Interim Product, Sourcing, & Supply Chain Consultant
We have partnered with our client in their search for an Interim Product, Sourcing, & Supply Chain Consultant to lead a hands-on transformation for an entrepreneurial automotive products distributor. This leader will combine product strategy and development, strategic sourcing, supply chain execution, inventory planning, and commercial analysis. This role is hybrid, with some onsite as needed in Sarasota, FL (client will pay for travel).
This is an execution-led assignment, not an assessment-only advisory engagement. The successful consultant will diagnose root causes, implement practical improvements alongside the existing team, and establish repeatable operating disciplines that support product availability, profitability, and responsible working-capital management without adding unnecessary overhead.
Key Responsibilities
- Define distinct strategies for replica and aftermarket product categories, including what to develop, when to develop it, and the commercial rationale.
- Use market demand, vehicle fitment, wheel sizes and finishes, competitor offerings, and commercial potential to prioritize the portfolio and establish a continuous development pipeline.
- Translate product priorities into actionable briefs, design and development stage gates, launch-readiness criteria, and lifecycle decisions.
- Expand and diversify product design capacity while coordinating product, wholesale sales, and marketing activities to support repeatable, commercially relevant launches.
- Strengthen international supplier selection, due diligence, contracting, and accountability across quality, cost, delivery, and financial stability.
- Validate supplier ownership structures and intermediary or manufacturer relationships.
- Partner with finance and appropriate legal resources to evaluate prepayment exposure, contractual protections, sourcing diversification, and tariff implications.
- Implement supplier scorecards, recovery plans, and escalation routines.
- Improve visibility into production milestones, development timelines, lead-time assumptions, and incoming inventory.
- Address immediate supply-continuity risks while building sustainable supplier-management processes.
- Establish practical demand forecasting, production planning, minimum and maximum inventory levels, safety-stock logic, and replenishment routines.
- Balance service levels, inventory turnover, product profitability, cash availability, credit capacity, and storage constraints.
- Connect inbound supply decisions with accounting and operational planning.
- Develop a product-level profitability view that links retail and wholesale pricing, purchase and landed costs, competitive positioning, and product margins.
- Recommend transparent, data-supported tradeoffs rather than pursuing volume growth or inventory accumulation alone.
- Clarify functional responsibilities, decision rights, process ownership, and cross-functional communication.
- Assess process and role capacity without evaluating individual employee performance.
- Coach the team in the adoption of SOPs, KPIs, escalation paths, and issue-closure routines.
- Evaluate existing resources and operating capacity before recommending additional headcount or overhead.
Initial Assignment Deliverables
The initial scope will be prioritized with the assignment sponsor following access to relevant data and completion of a baseline review. Expected deliverables include:
- A validated diagnostic and prioritized execution roadmap, including immediate supply and prepayment risk controls, accountable owners, dependencies, and practical resource requirements.
- A prioritized product pipeline supported by market and vehicle-fitment analysis.
- A documented product-development stage-gate and launch process.
- A plan for diversifying product design capacity.
- A product-level pricing and profitability framework.
- Supplier scorecards, recovery processes, and escalation routines.
- A demand, inventory, and working-capital operating rhythm with documented assumptions and baseline KPIs.
- Cross-functional planning and review routines.
- Adopted SOPs and a documented role and decision-rights map.
- An evidence-based future leadership or hiring brief, if additional resources are justified.
- A practical transition and handoff plan for the continuing team.
Required Qualifications
- Senior operating practitioner who has personally led both physical-product strategy, design, and development and strategic sourcing and supply chain execution.
- Experience operating in entrepreneurial distribution, imported physical products, or comparably lean business environments.
- Demonstrated success working with small teams, limited infrastructure, and constrained overhead.
- Direct experience conducting international supplier due diligence and negotiations.
- Strong command of supplier accountability, inventory planning, demand forecasting, and replenishment disciplines.
- Ability to evaluate financial tradeoffs involving margins, service levels, inventory, cash, and working capital.
- Ability to turn incomplete or imperfect data into transparent decisions, practical controls, and actionable operating plans.
- Familiarity with automotive aftermarket products, vehicle fitment considerations, product sizing and finish decisions, or comparable configurable physical-product categories.
- Implementation-oriented leadership style with a willingness to work alongside the team, resolve issues, and build cross-functional trust.
- Evidence of creating sustainable processes and successfully transitioning ownership to an internal team.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to establish clear ownership, operating expectations, and decision rights.
About Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry unleashes potential in people, teams, and organizations. We work with our clients to design optimal organization structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward and motivate their workforce while developing professionals as they navigate and advance their careers. To learn more, please visit Korn Ferry at www.Kornferry.com
