The 5 hottest procurement jobs heading into the next decade

The procurement industry is shifting in its form just as quickly as it is expanding in size. With a compound 10 percent annual growth rate projected for the procurement industry between 2019 and 2025, procurement is one of the hottest prospective job markets headed into the next decade.

The expansion of procurement into the technological realm will not only result in the obsolescence of prevailing purchase methods like spot buy catalogs, but it will also be highlighted by the concomitant reduction in relevance for certain procurement roles and the subsequent creation and amplification of others.

With that in mind, if you are longing to position yourself for success in the procurement industry in the coming decade, these are the jobs in the procurement industry that you should be looking to maneuver your way into.

Sustainability Procurement Strategists

Many companies are opting to take a triple-bottom-line approach to business, which results in them striving to make money, to be community minded, and to preserve environmental and ecological resources. With the latter point in mind, business owners are beginning to merge their sustainability strategies with their procurement strategies, and the result is a procurement methodology which promotes the reuse of products and the minimization of environmental influence while also saving money. Those procurement specialists who have conceptualized the best modern environmental practices should find their knowledge to be of value to companies looking to simultaneously conserve both financial and environmental resources.

Procurement Managers and Directors

Simply stated, as more companies trend toward the adoption of optimized purchasing strategies, the need for procurement managers and directors is going to increase accordingly, and out of necessity. With the acceptance of new procurement strategies and the refining of existing procurement strategies, increased significance is instilled in the roles which exercises oversight over the entire procurement process. This creates demand for experienced procurement managers, and heightens the likelihood that procurement veterans will be elevated into managerial roles as more companies adopt strategies that can utilize their knowledge.

‍Business Transformation Consultants

Business owners with eyes toward efficiency and optimization are constantly looking to solicit the assistance of professionals with demonstrated experience in those areas. Business transformation consultants not only redraw the organizational charts of many of the businesses they consult for, but the technologically savvy consultants who are familiar with software innovation in procurement will be even more valuable to their clients and software use becomes more prevalent. Therefore, business transformation consultants can gain an advantage over their rivals if they commit to learning about the latest procurement technologies and strategies as expeditiously as possible.

‍Public Sector Procurement

‍Government spending is trending toward transparency, and the influx of fresh software procurement options also elevates the demand for specialists capable of managing that software. With tax dollars at stake, along with the presence of increased public oversight, missteps in the management of public money can sound the death knell for politically appointed staff members, as well as the elected officials that appointed them. On the other hand, trustworthy and skilled government employees with backgrounds in procurement can not only save their constituents’ money, but they can also preserve administrations and political careers by enacting shrewd procurement strategies. This latter benefit of their presence makes them invaluable additions to teams on the municipal, county, state and federal levels.

‍Education Procurement Managers

‍The difficulties of procurement management in the public sector are all the more manifest with regard to both public and private education. While the former also involves the handling of tax dollars, the latter involves providing an attractive and superior backdrop for the educational development of students, only without the illusion of being “free.” As such, school administrators require the presence of procurement teams that know how to balance savings with quality, and who are also sensitive to student competitiveness and educational progression. Conversely, on the public end of the spectrum, procurement managers capitalize on whatever resources the taxbase permits them to manage in order to produce an educational experience competitive with those offered by private schools. All of this money management places skillful governance of the procurement process at a premium.