Manager, Procurement & Product Strategy

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Manager, Procurement & Product Strategy

Company: Feed the Children

Location: Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Operations (Procurement & Product Strategy)

Date Posted: June 25, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Level (3-5+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (with nationwide consideration)

🚀 Role Summary

• Manages the end-to-end procurement lifecycle for food and essential products critical to domestic hunger relief programs.

• Develops and executes product sourcing strategies, aligning them with program logic models, impact goals, and budgetary constraints.

• Integrates program impact strategy with supply chain execution through effective product acquisition and inventory management.

• Oversees product-related budgeting, forecasting, and cost analysis to ensure efficient allocation of resources.

• Builds and maintains strong vendor relationships, ensuring compliance with quality, safety, and organizational standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role sits at the intersection of program strategy, finance, and supply chain operations. The "Product Strategy" aspect indicates a need to not just procure goods, but to strategically select and manage them based on program impact, donor relations, and operational efficiency. This is a key differentiator from a pure procurement role and requires a strategic mindset.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Translate program logic models into precise product specifications, including categories, quality thresholds, pack configurations, and shelf-life requirements.

• Serve as the primary product strategy partner to U.S. Mission Impact department directors, developing and annually updating a prioritized list of targeted products aligned with defined program outcomes and timelines.

• Collaborate with U.S. Mission Impact department leaders to develop annual budgets for program-related food and essential products, factoring in program design, scale assumptions, target populations, and projected donated product availability.

• Translate program plans and timelines into detailed product-level cost estimates, encompassing unit costs, pack configurations, freight considerations, and optimal timing for purchases.

• Support the development of program cost-per-family or cost-per-child estimates related to product inputs, contributing to budgeting, evaluation, and external reporting.

• Ensure product purchasing plans strictly adhere to approved funding sources, grant constraints, and internal financial controls, working closely with department leadership and the Finance Department to maintain compliance and audit readiness.

• Monitor product expenditures against approved budgets, proactively identifying variances, cost pressures, and developing effective mitigation strategies, including exploring alternative product options or sourcing approaches.

• Develop and maintain clear, comprehensive documentation and decision rationale for significant product and budget tradeoffs to support leadership review and audit readiness.

• Develop and/or expand industry relationships to negotiate optimal pricing and terms, thereby driving greater mission impact.

• Collaborate with the Corporate Partnerships team to identify opportunities for discounted product purchases from corporate donors, prioritizing mission fit and ensuring alignment with Feed the Children’s procurement policies, including first right of refusal with existing donors.

• Conduct thorough vendor vetting processes, evaluating food safety, quality, reliability, and compliance with organizational and regulatory requirements.

• Provide data-driven analysis and recommendations to leadership on tradeoffs between product cost, nutritional or functional quality, availability, and overall impact outcomes.

• Ensure sourcing decisions strategically consider supply reliability, lead times (including for "just-in-time" inventory management), and supply chain risk, in addition to price.

• Manage product procurement in alignment with program strategy and organizational processes and procedures by preparing and processing purchase approval documentation and purchase orders.

• Assess the supply of Gift in Kind (GIK) product for program use and understand how GIK supply impacts purchasing decisions, in close partnership with the Director of Logistics & Inventory Management.

• Align product purchasing cadence with distribution plans to minimize excess inventory, storage costs, and product spoilage or obsolescence.

• Define product eligibility for specific programs (both donated and purchased) and establish restrictions for specific uses based on defined strategy and annual workplans.

• Establish and maintain program-level product guardrails, including restrictions on misaligned, excess, or low-impact product.

• Support efforts to identify and surface product-related risks (e.g., cost volatility, supply disruption, storage constraints) and recommend proactive mitigation strategies.

• Foster an environment of high performance and continuous improvement, valuing learning, a commitment to quality, and encouraging collaboration and respect across departments.

• Model exemplary professionalism and leadership consistent with organizational values.

• Perform other related duties as required to support the mission.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a strong blend of strategic planning, financial acumen, and tactical procurement execution within a humanitarian context. The need to translate "program logic models into clear product specifications" and to "align purchasing cadence with distribution plans" highlights the operations-centric nature of this role, requiring an understanding of both demand planning and supply chain flow.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• Degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Nonprofit Management, Public Health, or a closely related field strongly preferred. Experience:

• 3–5+ years of progressive experience in procurement, supply chain management, product sourcing, or gift-in-kind (GIK) management.

• Demonstrated experience working within cross-functional environments, effectively balancing program goals with operational constraints and resource limitations.

• Proven track record in budgeting, forecasting, and cost-analysis, with a strong