Lead, Procurement Operations, China
Date: 10 Oct 2026
Location: Hefei, AH, CN, 230011
Company: Corning
Requisition Number: 78883
The company built on breakthroughs.
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Corning is one of the world’s leading innovators in glass, ceramic, and materials science. From the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of space, our technologies push the boundaries of what’s possible.
How do we do this? With our people. They break through limitations and expectations – not once in a career, but every day. They help move our company, and the world, forward.
At Corning, there are endless possibilities for making an impact. You can help connect the unconnected, drive the future of automobiles, transform at-home entertainment, and ensure the delivery of lifesaving medicines. And so much more.
Come break through with us.
The Global Supply Management (GSM) Function is recognized as a critical function for business success. It delivers the training, tools and opportunities needed to create innovative solutions for the function & the corporation. GSM has leading edge, effective processes to anticipate and exceed customer requirements.
Day to Day Responsibilities:
Operational Leadership & Service Delivery
• Lead day-to-day execution of procurement operations, ensuring timely, accurate, complaint, and customer-focused support across requisition-to-purchase-order and Procure-to-Pay processes.
• Lead and coordinate procurement activities including requisitioning, purchase-order creation and changes, approvals, PO confirmations, urgent purchasing requests, and invoice/PO exception resolution.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for high-impact, or urgent procurement issues, including PO delays, policy exceptions, service failures, system issues, and customer escalations.
• Ensure consistent application of global procurement processes, policies, standard work, approval requirements, delegation-of-authority requirements, and internal controls; including partnering with other Regional Procurement Leads to ensure consistency.
• Monitor Key procurement KPI’s and service delivery and take timely action on backlogs, aged requests, blocked invoices/ exceptions, and other customer- or business-impacting issues.
• Lead performance reviews and root-cause analysis to address service, quality, productivity, supplier, compliance, system, and process issues and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
• Identify, assess, and escalate procurement-related risks—, compliance, control, system, capacity, and business-continuity risks—through established governance processes and to the Sr. Manager, Supply Chain Operations, as appropriate.
• Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and performance management for Procurement Specialists and assigned resources; set clear objectives, provide feedback, recognize performance, and address capability or performance gaps.
• Plan and manage team capacity and capability by assigning and balancing workloads, supporting hiring and resource planning, and leading onboarding, training, cross-training, knowledge transfer, and standard-work documentation.
• Build and sustain a high-performing procurement operations team that demonstrates accountability, customer focus, disciplined execution, data-driven decision-making, continuous improvement, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Partner with the Sr. Manager, Supply Chain Operations, China on workforce planning, talent development, succession planning, organizational priorities, and resource needs.
• Identify and lead procurement process-improvement initiatives that simplify work, improve quality, reduce cycle time, strengthen controls, increase productivity, and enhance stakeholder and supplier experience.
• Partner with the Procurement Center of Excellence and Shared Services to implement and adopt global processes, policy changes, system enhancements, workflow improvements, automation, analytics, and new ways of working.
• Support audit readiness and control effectiveness through control testing, documentation, audit responses, issue remediation, and implementation of sustainable corrective actions.
• Build strong relationships with internal business partners communicate priorities, resolve issues, and improve procurement and customer outcomes.
Required Skills
• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Business, Operations, Finance, or a related field required.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in procurement, purchasing, shared services, or related operational functions.
• 3+ years of experience leading, supervising, coordinating, or formally influencing a procurement operations team in a high-volume, complex, matrixed, regional, or shared-services environment.
• Demonstrated experience in end-to-end procurement operations, including Procure-to-Pay (P2P), requisition-to-purchase-order processes, purchasing execution, supplier coordination, PO management, and operational issue resolution.
• Demonstrated knowledge of procurement policies, approval requirements, internal controls, compliance expectations, process governance, and data-quality requirements.
• Experience working with cross-functional stakeholders, business teams, and internal customers.
• Experience using KPIs, dashboards, root-cause analysis, and operating reviews to improve service, quality, productivity, compliance, supplier performance, and customer outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience leading process improvements, standardization initiatives, system/process changes, workflow improvements, and/or automation opportunities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with the ability to interpret operational data, identify risks and trends, prioritize actions, and drive issues to resolution.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, stakeholder-management, and escalation-management skills.
• Fluency in English, written and spoken.
Desired Skills
• Experience in a regional, multi-country, global, or centralized procurement/shared-services operating environment.
• Experience with SAP/S4HANA, Ariba, PeopleSoft, or comparable ERP and procurement platforms.
• Experience supporting procurement transformation, ERP implementation, system enhancements, process harmonization, workflow automation, or shared-services transitions.
• Experience in a regulated, compliance-intensive, manufacturing, industrial, or complex global business environment.
• Lean Six Sigma, APICS/ASCM, procurement, project-management, or operational-excellence certification.
Corning is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and considers requests for reasonable accommodations in accordance with applicable laws. Individuals with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs may request reasonable accommodations to participate in the application or interview process, perform essential job functions, or access other benefits and privileges of employment. To submit a request for reasonable accommodation related to disability or religion, please contact us at accommodations@corning.com.