Vice President, Direct Global Supplier Management

Description

About the Role

The Vice President, Direct GSM – Materials, leads the end‑to‑end strategy and transformation of Estée Lauder Companies’ global direct spend, encompassing packaging, ingredients, devices, and upstream procurement. This role drives the company’s enterprise sourcing vision, applying best‑in‑class practices that strengthen supplier partnerships, elevate innovation, improve agility, and enhance business continuity and sustainability across more than 700 suppliers. Working cross-functionally with Supply Chain (SCLT), R&D, Product Development, and Packaging leadership, the VP advances systemic improvements in new product launch (NPL) processes and materials sourcing to support ELC’s $16B+ business growth, ensuring competitive advantage and long-term value creation.

The VP oversees segmentation strategies across all direct categories, expands Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) programs, and builds a world‑class procurement organization with strong commercial and market expertise. The role carries full financial accountability for direct materials spend of $1.5B+ distributed globally, delivering targeted cost savings, cash improvements, and Supplier Performance Excellence (SPE) enhancements. The leader also ensures compliant, efficient contract governance and drives operational excellence through the Every Day Great Execution (EDGE) framework, all while serving as an ambassador of ELC’s cultural values—reinforcing that how results are achieved is as important as what is delivered.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Category Management

• Develop and execute integrated sourcing strategies across all direct spending categories to drive innovation, business continuity, agility, cost improvement, and sustainability.
• Lead global supply base transformation to stay ahead of competition and support ELC’s growth and innovation agenda.
• Establish progressive upstream procurement capabilities in partnership with Packaging, R&D, and Product Development.
• Build a world-class procurement organization with deep market expertise and strong industry presence.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Lead and strengthen Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) programs while expanding strategic partnerships with existing and new suppliers.
• Drive segmentation strategies across all direct categories to optimize supplier performance and value delivery.
• Oversee execution excellence through EDGE (Every Day Great Execution) frameworks, metrics, and processes.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Supply Chain Leadership (SCLT), Packaging, Product Development, and R&D to enable systemic improvements in materials sourcing, speed-to-market, and new product launches.

Financial & Operational Oversight

• Manage $1.5B+ global direct expenditure, including $500M in raw materials and $1B in packaging.
• Delivers targeted cost savings, cash improvement, and SPE (Supplier Performance Excellence) improvements.
• Ensure effective and efficient contract approvals and contract compliance across all direct spending.
• Lead annual strategy and budget planning for the global direct procurement organization.

Risk, Compliance & Governance

• Drive implementation of third-party risk management programs.
• Ensure compliance with GSM processes and governance (SRC, SAST, and other systems).

Leadership & Culture

• Lead and develop a global team of 45+ employees, fostering a high-performance, value-driven culture.
• Serve as an ambassador of the Estée Lauder social contract and cultural values, emphasizing the importance of both how we work and what we deliver.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 15+ years of progressive procurement or supply chain experience, ideally within global, complex industry environments.
• Proven leadership of global procurement and supplier management functions.
• Strong negotiation experience: formal negotiation training preferred. (APICS, CAPS, or similar certifications are beneficial.) 
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale sourcing strategies and delivering measurable financial impact
• Ability to influence cross-functional executive partners and drive organizational alignment.
• Deep knowledge of direct materials categories (packaging, raw materials, devices).
• Experience leading transformation, change management, and capability building within procurement.