Strategic Purchasing Manager

Sealed Air designs and delivers packaging solutions that protect essential goods transported worldwide, preserve food, enable e-commerce and digital connectivity, and help create a global supply chain that is touchless, safer, less wasteful, and more resilient. We strive to foster a caring, high-performance growth culture that will deliver consistent, sustainable profitable growth and accelerate our performance – a culture where accountability is clear and aligned, and where we reward business outcomes and impact. That culture guides everything we do, including how we partner with our customers and suppliers, how we attract and retain top talent, and how we create and deliver value to our stakeholders. In 2025, Sealed Air generated $5.4 billion in sales and has approximately 16,100 employees who serve customers in 119 countries/territories. To learn more, visit

Job Description

Location & Work Setup

  • 100% Remote: This position is fully remote. You can work from anywhere within the United States.
  • Travel: Ability to travel as needed for supplier audits, business reviews, and team strategy meetings.

Position Summary

Sealed Air is seeking a Strategic Purchasing Manager to work for our Equipment Group. The Strategic Purchasing Manager leads sourcing strategy, supplier management, and commercial execution for the company's packaging equipment portfolio. This includes components, subassemblies, finished machines, and turnkey OEM/ODM equipment supporting bubble wrap inflators, dispensing equipment, bagmaking machines, and related automation.

This role partners closely with Engineering, Product Management, Operations, and Quality to deliver reliable, cost-effective, and scalable equipment solutions throughout the product lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop and execute sourcing strategies for machinery, components, fabricated assemblies, and OEM/ODM equipment.
  • Lead RFQs, supplier selection, negotiations, contracting, and supplier performance management.
  • Build and manage strategic relationships with OEM, ODM, contract manufacturing, fabrication, controls, electrical, and mechanical suppliers.
  • Partner with Engineering and Product Management on supplier selection, make-versus-buy decisions, new product development, and value engineering.
  • Drive total cost of ownership improvements across purchase price, freight, inventory, lead time, tooling, warranty, service parts, and lifecycle support.
  • Negotiate commercial agreements covering pricing, capacity, payment terms, quality, warranties, engineering changes, intellectual property, and continuity of supply.
  • Identify and mitigate supplier risks related to capacity, quality, sole-source dependencies, and obsolescence.

Cross-Functional Responsibilities

  • Purchasing: Owns sourcing strategy, supplier relationships, commercial negotiations, cost improvement, and supplier performance.
  • Engineering: Partners on design for manufacturability, supplier selection, and technical requirements.
  • Product Management: Aligns sourcing strategy with product roadmap and customer requirements.
  • Operations, Quality & Service: Drives supplier accountability for delivery, quality, corrective actions, and service support.

Success Measures

  • Improve cost, quality, lead time, supplier performance, and supply continuity.
  • Deliver annual savings, cost avoidance, and working capital improvements.
  • Support successful product launches and customer equipment deployments.
  • Reduce sourcing risk through supplier diversification and continuity planning.

Qualifications

  • Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering required (Electrical Engineering strongly preferred).
  • Experience: 5+ years in strategic sourcing, purchasing, supplier management, or technical operations within manufacturing/industrial sectors.
  • Technical Sourcing Expertise: Proven track record sourcing industrial machinery, automation, OEM/ODM equipment, or complex engineered assemblies.
  • Negotiation & Commercial Skills: Demonstrated success negotiating complex mechanical, electrical, and custom-fabricated equipment contracts.
  • Cross-Functional Capabilities: Hands-on experience with New Product Development (NPD), supplier qualifications, make-vs-buy analysis, and performance tracking.
  • Systems & Certifications: Proficient in SAP strongly preferred; CPSM, CPM, CSCP, CPIM, PMP, or Lean Six Sigma certifications are a plus.
  • Travel Flexibility: Ability to travel as needed.

Benefits And Perks

  • 401(k)
  • 401(k) matching
  • Dental insurance
  • Disability insurance
  • Employee assistance program
  • Employee discounts
  • Flexible spending account
  • Health insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Paid elder care
  • Paid time off
  • Parental leave
  • Professional development assistance
  • Retirement plan
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Vision insurance

Pay Transparency

Salary Range: $91,300-$160,655

The range disclosed complies with applicable state and local pay transparency laws. Offers within this range will be determined by considering relevant factors including education, experience, and internal alignment. This position may also be eligible for annual performance bonuses and other incentive programs. Sealed Air offers a competitive benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off, and other benefits designed to promote well-being.

Relocation: No

Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

No other job posts for this day.

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...