Manager, National Purchasing

About KB Home

KB Home is one of the largest and most recognized homebuilders in the United States and has built over 650,000 quality homes in our more than 60-year history. Today, KB Home operates in 45 markets from coast to coast. What sets KB Home apart is the exceptional personalization we offer our homebuyers from those buying their first home to experienced buyers allowing them to make their home uniquely their own, at a price that fits their budget. As the leader in energy-efficient homebuilding, KB Home was the first builder to make every home it builds ENERGY STAR� certified, a standard of energy performance achieved by fewer than 10% of new homes in America, and has built more ENERGY STAR certified homes than any other builder. An energy-efficient KB home helps lower the cost of ownership and is designed to be healthier, more comfortable and better for the environment than new homes without certification. We build strong, personal relationships with our customers so they have a real partner in the homebuying process. As a result, we have the distinction of being the #1 customer-ranked national homebuilder in third-party buyer satisfaction surveys. Build your career with KB Home. Learn more.

JOB SUMMARY: The (Sr.) Manager, National Procurement supports the corporate strategy of reducing costs through enhanced relationships with suppliers, optimizes the supply chain, leverages the company’s consolidated spend and drives the implementation and change process for the company-wide sourcing strategy.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing

• National management of supplier relationships (cost, quality, productivity, service, concerns) with sustainability guidelines and efforts in mind
• Source vendors of materials, equipment, and supplies and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales
• Identify opportunities to leverage national, regional, and divisional volume and establish course of action
• Ensure each division is aligned with National contracts, sourcing strategy, initiatives, and directives
• Ensure all national manufacturers and distributors meet company guidelines for insurance and credit worthiness
• Collaborate with divisions and suppliers for solutions to performance/product availability challenges and implement improvement plans to monitor progress
• Facilitate problem resolution related to nationally contracted products based on everchanging tactical issues of KB Home supply chain
  
  

Procurement Management

• Develop product pricing guidelines (category specific), ensure accurate and competitive pricing across category, and audit pull through pricing
• Collaborate with National Contracts leadership to establish purchasing goals that support the business plan and evaluate design changes and options offerings
• Coordinate activities of company personnel engaged in buying, selling, and distributing materials, equipment, machinery, and supplies
• Source input from division regarding Trade Partner performance and facilitate resolution related to field delays or issues to meet cycle time goals; resolves contract issues with Trade Partners
• Monitor and communicate performance issues with trades, price and product changes, and strategy-impacting variables (i.e., supply chain issues and availability) to division purchasing leadership
• Responsible for strategic plans for estimated homebuilding contracts values above $40-90M
• Assist with recruiting large vendor and trade base to meet divisional objectives
• Facilitate New Product implementation by creating training plans and being a reference point for the divisions for the new products
  
  

Cost Reduction

• Lead take-off and cost unbundling efforts; identify take-off issues and develop solutions
• Lead national rebate setup, invoicing, collections, and auditing
• Drive consistency in product usage throughout the company
• Work with divisions and centralized purchasing administration to maximize incentive collections
• Support finance by providing and confirming rebate related information
• Analyze market and delivery systems to assess present and future material availability
• Review purchase order requests to ensure they are in line with contracts and guidelines
• Oversee cost changes and negotiate when necessary
  
  

For Sr. Manager Role

• Lead the negotiation and contracting of all national and regional manufacturers and make key decisions on sourcing, developing new suppliers, and negotiating terms.
• Make sound and thorough recommendations with implementation plans based on the strategy as discussed with senior purchasing and corporate leadership
• Firm familiarity with suppliers and able to articulate how recommendations apply to varying stakeholders including corporate, trades, and divisions
• Increased level of autonomy and able to take direction based on the strategy and formulate plans for review that would be potentially implemented nationwide
• Navigate nuances of varying regions within the company to ensure sound recommendations; actively problem-solve for divisions with supplier issues
• Provide management and oversight of assigned employees, including communication of goals and objectives, delivering effective feedback, handling performance management, participating in recruiting/hiring, and communicating corrective actions as needed
  
  

Education/Experience/Minimum Requirements

Education/Certifications/Licenses

• Bachelor’s Degree required with a preferred major in Business, Construction Management, Procurement, Engineering, or related discipline
  
  

Experience

• Manager: 5-7 years of related work experience in purchasing, procurement and/or construction management
• Sr. Manager: 8+ years of related work experience in purchasing, procurement and/or construction management and prior experience managing employees
• Construction and supply chain experience is required
• Prior experience in Real Estate industry preferred, ideally in residential homebuilding
  
  

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong problem-solving abilities and able to recommend and communicate their proposed resolutions
• Self-directed; takes initiative, proactively addresses problems, able to work with minimal oversight; strong project management skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and outstanding Customer Service skills
• Ability to influence key leaders across the organization
• Strong written/verbal communication skills; ability to communicate effectively with confidence and professionalism
• Ability to manage conflict and resolve problems in a professional manner
• Ability to handle the stress of dealing with the public and making decisions in a high-volume fast-paced work environment.
• Daily contact with other departments, subcontractors and outside sales representatives
• Effective negotiating skills
• Analytical; with the ability to give, receive, analyze information, and interpret complex issues in order to determine the root problem and make effective decisions to bring the issue to a successful conclusion
• Highly organized and flexible; with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and meet deadlines, often with frequent interruptions and changing circumstances, in a high-volume fast-paced work environment
• Team player; with demonstrated ability to work within cross-functional teams
• Good leadership skills; ability to motivate and direct a professional staff
• Proficiency in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, & Power Point), AS400, Homebuilder 1
• Construction experience is beneficial with the ability to read and understand blueprints
• Experience using JD Edwards database is a plus
• Sound judgment and a high level of integrity
• Accurate; with keen attention to detail in every aspect of the job
  

Work Requirements

• Conduct business in a professional and ethical manner to KB coworkers, trade partners, reinforcing goodwill and profitability for the company.
• Up to 15% domestic travel required
• Candidate should be located near a KB Home location with accessibility to a major airport so that they can easily travel to divisions and the office in Phoenix, AZ, as required; ideally candidate will be located in Phoenix, AZ
  
  

Find out why KB Home is attracting and retaining the best employees! If you are interested and qualified, please apply now. KB Home provides above average compensation packages and earnings potential, full benefits, an outstanding 401K matching program, bonus plans and amazing promotional opportunities. KB Home is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse work team. Diversity is important to KB Home!

KB Home and its affiliates do not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third party recruiting agencies (collectively, "Recruiters") in response to job postings. If Recruiters nevertheless submit one or more unsolicited resumes to any employee at KB Home or its affiliates without a valid written agreement in place for recruiting services, such resumes will be deemed the sole property of KB Home and its affiliates. No fee will be owing or paid to Recruiters who submit unsolicited candidate resumes, in the event any such candidate is hired by KB Home or its affiliates as a result of the submittal, without a valid written agreement between the Recruiter and KB Home.