The Senior Buyer will use their procurement skills to source, qualify, and develop new and existing suppliers across assigned commodities. Their focus is to ensure optimal pricing and align delivery/quality with business needs. They are expected to be proficient in learning and navigating ERPs, managing supplier and cross-functional relationships, and hold a customer service attitude to support production and sales. Additionally, they are expected to take an active role in teaching these skills and improving internal processes across the organization.
Responsibilities
Create, implement, and maintain strategic sourcing strategies and tactical purchasing for assigned commodity portfolio ranging across mechanical commodities, electronics, composites, or indirect material/services.
Conduct spend analysis, supplier assessment, and supplier selection using landed cost modeling.
Evaluate vendor quotes and prepare structured business award recommendations to internal stakeholders
Purchase and negotiate price, lead time, and net terms for assigned commodities, with a focus on contracts that support long-term supplier collaboration.
Identify and execute areas of opportunity to reduce costs and inventory by negotiating favorable business/service agreements with suppliers (consignment/VMI), value engineering, or purchase price variance.
Negotiate and manage cost models for suppliers (price, volume discounts, commodity cost forecasts and cost drivers, etc.)
Collaborate with Quality to capture appropriate performance measurements (Quality, Cost and Delivery) of supply base and provide timely feedback to assigned suppliers.
Continuously improve vendor and commodity knowledge by visiting current and prospective suppliers
Work with Accounts Payable and vendors to ensure on-time payments.
Qualifications
Bachelor's Degree (Business, Operations, Supply Management or Engineering) preferred or equivalent experience.
7-10 years of experience in Procurement or Supply Chain Management, with industry background in Aerospace, Defense, or other technical applications in high complexity, low volume Manufacturing Operations.
Proficient level of expertise of areas such as commodity markets and RFI/RFQ benchmarking, and familiarity with strategic analysis tools
Must be an ERP Subject matter expert.
Proficient in Excel skills and be able to perform V lookups and create complex pivot tables, charts, and graphs at a minimum
Must have an ability to read and understand technical documents and engineering drawings.
Exceptional negotiation, oral and written communication skills, excellent analytical, planning, and process development skills, strong business judgement, and high level of initiative are all required
Demonstrated ability to articulate logical and persuasive arguments across the organization is required
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Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.
