Director Category Management- Siding

Overview

We are Builders FirstSource, America’s largest supplier of building materials, value-added components and building services to the professional market. You’ll feel proud of the work you do here every day to transform the future of home building and help make the dream of home ownership more achievable. BFS believes building a successful career is not solely defined by a degree; experience, skills, and passion are important. BFS is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace that welcomes candidates from all backgrounds and experience levels.

The Director develops category strategies and enables the execution of long-term strategic vision, performance, and impact of one or more major spend categories, aligning with business priorities to enhance growth, cost efficiency, innovation, and supply security. The director reports to the Commodity / Non-Commodity (Senior) Vice President who provides objectives and targets for long-term and shorter-term category performance. This role operates with a high degree of autonomy, leveraging market expertise and proactive engagement to generate opportunities that create sustainable competitive advantages for BFS. They oversee sourcing execution and ensure optimal contract coverage and sustainable value creation for the business.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Category Strategy & Business Alignment

• Manages and drives the performance of one or several major categories in terms of spend and impact for BFS.
• Aligns category objectives with S&P senior leadership.
• Defines and executes category strategies that align with BFS’s fiscal year business objectives, ensuring contributions to revenue growth, cost efficiency, innovation, and supply security.
• Acts as a thought leader, proactively engaging with senior business and procurement leadership to translate market insights into financial impact.
• Develops long-term, mid-term, and short-term category strategies based on market intelligence, business needs, and supplier capabilities.
• Develops advanced strategies to leverage market dynamics and BFS size, such as preferred supplier programs, market share, and supplier development.

Market & Vendor Expertise for Opportunity Generation

• Maintains deep knowledge of market trends, supplier landscapes, and disruptive innovations to identify cost reduction, productivity, and value creation opportunities.
• Manages a team of Category analysts to support insights generation and analytics for the category(ies).
• Translates insights into actionable strategies that drive financial benefits, including productivity gains, cost savings, working capital optimization, and cash flow improvement.
• Engages proactively with business leaders to secure buy-in for innovative category strategies and project opportunities.

Execution & Performance Optimization

• Owns the identification, prioritization, and execution of sourcing initiatives that drive category strategy forward.
• Manages a team of sourcing managers responsible for opportunity execution and ensures projects are completed within the expected timeline and generate value.
• Leads negotiations and strategic supplier discussions in support of the sourcing managers, ensuring optimal supplier selection, market share allocation, and contract positioning.
• Ensures contract implementation plans are in place and coordinates between teams to maximize compliance with preferred suppliers, negotiated prices, and market share to optimize category performance.
• Oversees supplier qualification and strategic alignment to maintain a high-quality, reliable, and competitive supply base.
• Develops and manages an annual operating plan with clear KPIs, including Growth, Value, and Cash flow generation (e.g., inventory turns, productivity, market beating savings, sourcing efficiency, and sales impact).

Business Engagement & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Coordinates senior business leadership engagement with the Commodity / Non-Commodity (S)VP.
• Partners with business stakeholders, regional procurement leads, and sourcing teams to enhance category performance and execution.
• Coordinates with Integrated Business Planning (IBP) team, field and buyers on forecast reviews and replenishment levels for the category(ies).
• Ensures clear, concise, and timely communication with internal and external stakeholders regarding category initiatives, sourcing decisions, and market trends.
• Collaborates with field leadership to drive adoption of category strategies, aligning on product assortment, supplier programs, and sales initiatives.
• Participates in periodic business reviews with regional and market leadership to address challenges, priorities, and sourcing impact.

Supplier & Risk Management

• Establishes and nurtures long-term supplier relationships to drive innovation, improve ROIC, and create a competitive advantage.
• Oversees a preferred supplier program with qualification requirements, tiering, and performance monitoring to optimize cost savings and supply reliability.
• Defines and oversees sales commitments with strategic suppliers, ensuring alignment with BFS’s long-term objectives.
• Mitigates category risks by proactively assessing vulnerabilities and implementing risk management strategies to ensure long-term supply security and price stability.

Leadership & Performance Management

• Leads, mentors, and develops a high-performing category team (Category analysts and sourcing managers), ensuring they drive strategic sourcing initiatives and produce advanced analytics.
• Monitors team performance and engagement, addressing development needs in collaboration with the S&P.

Commodity specific activities

• Defines the right level of contract coverage vs. spot market positions based on market conditions, spot prices, price trends, and inventory capacities.
• Defines the spot market position by division / market and aligns with Business leadership.
• Drives Commodity Sourcing Managers activities and ensures they are aligned with the plan reviewed with Business leadership.
• Measures spot buys results and performance vs. market index and reports performance to S&P and Business leadership.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Supervises assigned employees (Category managers and sourcing/Procurement Commodity Managers) including staff selection and training; planning, assigning and directing work; conducting performance reviews; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. Provide leadership and guidance to coach, motivate, and lead team members to their optimum performance levels and career development.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management or related field;
• Preferred advanced degrees in a relevant field;
• 15+ years related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience;

Or equivalent combination of education and experience

COMPETENCIES

Competencies listed are non-exhaustive but illustrative of the fundamental skillsets required. Skills are indicated with a level of expertise.

SUCCESS MEASURES / KPIs

Main KPIs:

• Growth:
• Category Plans in Place for Growth Categories (Domain & by Major)
• Price Index vs. Market for Growth Categories (Domain & by Major)
• Product Availability % by Major
• Stock Outage Revenue Lost by Major
• Supplier Lead Time Compliance by Major
• Value:
• Category Opportunity Pipeline ($) Domain and by Major
• Productivity & Savings Realized ($ and %) for Category Domain & Major
• Supplier Compliance with Negotiated T&Cs
• % Spend with Preferred Suppliers
• Beat the Market (Savings perf vs inflation)
• ROI from Value Projects
• Cash Optimization:
• DPO (Days Payable Outstanding)
• Inventory Days On Hand
• Inventory Turnover Rate
• Talent Management:
• Organization Cost as % Spend
• # New Positions Filled
• Team Resources Skills & Competency Improvements

WORK ENVIRONMENT / PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Combination of indoor and outdoor environments and physical activity requirements.
• Work is in an office setting and generally sedentary with physical effort associated with using a computer but may involve walking or standing for brief periods.
• Occasional outdoor activities may occur, subject to temperature and weather variations.
• Willingness and ability to travel to facility locations up to 50% of the time.
• Business engagement up to 40-50% of the time.

In addition, BFS offers competitive benefits designed to support you and your family. To view all our benefit offerings, please visit our benefits page.

#J-18808-Ljbffr