How To Become A Director Of Sourcing: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director of sourcing and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A director of sourcing is responsible for keeping the supply side of a business running smoothly and profitably. Without them, the business would not have the materials it needs in order to create and sell products.

The director of sourcing is involved with every step of the procurement or supply process. They come up with strategies for finding new vendors and reducing costs, manage the logistics of transportation, and maintain good relationships with suppliers. The director of sourcing also needs to be good at working with people as they manage the entire procurement team.

It's not possible to just walk into a job as a director of sourcing; it takes a lot of work to get there! Most directors of sourcing have a bachelor's or master's degree and several years of experience in procurement and supply chain work. About 70% of directors of sourcing are men--it might be time to source qualified women to break this glass ceiling.

ScoreDirector Of SourcingUS Average

Salary

8.7

Avg. Salary $140,924

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 7.37%

Black or African American 8.96%

Hispanic or Latino 12.11%

Unknown 3.81%

White 67.45%

Gender

female 26.30%

male 73.70%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a director of sourcing

Explore director of sourcing education requirements

Most common director of sourcing degrees

Bachelor's

72.0 %

Master's

16.4 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific director of sourcing skills

Skills	Percentages
Supply Chain	13.72%
Strategic Sourcing	8.28%
Continuous Improvement	6.45%
Project Management	5.28%
Process Improvement	4.56%

Complete relevant director of sourcing training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New directors of sourcing learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a director of sourcing based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real director of sourcing resumes.

Research director of sourcing duties and responsibilities

Attain ISO 9002 certification in a FDA supervise GMP facility.
Review RFI and RFP s and award business and contracts as well as managing reverse auctions.
Manage transportation logistics and schedule delivery pickup to ensure inventory levels of consumer goods are maintained and program initiatives fully support.
Establish QC manuals and audit process for 3rd party resident inspection team in Asia.

Get director of sourcing experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a director of sourcing. The most common roles before becoming a director of sourcing include purchasing manager, buyer team lead and production manager.

Prepare your director of sourcing resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your director of sourcing resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a director of sourcing resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable director of sourcing resume templates

Build a professional director of sourcing resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your director of sourcing resume.