Senior Counsel, Procurement

Location

This U.S.-based role operates in a hybrid work arrangement located in Kingsport, TN.

Responsibilities

The Senior Counsel, Commercial (Procurement) will serve as Eastman’s primary global legal partner for procurement and sourcing matters, providing senior legal leadership across the full procurement spectrum while helping shape Eastman’s procurement contracting strategy, governance framework, and contracting transformation roadmap. Reporting to the VP, Corporate and Commercial Legal, this role will provide practical, business-oriented legal support across supplier contracting for chemicals, energy, raw materials, capital projects, site services, logistics, contractor services, consulting, technology-enabled procurement, and related supplier arrangements.

This is a senior, high-impact role for an experienced attorney who can independently advise procurement and business leaders, manage complex contract and supplier risk, and provide clear guidance on matters with operational, financial, or enterprise-level significance. This role will also play a key leadership role in shaping procurement contracting strategy, process modernization, governance, and adoption of scalable contracting solutions across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities
•    Procurement and Supplier Contracting: Lead legal support for complex procurement and sourcing matters across direct and indirect materials, capital projects, logistics, contractor and consulting services, and other supplier arrangements. Draft, review, and negotiate procurement agreements and provide practical legal advice that balances risk, operational needs, cost, and business objectives.
•    Direct Procurement, Capital Projects, and Supply Risk: Advise on key supply arrangements, capital procurement, construction, maintenance, contractor relationships, supply continuity risks, allocation concerns, change notification issues, warranties, insurance, indemnities, and dispute positioning. Help procurement and business leaders identify legal risk early, evaluate practical options, and escalate significant matters appropriately, including where supplier performance may affect operations or customer commitments.
•    Supplier Disputes and Claims Management: Manage and help resolve supplier, contractor, logistics, and procurement-related disputes before escalation to litigation. Partner with business teams to preserve value, reduce disruption, and document outcomes.
•    Procurement Governance and Process Improvement: Serve as a strategic legal leader in modernizing Eastman’s procurement contracting ecosystem. Partner with Procurement, Legal Operations, Finance, Risk, Compliance, and IT to design and implement scalable contracting processes, governance frameworks, approval workflows, templates, clause libraries, and enabling technologies that improve speed, consistency, risk management, and user experience. Lead and partner with Procurement team in adoption and change-management efforts associated with procurement contracting transformation initiatives.
•    Cross-Functional Counseling and Executive Support: Serve as a trusted legal advisor on procurement strategy, contract risk, negotiation strategy, supplier escalation, governance matters, and executive communications. Guide senior leaders regarding procurement risk and contracting decisions with enterprise-wide implications.
•    Outside Counsel and Legal Spend Management: Manage outside counsel on assigned procurement matters, including strategy, work quality, budgets, and alignment with Eastman objectives.
•    Training, Knowledge Sharing, and Legal Technology: Develop and deliver training, negotiation frameworks, playbooks, and procurement contracting standards. Support legal technology, AI-enabled tools, contract lifecycle management systems, and knowledge resources that improve speed, consistency, and scalability.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
•    Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
•    Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
•    Typically 10+ years of progressively responsible legal experience, including substantial experience advising on complex procurement, sourcing, supply chain, logistics, construction, technology, or commercial contracting matters.
•    Demonstrated ability to independently negotiate and manage complex commercial or procurement agreements and enterprise risk matters.
•    Meaningful experience leading major contracting initiatives, governance programs, process improvements, or business transformation efforts.
•    Experience advising business stakeholders on contract risk, supplier relationships, dispute resolution, and commercial tradeoffs.
•    Strong judgment, writing, analytical, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
•    Ability to manage multiple concurrent matters under time-sensitive conditions while maintaining confidentiality, professionalism, and a business-practical mindset.
•    Prior experience coaching, developing, or supervising others is highly valued.

Preferred Qualifications
•    Prior in-house experience or comparable law firm experience supporting multinational manufacturing, industrial, chemical, energy, or supply-chain-intensive environment.
•    Experience modernizing contract templates, playbooks, approval matrices, CLM systems, or contracting processes.
•    Experience leading cross-functional process improvement and change-management initiatives.