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Business Management and Operations | Director of Supply Chain

Director of Supply Chain

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Director of Supply Chain directs supply chain functions including logistics, materials, purchasing, distribution and inventory management. Develops and implements strategies for improving these functions and oversees operations. Looks for ways to streamline production, purchasing, warehousing and distribution and implement cost savings

Job Outlook

There were 265 Director of Supply Chain job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 7444 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Supply Chain / Logistics Manager industry, which includes the Director of Supply Chain career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Director of Supply Chain jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $183,166.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $180,383.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Supply Chain postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $161,031.

Education and Experience

Posted Director of Supply Chain jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree81.29%
Master's Degree46.24%
Doctoral Degree1.84%
Other4.37%

Posted Director of Supply Chain jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years0.68%
3 to 5 years20.73%
6 to 8 years26.41%
9+ years52.19%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Supply Chain positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Leadership (81.39%)
  • Management (65.69%)
  • Operations (65.42%)
  • Communication (58.68%)
  • Planning (49.95%)
  • Problem Solving (36.38%)
  • Customer Service (27.73%)
  • Innovation (27.73%)
  • Influencing Skills (26.14%)
  • Negotiation (24.58%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Supply Chain Management (44.67%)
  • Purchasing (26.71%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (28.41%)
  • Inventory Management (29.74%)
  • Procurement (39.09%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (39.87%)
  • Supply Chain (97.38%)
  • Supply Chain Strategy (23%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Supply Chain Acumen (16%)
  • Process Improvement (23.11%)
  • Supplier Performance Management (12.81%)
  • Supplier Relationship Management (9.9%)
  • Stakeholder Management (4.65%)
  • Business Strategies (8.91%)
  • Strategic Sourcing (8.33%)
  • Sales Inventory And Operations Planning (4.48%)
  • SAP Applications (11.93%)
  • Performance Metric (9.86%)
  • Pharmaceuticals (8.99%)
  • Operational Excellence (9.63%)
  • Operations Management (6.9%)
  • New Product Development (16.49%)
  • Risk Management (10.17%)
  • Supply And Demand (9.13%)
  • Materials Management (9.02%)
  • Project Management (30.56%)
  • Lean Manufacturing (15.9%)
  • Inventory Control (10.88%)
  • Marketing (10.23%)
  • Warehousing (10.97%)
  • Performance Management (9.17%)
  • Enterprise Resource Planning (11.18%)
  • Finance (29.78%)
  • Demand Forecasting (8.2%)
  • Cost Reduction (8.78%)
  • Change Management (14.41%)
  • Business Process (11.46%)
  • Business Requirements (6.9%)
  • Capacity Planning (6.44%)
  • Automation (8.76%)
  • Business Development (6.75%)
  • Data Analysis (16.13%)
  • Auditing (10.71%)
  • Accounting (9.17%)
  • Logistics (11.54%)
  • Production Planning (8.59%)
  • Third-Party Logistics (4.18%)
  • Six Sigma Methodology (6.9%)
  • Thought Leadership (10.5%)
  • Supply Chain Optimization (8.02%)
  • Supply Chain Planning (20.18%)
  • Demand Planning (15.1%)
  • Procurement Strategy (3.15%)
  • Operational Efficiency (7.24%)
  • Supplier Management (11.46%)
  • Business Metrics (9.06%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Supply Chain Network (5.57%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Supply Chain skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Director of Supply Chain Operations
  • Supply Chain Manager
  • Supply Chain Associate Director
  • Director of Supply Chain Management
  • Sourcing Leader
  • Director of Supply Chain Planning
  • Director of Supply Chain Solutions
  • Director of Global Supply Chain
  • Transformation Lead

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Supply Chain jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • GE Aerospace (399)
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (237)
  • Johnson & Johnson (194)
  • Huron Consulting Group (116)
  • Celestica (111)
  • Haleon (100)
  • Intermountain Health (98)
  • Cardinal Health (97)
  • HCA Healthcare (96)
  • Albany Medical Center (85)

North Carolina

  • GE Aerospace (12)
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (11)
  • GlaxoSmithKline (8)
  • Honeywell International (7)
  • Celestica (6)
  • Lowe's (6)
  • Merck & Co. (6)
  • Aston Carter (5)
  • Duke University (5)
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (4)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.