Buyer

Summary

The Buyer is an individual contributor role responsible for interacting with our suppliers and internal customers, to guarantee a smooth flow of materials and services into the organization, respond effectively to critical supply issues, keep our end-users informed of changes, and negotiate and monitor supply prices. The Buyer is assigned procurement responsibilities for assigned commodities and services to achieve the correct quality and delivery at the lowest total ownership cost. The Buyer is responsible to work with the Procurement Category Management associates to ensure proper vendor selection, sourcing, and accurate, timely transaction processing & problem resolution. In addition, the Buyer manages operational transactions and follows up on daily issues.
This role is accountable for all aspects of department performance including Safety & Environment, Quality, Reliability, Production, and Productivity

Essential Functions

• Match requisitioner’s needs with commodity and supplier capabilities.
• Identify and consolidate requisitioned requirements on Purchase Orders.
• Ensure appropriate price level, delivery lead time and mode of transportation is used for purchased commodities or services.
• Convert Requisitions to Purchase Orders and expedite as needed.
• Follow up on all late deliveries and communicate changes to internal stakeholders.
• Communicate all relevant known changes to Purchase Orders to the supplier and the internal customer
• Work with supplier and A/P to resolve SAP PO receiving & invoicing issues.
• Comply with all relevant Financial Key Controls related to GR/IR, blocked invoice, and Moving Average Price discrepancies.
• Create and maintain relevant master data such as purchasing views, info records, and source lists.

Additional Duties/Responsibilities

• Assist and support Category Manager in the execution of category strategies.
• Work cross-functionally with finance, receiving and stock to solve issues as “One Team”.
• Coach and mentor fellow co-workers to help each other develop personally and professionally.

Skills

• SAP - Intermediate level of understanding of key SAP modules (such as PM, MM, FI and Procurement Module) and a basic understanding of the linkages between modules. Ability to pull data/reports related to spend, PO details, pricing, etc. Resolve MAP discrepancies.
• Self-Motivation - Ability to set daily, weekly and monthly work goals for oneself and executes against them measuring results and adjusting as necessary.
• Decision-Making - Ability to understand and convert supplier issues or customer critical requirements into business decisions. Utilizing this knowledge to manage sourcing events, communicate with suppliers, and stakeholders.
• Multi-Tasking - Ability to handle a fast-paced work environment with a often heavy workload where focus, attention to details and accuracy are critical. The ability to manage and prioritize a large volume of incoming email daily is critical to success in this role.
• Category Knowledge – Develops a general understanding of assigned categories in support of the Category Manager and works together to implement category strategies.
• Systems Agility - Skilled in using multiple software systems linked to procurement buy channels or workflows to understand spend and supplier analytics.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, Office365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, etc.

Behaviors

• Negotiating - Expands the review of a purchase order beyond the order itself and starts to look at the delivery terms (based on a solid understanding of INCOTERMS) as well as being familiar with the details / composition of what is being ordered to help challenge pricing where appropriate. Understands where the services or materials being purchased fall within their respective supply chains.
• Functional / Technical Expertise - Intermediate knowledge of the PtP workflows and processes, the SAP Procurement module and associated reporting. Awareness and working knowledge of the linkages between SAP modules and impact of data changes.
• Informing - Information sharing is expanded beyond the requisitioner based on a working knowledge of the supply chain. Regular communication with the category manager, logistics planner / schedulers and potentially with operations leaders happens more frequently.
• Self-Development - Focus is on transactional accuracy and making decisions based on previous purchase data, quotation and requisitioner information.

Required Work Experience

• Minimum 3 years of relevant business experience. (Procurement, Accounting / Finance, Customer Service or Supply Chain)
• Knowledge of manufacturing process and/or critical supply chains for business.

Minimum Required Education/Certification

• Bachelor's Degree Required (in Business, Supply Chain or STEM)
• Familiarity working within SAP S4/HANA a Plus