Director, Sourcing & Product Development

Job Summary

Medline Industries has an immediate opening for a Director of Sourcing/Product Development with our Textiles division. This role will be based out of our Northfield corporate office and will work a hybrid model. The Director of Sourcing & Product Development will lead the design & development of new products or improve existing products for the organization. This role will also lead the development and execution of strategies to negotiate favorable terms, secure volume discounts, and establish long-term contracts with suppliers and vendor partners. This role involves managing and optimizing direct spend categories to drive cost-effective solutions, ensure consistent supply, and proactively mitigate risks across the organization.

Job Description

Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute strategies to negotiate favorable terms, volume discounts, and long-term contracts with suppliers and vendor partners.

• Oversee spend across key textile categories and raw materials.

• Provide strategic insights on global and geopolitical changes affecting tariffs, raw materials, and regulatory requirements, including new laws and natural resource availability.

• Manage a divisional portfolio of managed categories, driving continuous improvement across all Category Managers to contain costs, improve raw material consumption, and implement cost-reduction initiatives.

• Oversee the analysis of supplier price increase submissions, considering the full impact on the division. Develop and execute negotiation strategies to achieve cost avoidance or savings, driving financial performance.

• Lead the execution of strategic risk assessments, creating comprehensive country-specific views on sourcing risks. Develop robust risk mitigation plans and provide recommendations for category-level changes.

• Lead a team overseeing diverse product categories, guiding them in understanding cost inputs and driving best-cost strategies.

• Collaborate with senior leadership to develop and execute sourcing initiatives that align with long-term goals.

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key suppliers, overseeing negotiations on pricing, managing supplier performance, ensuring on-time delivery, and ensuring strict compliance with contracts. Address supplier issues and collaborate with internal teams to improve performance.

• Lead the development and execution of a comprehensive, risk-based global sourcing strategy. Oversee dual sourcing initiatives, vendor allocation optimization, re-sourcing, and cost containment efforts.

• Work collaboratively with Medline Shanghai, Supply Chain, Quality, and Product Management teams to maintain and develop vendors and products, reducing supply risk and ensuring a healthy supply chain.

• Lead efforts to resolve supplier issues when communication fails. Collaborate with internal teams to identify root causes, develop corrective action plans, and ensure continued supplier performance.

• Lead the product development team to effectively manage all phases of the product development cycle to meet launch dates

• Work closely with cross functional teams (Product Management, Inventory Management, Quality, Global sourcing ofc, etc.) to communicate and ensure clarity on product pipeline and on-time deliverables.

• Create and maintain all digital and physical records associated with developed products, including measurements, bill of materials, technical sketches, completed specifications, global tech pack, labeling/packaging information, comments and revisions, and golden samples.

• Identify new concepts and techniques to support continuous product innovation

• Continuously identify and support cost savings opportunities and prioritize with cross-functional leaders

• Continue to advance product development processes and tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness

• Champion product development throughout the division and build the broader team’s product development capabilities.

• Partner with the Quality team to investigate quality complaints as needed.

• Manage, develop, and mentor product development team

Management responsibilities include:

• Typically manages through multiple Managers

• Provide leadership and management to one or more major departments of an operating unit or to a department that has system-wide accountability

• Strategic, tactical and operational planning (12 + months) for the function or department

• Direct budgetary responsibility for one or more departments, functions or major projects/programs

• Interpret and execute policies for