Procurement hires are on the rise in 2026. If you ask Kent Brown, a Managing Director here at PierceGray, procurement activity is experiencing the largest spike he’s seen in the 15 years he’s worked in the space.
Macroeconomic factors are, of course, at play. COVID sent ripples through supply chains that lingered for years, while tariffs have recently upended global trade.
Now, new challenges are forcing PE-backed companies to realize procurement should occupy a uniquely strategic position inside a company, not just a tactical one. A report from GEP confirms this: 52% of respondents say procurement now has greater influence over organizational spend, and 41% describe their relationship with the board as aligned or close.
Meet Kent and Todd
Kent Brown is a Managing Director here at PierceGray, where he co-leads the Operations and Supply Chain practice. Kent recruits supply chain and operations leadership for public companies and privately held businesses, with searches that run the length of the supply chain, from manufacturing through distribution, logistics, and transportation.
Todd Brewer works with Kent as a Vice President in the practice. Todd specializes in recruiting senior operating leaders for private equity portfolio companies and also places operating partners at private equity funds. He primarily works across the industrial and consumer sectors and supports large-cap and middle-market firms.
Like all senior team members at PierceGray, Kent and Todd work directly with clients on searches, giving them a front-row seat to how the procurement function within PE-backed companies is evolving.
3 Forces Bringing Procurement Back Into The Spotlight
PierceGray started in executive search for operations and supply chain leaders, so procurement has been in our DNA for 20 years. We’re not surprised to see procurement re-emerging as a key private equity value-creation lever, but why now? Kent and Todd have identified three fundamental shifts in the past year:
- The impact of tariffs
- Systemic supply chain shocks
- PE margin pressure
The Impact of Tariffs
Recent changes to trade policy have upended what was a given for several decades: certain geographies were almost always ideal for manufacturing.
For example, China has been a prime market for manufacturing household products ranging from gas stoves to clothing. With the current administration’s trade policies, companies have shifted their focus to new markets onshore in the United States, near-shore in countries like Mexico, or alternative offshore options like Thailand and Vietnam, where they can mitigate tariffs and the impact on total landed cost.
“We've seen a shift in focus looking at adjacent markets, looking at adjacent geographies. How do we get more for less is always the goal. So the current economic climate certainly is spurring a lot of these activities.”
The shifting landscape requires companies to think more strategically about procurement. It forces them to look for procurement leaders who can anticipate supply chain challenges and make decisions from a total cost of ownership perspective.
For example, a transformer firm Kent worked with recently has traditionally relied on India and Southeast Asia for manufacturing. In recent years, it has explored onshore opportunities in the United States to reduce its dependence on offshore partners.
Systemic Supply Chain Shocks
In addition to tariffs, recent disruptions have amplified the importance of managing a resilient supply base. Todd has seen supply chain shocks play out one after another over the past six years and shape the procurement function in real time:
“There have been so many systemic shocks to the global supply chain over the last couple of years. Take COVID, for example: lead times spiked because capacity just decreased across the globe, or because people couldn't find workers. Then the Suez Canal got blocked. It feels like one thing after another, sending ripples through global supply chains and making people rethink everything.”
Today’s procurement leaders must decide whether to move supply from one geography to another or split it between two or more suppliers to build in redundancy. Increasingly, procurement executives are expected to balance costs with supply risks that could halt production and hurt sales due to a lack of raw materials.
PE Margin Pressure
The undertone across the above factors is that private equity in 2026 has seen its fair share of challenges. Holding periods are longer, and multiples are higher. The recent interest rate bump makes things even more complex. All of this means it is harder than ever to generate returns for investors.
For most PE-backed companies, the spotlight is usually on growth – either through acquiring more customers or companies. Developing a high-performing procurement organization is another path to margin expansion, even in difficult market conditions. Kent and Todd see procurement executives taking a more active role in the value creation agenda and delivering bottom-line results.
This goes beyond manufacturing and direct materials. Procurement leaders are under pressure to optimize margins across categories that may not seem obvious at first, such as healthcare, IT, and travel spend.
Procurement is Changing, And So is the Talent Spec
As PE-backed companies take a more strategic view of procurement, the specs for the hires they want are changing. The procurement executives Kent and Todd are looking for differ from those a decade ago.
Strategic Decision-Making, Not Just Tactical Experience
It’s one thing to manage day-to-day transactional activities such as placing purchase orders. It’s another to understand the various cost inputs of your supply network and optimize accordingly, while developing strong relationships with strategic suppliers.
Todd sees more variables at play than before, forcing the role to take on a more strategic focus.
“Managing an existing vendor relationship is a very different skill set than understanding your total value chain and total landed cost, and looking around the corner. Leaders need to ask what happens if there are tariffs. Are we prepared for that? And with all of the high-visibility market complexities that have happened in rapid succession over the last seven or eight years, it's just put the focus on whether companies have the right talent.”
A Focus on Influence and Leadership
More than ever, procurement is expected to influence an organization and the direction it takes.
Identifying opportunities to save is the easy part; capturing those savings is more difficult, especially at scale. For example, suppose you have 10 different plants each purchasing materials. This creates an opportunity to leverage scale across those plants by having everyone buy the same materials from the same vendor. That’s not always easy, though. Difficult tasks such as centralizing spend require capable procurement leaders who can develop the business case, gain stakeholder buy-in, and drive compliance.
A survey by The Hackett Group and GEP supports this; today’s procurement executives are addressing new challenges through procurement orchestration by integrating systems, workflows, and stakeholders across the procurement lifecycle. 78% of procurement leaders consider orchestration critical to their overall strategy, not just to improve efficiency but also to strengthen collaboration with other business functions.
While AI is upending industries across the board, Kent and Todd see the need for human leadership to add value and strategic insight to guide supply chain conversations.
Breadth Over Depth
Companies are increasingly seeking diverse, cross-functional experience over deep, single-category expertise. Historically, the candidate pool was narrow and centered on a specific industry or vendor geography. Now, clients value people who’ve worked across markets and can bring a new point of view.
Someone in procurement who’s also spent time in inventory management or materials planning can connect the dots, and that elevates the function. Deep category expertise still has its place, though; it’s just not the only focus for our clients lately.
In short, today’s procurement executives are more strategic, more cross-functional, more leadership-driven, and more transformational than they needed to be even five or six years ago.
Procurement is back, but the right executive for the role has evolved. That’s where creative problem solvers and experienced leaders like Kent and Todd add real value. They’ve been in the space for over a decade, have run searches before, and can adjust to industry and market changes in real time.
If you have an opening in procurement, we invite you to schedule time with our team to discuss the position and your needs.
