Job Description:
Job Title
Director, 3rd Party Materials - Global Procurement
Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World
Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.
This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.
The Impact You’ll Make in this Role
The Director, 3rd Party Materials - Global Procurement is responsible for developing and executing procurement and category strategies across packaging materials and related supply markets throughout the Americas region. This role provides strategic leadership for supplier relationships, category management, supply continuity, cost competitiveness, sustainability, innovation, and risk mitigation while supporting 3M's growth, operational excellence, and new product development initiatives.
The position partners closely with business groups, manufacturing, engineering, quality, R&D, supply chain, finance, and regional/global procurement teams to leverage 3M's purchasing scale, accelerate supplier innovation, and create sustainable competitive advantage. This Senior Leadership role leads a team of procurement professionals and serves as a key advisor to business leadership on packaging market trends, supplier capabilities, and sourcing strategies. This role supports Divisions across 3M, giving the successful candidate broad exposure to 3M’s diverse businesses & products.
Here, you will make an impact by:
Category Strategy Leadership
- Own global category strategy development and execution for Molding, Metals, Electronics, Tapes, Abrasives, and Films, ensuring alignment with business growth plans, manufacturing needs, and customer requirements.
- Translate market intelligence-raw material trends, supplier capacity, technology shifts, and competitive dynamics-into actionable sourcing strategies across each sub-category.
- Lead supply-base optimization and rationalization efforts to balance cost, quality, resiliency, and innovation.
- Identify and prioritize sourcing initiatives that deliver measurable improvements in total value delivered to the business.
Global NPI Leadership - Consumer Business Group
- Embed procurement early in the product development lifecycle, partnering with R&D, Design, Engineering, and Marketing to influence material selection, supplier capability, and cost targets from concept through launch.
- Build and manage a global NPI supplier pipeline across relevant material categories, ensuring suppliers are qualified, capacity-ready, and technically capable to support new product launches on schedule.
- Establish governance and stage-gate processes for procurement involvement in NPI, ensuring consistent global execution across regions and portfolios.
- Balance speed-to-market pressures with cost, quality, and supply risk considerations specific to consumer product launches (e.g., shorter lifecycles, higher SKU variability, retail timing constraints).
- Partner with category teams (Molding, Metals, Electronics, Tapes, Abrasives, Films) to ensure NPI sourcing decisions align with broader category strategy, supplier roadmaps, and negotiated commercial terms.
- Track and report NPI procurement performance metrics (e.g., on-time supplier readiness, cost-to-target achievement, launch delay risk) to business and procurement leadership.
Supplier Relationship Management
- Build and maintain strategic, global partnerships with key suppliers across all six material categories.
- Lead supplier selection, qualification, and performance management, including executive business reviews and formal improvement plans where needed.
- Drive supplier-led innovation to support new product development and advancements in materials and process technology (e.g., molding compounds,
- metal alloys, electronic components, adhesive tapes, abrasive media, film substrates).
- Develop multi-year supplier roadmaps aligned to 3M's technology and business requirements, with specific attention to suppliers critical to Consumer Business Group NPI pipelines.
Cost, Contracting & Negotiation
- Lead complex, global commercial negotiations and manage long-term supply agreements across diverse material categories.
- Apply should-cost modeling, market intelligence, and total-cost-of-ownership analysis to drive value-based sourcing decisions.
- Deliver annual productivity, cost reduction, and working capital targets, including cost-to-target achievement for NPI programs.
- Partner with Legal, Finance, and business stakeholders on contract structuring, risk allocation, and commercial terms.
Supply Chain Risk & Sustainability
- Develop strategies that strengthen supply resiliency, particularly given the geographic concentration and technical complexity of electronics and metals supply chains.
- Advance supplier sustainability, responsible sourcing, and environmental compliance across all categories.
- Ensure compliance with relevant regulatory, quality, and supplier governance standards (e.g., conflict minerals, RoHS/REACH for electronics, material safety standards for abrasives and tapes).
- Proactively monitor and mitigate risks related to commodity price volatility, capacity constraints, geopolitical exposure, and logistics disruption-including risks specific to NPI launch timelines.
Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing global procurement team across multiple material sub-categories and NPI program engagements.
- Influence and align stakeholders across manufacturing, engineering, R&D, quality, operations, Consumer Business Group leadership, and executive leadership.
- Champion procurement transformation initiatives, including digital procurement tools and category management best practices.
- Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and customer focus across a technically diverse category portfolio and fast-paced NPI environment.
Your Skills and Expertise
To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or higher (completed and verified prior to start)
- Ten (10) years of Sourcing, Procurement, Logistics, Supply Chain, Engineering and/or Manufacturing experience in a private, public, government or military environment
- Five (5) years of leadership or people management experience
Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:
- Master's degree in Sourcing, Procurement, Logistics, Supply Chain, Engineering and/or Manufacturing from an accredited institution
- Demonstrated results in strong negotiation skills and attention to detail
- Initiative, self-starter with a positive & pro-active approach; Project management experience
- Experience successfully collaborating with internal and external stakeholders on complex projects. Appropriately engages with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
- Knowledge of digital procurement initiatives.
- Skilled in written and oral communications.
- Willingness to have difficult discussions.
- Financial acumen and comfort with conducting business analytics
Work location:
- Maplewood This role follows an on-site working model, requiring the employee to work at least four days a week at the 3M Center in Maplewood, MN.
Travel: May include up to 10-20% domestic/international
Relocation: May be authorized
Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).
Supporting Your Well-being
3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.
Chat with Max
For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers.
Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $287,281 - $351,122, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/.
Good Faith Posting Date Range 09/24/2026 To 10/24/2026 Or until filled
All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.
Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M.
Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.
Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.
Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/
3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.
3M Global Terms of Use and Privacy Statement
Carefully read these Terms of Use before using this website. Your access to and use of this website and application for a job at 3M are conditioned on your acceptance and compliance with these terms.
Please click on the following links and select the country where you are applying for employment to review the applicable Terms of Use (link here) and Privacy Policy (link here). Before submitting your application, you will be asked to confirm your agreement with the terms.