How To Become A Supply Chain Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a supply chain director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Priya Nagaraj

A supply chain director is an individual responsible for overseeing and managing the entire supply chain process of a company. They are responsible for coordinating logistics, procurement, inventory management, and transportation to ensure products are delivered to customers in a timely manner. A supply chain director also collaborates with suppliers and other departments within the company to optimize the supply chain process. They must have excellent communication skills to effectively manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

What general advice would you give to a supply chain director?

Priya Nagaraj

Professor of Economics and Global Business, Website

Students should be able to analyze and interpret data. For instance, demand forecasting and predictive analytics are a large part of this industry today. As the number of regulations across nations increases, it is important to have at least some knowledge of foreign regulations. Cross-cultural knowledge and experience are always a plus in this area for prospective employees. People skills are also important along with knowledge of additional languages.

ScoreSupply Chain DirectorUS Average

Salary

8.4

Avg. Salary $129,438

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 8.81%

Black or African American 7.45%

Hispanic or Latino 12.47%

Unknown 4.68%

White 65.93%

Gender

female 16.89%

male 83.11%

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

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a supply chain director?

Pros

High salary potential
Opportunity for career advancement
Ability to make a significant impact on the company's bottom line
Opportunity to implement innovative supply chain solutions
High demand for supply chain professionals

Cons

High levels of responsibility and pressure to deliver results
Difficulty in managing relationships with multiple suppliers and partners
Need to stay up-to-date with technology advancements and industry trends
Difficulty in finding and retaining skilled talent in the field
Challenges in aligning supply chain goals with overall business strategy

Key steps to become a supply chain director

Explore supply chain director education requirements

Most common supply chain director degrees

Bachelor's

71.6 %

Master's

19.6 %

Associate

5.5 %

Start to develop specific supply chain director skills

Skills	Percentages
Supply Chain	19.72%
Logistics	8.75%
Chain Operations	6.72%
Continuous Improvement	4.64%
Chain Management	4.06%

Complete relevant supply chain director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New supply chain directors 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 supply chain director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real supply chain director resumes.

Research supply chain director duties and responsibilities

Manage the NPI function from sourcing to production in low cost regions.
Lead DC improvements including cross-docking, order handling automation, re-slotting, bar coding and WMS.
Manage procurement method (contract, kanban, PO, consignment) as well as stocking/inventory parameters.
Manage``Pluto"( NPI) launch in NA, balancing between factory ramp-up, sales / customer expectations.

Get supply chain director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a supply chain director. The most common roles before becoming a supply chain director include purchasing manager, supply chain manager team lead and material manager.

Prepare your supply chain director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your supply chain director 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 supply chain director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable supply chain director resume templates

Build a professional supply chain director 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 supply chain director resume.

Apply for supply chain director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a supply chain director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first supply chain director job

Craig Isenbart

Supply Chain Director, BellRock Brands

My journey as a Supply Chain Director was jump started when I worked for Frito Lay as a night shift maintenance manager in the Denver operations facility. This was my first introduction to a 24/7 environment with highly automated equipment, highly skilled workforce, and a high amount of pressure to keep the entire facility operational. This role was highly intense and required an extreme amount of work ethic.
My success in the maintenance role led me into the opportunity to oversee our highly automated warehouse department at the facility. This role oversaw several shift managers and close to 100 front line employees. The technical skillset allowed me to understand the deep complexities of optimizing the system, while ensuring our front line employees could help take us there. It required a lot of engagement with manufacturing for upstream supply, as well as our downstream sales and logistics teams for product supply needs for the customers.
The combination of different roles within the plant is what allowed me to start thinking outside of those four walls and look at what other opportunities that Frito Lay had to offer. I was fortunate to land an opportunity as a Demand Planner for the Mountain Region, which was one of 12 regions across Frito Lay North America. This role and my next role as a Product Supply Leader taught me the ability to look at the supply and demand side of the organization, not just one plant. I was determining forecasts, ensuring supply, and networking across the region and other regions to have a total picture of Frito Lay's network. In addition, it allowed me to work closely with our massive Headquarters group and gain insights into all functions that directly and indirectly ran the organization - Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Finance. This was an incredible 8.5 year journey that gave me the opportunity to set my sights higher.
For the past 5+ years, I have had roles of an Operations Director and a Supply Chain Director with a new organization. Both have had direct oversight for supply chain and have been incredible opportunities. I encourage anyone looking for a role at this level to gain as much exposure to all functions early in their career. Ask questions, work hard to understand each function's impact on the business, even if it's not your own. Eventually those dots will start to connect and help provide the opportunity to oversee supply chain at a higher level.

How do supply chain directors rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

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Supply chain director reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

I am continuously working to develop my the communication and computer skills necessary listed in the job description job description. My formal education which is bachelors degree in philosophy and a minor in economics. I am currently furthering my education in the area of computer science.

Cons

I am working to improve my area of concern which is having limitations when managing employees.