Senior Buyer, FGO, Global Procurement Center

The Senior Buyer steps into a more strategic role, continuing to perform tactical purchasing activities while also taking the lead on addressing product availability issues and long-term supply constraint challenges. Regular interaction with suppliers is the key to ensure the right amount of goods or materials are procured, as well as to mitigate any adjustments based on weekly planning reviews. The Senior Buyer is responsible for driving initiatives with suppliers to resolve or escalate issues when necessary, utilizing their maturity and experience in the field to create lasting solutions. The role operates in conjunction with Supply Planners, Production Schedulers, Sourcing, Customer Service, Incoming Inspection, and Accounts Payable teams.

What you will do:

• Maintain master data set up in the transactional systems, including e.g., but not limited to: supplier lead time, lot size and buyer purchasing group.
• Communicate forecast requirements to suppliers based on information from production schedulers and supply planning.
• Ensure all POs are placed according to the rules and execute Order Confirmation from supplier. 
• Act as the first line of contact with suppliers and provide information based on the current supply requirement.
• First point of escalation for supplier issues, supports Associate Buyers and Buyers.
• Prepare reports.
• Represents purchasing function at meetings.  
• Coordinates tracing and managing KPIs and metrics, including on time and in full delivery (OTIF), material lead time compliance, PO compression days, past due invoices and POs for the team, etc.
• Identify gaps and opportunities and lead continuous improvement projects both externally with the supplier and internally within the purchasing function and with key stakeholders and supportive functions.
• Responsibilities include initiating innovative projects, monitoring their results and optimizing operational processes.
• Involvement in projects.
• Serve as subject matter expert in purchasing activities and systems. Train and mentor other team members as needed to ensure customer needs are met.
• Demonstrate acumen towards cost, cash flow and risk and problem solving independently to support business needs.
• Review of back order and safety stock health in order to manage deliveries from suppliers.
• Point of contact for Accounts Payable for invoice resolution: price mismatch, quantity mismatch etc.
• Other activities indicated by supervisor.

What you need:

Required:

• Master's degree level in Business/Engineering/Supply Chain management or equivalent.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in Purchasing, Procurement, or Manufacturing.  
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• Very good knowledge of MS Office: Excel, PowerPoint & Word.
• Previous experience in supplier relationship management.
• Good communicator & problem solver.
• Ability to train & mentor more junior team members whenever appropriate.
• The candidate should have proven experience working in a dynamic environment, demonstrate analytical thinking and the ability to adapt quickly to change.

Preferred:

• Experience with ERP systems i.e., SAP, Oracle, JDE.
• Previous experience in medical devices or other regulated industry.
• Knowledge of continuous improvement methodologies & cost reduction methodologies.
• Experience in Project Management
• A second language (French, German or Chinese) may be as an asset, depending on the supplier base.
• Minimum basic experience with AI tools i.e. ChatGPT, Cloud.