Commodity Manager

• You will be developing commodity strategies to support business initiatives.
• This is an exciting opportunity for you because you will be responsible for negotiating costs and terms with suppliers and ensure supply base possesses adequate capacity to support Gates' demand.
• Your objective/goals will be to optimize total cost and maintain a robust funnel of initiatives, fully responsible for the performance of suppliers within assigned categories.

• Develop and execute commodity strategies for assigned materials based on deep technical understanding of textiles, industrial fabrics, and manufacturing processes, combined with knowledge of domestic and international supply markets.
• Lead negotiations for assigned categories, leveraging technical cost breakdowns, material specifications, and process knowledge to achieve optimal pricing and terms.
• Build and use should-cost and cost-driver models grounded in material composition, production methods, yield, labor, and energy inputs.
• Proactively map the local supplier landscape, including identification of low-cost, emerging, and non-traditional suppliers, ensuring full visibility of available supply options.
• Continuously assess technology trends, material innovations, market dynamics, and supplier technology roadmaps relevant to textiles and industrial fabrics.
• Drive cost optimization initiatives aligned with business and profit objectives, focusing on design-to-cost, material substitution, process optimization, and alternate sourcing.
• Manage and develop the supply base by defining and tracking performance metrics related to cost, quality, delivery, and technical capability.
• Mitigate cost increases and supply risk by identifying alternative materials, processes, and suppliers.
• Act as a cross-functional project leader, collaborating closely with Engineering, R&D, Quality, Sales & Marketing, and regional teams to align technical requirements with sourcing strategies.
• Support contract development and review, ensuring technical, commercial, and compliance requirements are clearly defined and appropriately approved.

• Strong technical background in textiles, industrial fabrics, or material sciences, with hands-on exposure to manufacturing processes and cost structures.
• Professional experience in a manufacturing or industrial environment; prior roles in engineering, product development, technical sales, or sourcing are all acceptable.
• Ability to act as a technical change agent, influencing stakeholders through data, material knowledge, and structured analysis.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate technical details into commercial requirements.
• Effective communicator, comfortable working across functions, regions, and organizational levels.
• Strong proficiency with all Microsoft and MRP/Supply Chain systems
• 4-year university degree in Business or related field or Engineering degree; Experience working in a technical or manufacturing environment required. Preference will be given to candidates with a previous experience working for a multi-national organization in a global or regional capacity.
• Willingness to travel up to 50%, including frequent visits to local/regional suppliers and manufacturing sites
• Strong verbal and written communications skills; ability to communicate in English across functional and multicultural lines

Gates Corporation