, bid evaluations, contract negotiations, and purchase order management.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with equipment manufacturers, distributors, contractors, and service providers to ensure competitive pricing, reliable supply, and quality performance.
• Negotiate pricing agreements, service contracts, volume discounts, and favorable payment terms to optimize company spending and maximize value.
• Collaborate with engineering, operations, deployment, and project management teams to forecast material requirements and support network build schedules.
• Monitor supplier performance metrics, lead times, delivery schedules, quality standards, and service-level agreements (SLAs).
• Identify supply chain risks and develop contingency plans to mitigate material shortages, delays, and disruptions affecting network operations.
• Support network operations and field teams by ensuring critical materials and equipment are available to meet maintenance, repair, and expansion requirements.
• Oversee inventory audits, cycle counts, asset tracking, and reconciliation processes to maintain inventory accuracy and accountability.
• Investigate inventory discrepancies, material losses, and asset variances, implementing corrective and preventive actions as needed.
• Maintain organization, security, compliance, and cleanliness of warehouses, inventory storage facilities, and staging areas.
• Analyze inventory trends, demand forecasts, and procurement data to optimize stock levels while minimizing carrying costs and excess inventory.
• Coordinate logistics, freight management, and material deliveries to warehouses, project sites, and network infrastructure locations.
• Ensure compliance with company procurement policies, budget requirements, industry regulations, and telecommunications standards.
• Manage procurement budgets and monitor expenditures to ensure alignment with operational and capital project objectives.
• Collaborate with finance and accounting teams to reconcile invoices, purchase orders, receipts, and vendor payments.
• Develop and maintain procurement procedures, inventory controls, vendor documentation, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Evaluate new suppliers, products, and technologies to support evolving broadband and wireless network requirements.
• Generate procurement, inventory, spend analysis, and supplier performance reports for executive leadership and operational stakeholders.
• Support capital projects involving fiber network deployments, wireless infrastructure upgrades, tower builds, backhaul systems, and customer-premises equipment (CPE) installations.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance procurement efficiency, inventory accuracy, cost savings, and supply chain performance.
• Lead cross-functional efforts to streamline material planning, warehouse operations, and procurement workflows through ERP and inventory management systems.
• Ensure availability of emergency and critical-spare inventory to support network reliability, outage restoration, and disaster recovery activities.
• Stay informed on market conditions, technology trends, and supplier developments impacting telecommunications infrastructure procurement.
• Supervise procurement and inventory personnel, providing training, coaching, and performance management.
• Establish departmental KPIs related to inventory accuracy, supplier performance, procurement cycle times, cost savings, and project material availability.
• Lead strategic sourcing initiatives and long-term supplier partnerships that support company growth and network expansion goals.
• Present procurement strategies, inventory forecasts, budget recommendations, and supply chain performance metrics to executive leadership.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Telecommunications, or related field preferred.
• APICS/ASCM, CPSM (Certified Professional in Supply Management), CPM, or similar procurement/supply chain certification preferred.
• Experience with ERP systems such as NetSuite, Sage, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar platforms.
• 5+ years of experience in procurement, inventory management, supply chain, logistics, warehouse operations, or related roles.
• 2+ years of experience in a lead, supervisor, or management capacity preferred.
• Experience supporting telecommunications, broadband, fiber optic, wireless, utility, construction, or technical field operations strongly preferred.
• Proven experience negotiating vendor contracts, pricing agreements, and service-level agreements.
• Experience managing supplier performance, procurement budgets, and material forecasting.
• Prior experience coordinating with field construction, installation, engineering, and network operations teams.
• Demonstrated success implementing inventory controls, process improvements, cost-saving initiatives, and supply chain efficiencies.
• Experience managing capital project procurement and supporting large-scale network deployment initiatives is highly desirable.