Procurement Strategic Buyer

Essential Functions / Responsibilities

· Support procurement activities across direct materials, indirect materials, and services for manufacturing plants and corporate functions.

· Manage electronic requisitions and purchase orders, ensuring appropriate business justification, budget alignment, supplier rationale, and compliance with purchasing controls.

· Coordinate replenishment requirements, blanket purchase order releases, and approved sourcing activities to support uninterrupted operations.

· Aggregate demand and support competitive requests for quotation (RFQs), negotiations, and sourcing initiatives in partnership with Category Managers.

· Analyze total cost of ownership, specifications, pricing, lead times, inventory impacts, and commercial terms to support purchasing decisions.

· Partner with business owners, Planning, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Finance, Accounts Payable, Legal, Human Resources, and Information Technology teams to clarify requirements and resolve supply-related issues.

· Coordinate supplier onboarding activities, qualification requirements, compliance reviews, and approval workflows in accordance with established processes.

· Administer contract metadata, renewal schedules, scopes of work, approved catalogs, and supplier documentation while ensuring required approvals are obtained.

· Coordinate contract review and approval processes for applicable agreements and ensure compliance with authorized spending and signature requirements.

· Support supplier performance management through monitoring of quality, delivery, service, responsiveness, and cost metrics.

· Maintain audit-ready procurement documentation, approvals, and purchasing records while identifying and escalating policy deviations or noncompliant spending.

· Escalate critical supply, safety, regulatory, or operational issues through appropriate channels and support corrective actions and follow-up activities.

· Analyze spend, supplier performance, contract utilization, and purchasing trends to identify opportunities for savings, standardization, and improved value.

· Monitor procurement performance metrics including requisition-to-purchase-order cycle time, contract adoption, supplier service levels, inventory support, and data quality.

· Recommend process improvements that enhance procurement effectiveness, compliance, accuracy, and stakeholder service.

· Ensure full-time attendance, exhibit professionalism with business associates, and align daily actions with organizational values.

· Performs all other duties as assigned.

Work Experience

· Professional experience: 3–5 years of procurement or purchasing experience supporting manufacturing and corporate stakeholders across multiple spend categories, including sourcing support, requisition-to-purchase-order execution, supplier coordination, and contract administration.

· People-management experience: Not applicable.

KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

· Knowledge of procurement, sourcing, purchasing, supply chain, and contract-administration principles.

· Knowledge of direct-material procurement and indirect goods and services purchasing practices.

· Skill in analyzing supplier pricing, commercial terms, total cost of ownership, spend data, and procurement performance metrics.

· Ability to support sourcing initiatives, supplier evaluations, and implementation of approved category strategies.

· Ability to manage requisitions, purchase orders, supplier coordination activities, and purchasing documentation with accuracy and timeliness.

· Proficiency with enterprise resource planning (ERP) purchasing systems, Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint.

· Ability to build productive working relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and cross-functional partners.

· Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present findings and recommendations clearly.

· Ability to prioritize multiple procurement activities, deadlines, and stakeholder requirements in a dynamic environment.

· Strong attention to detail, integrity, sound judgment, and commitment to compliance and continuous improvement.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, or a related field preferred.

Licenses and Certifications

None required.

Physical Requirements

Ability to perform work in a standard office environment, including prolonged periods of sitting, computer use, communication with internal and external stakeholders, and occasional visits to manufacturing facilities. Additional requirements: [To confirm].

Work Environment

Combination of office-based, manufacturing plant, and corporate work environments. Specific work-setting requirements: [To confirm].

Travel

Travel to manufacturing sites, corporate offices, and supplier locations 30% minimum, with additional travel based on business needs.