Buyer

Position Summary:

We are seeking a driven and detail-oriented Buyer to support procurement, supply planning, and supplier management activities in a fast-paced, global environment. This role is responsible for ensuring material availability, optimizing supplier performance, and contributing to cost and service improvements that support overall business objectives.

The Buyer will partner cross-functionally with operations, engineering, and quality teams while proactively managing supplier relationships to meet delivery, quality, and cost targets. This is a hybrid role requiring onsite work three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).

Responsibilities and Essential Functions:

• Procure supplies, materials, services, and equipment to ensure on-time delivery aligned with production requirements
• Place, maintain, and update purchase orders to support continuity of supply and prevent backorders or stockouts
• Plan, schedule, and monitor the movement of materials through the fulfillment cycle
• Identify and communicate potential material shortages and implement mitigation plans
• Ensure suppliers have complete and accurate product information to meet quality and delivery requirements
• Monitor and manage supplier performance using key metrics (OTD, COT, lead time, capacity, safety stock), develop corrective actions, and deliver supplier scorecards
• Track order fulfillment performance, assign root causes for failures, and drive continuous improvement for assigned commodities
• Monitor internal min/max levels and vendor safety stock to optimize inventory turns while ensuring material availability
• Review and manage daily supply chain exceptions including shortages, backorders, late shipments/receipts, excess inventory, and master data discrepancies
• Track and resolve supplier-related issues including MRB items, non-conformances, and cost recovery actions
• Conduct regular supplier reviews to evaluate forecasts, capacity commitments, and risk mitigation plans to maintain demand-supply balance
• Partner cross-functionally to support inventory planning, forecasting, and production requirements
• Manage engineering change orders (ECOs) and ensure effective material transitions
• Drive cost improvement initiatives, including PPV and supplier/part transitions
• Own and report on procurement KPIs for assigned suppliers and commodities
• Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications, Skills and Education:

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of experience in procurement, purchasing, or supply chain roles

• Knowledge of materials requirement planning (MRP), inventory control techniques, forecasting, and production planning
• Understanding of cost/price analysis, standard costing, and production processes (internal and supplier-side)
• Experience with supplier kanban, safety stock programs, lead time reduction, and vendor-managed inventory (VMI/VOI)
• Experience managing a global supply chain, preferably including Asia and/or Mexico, with exposure to Just-in-Time (JIT) principles
• Proficiency in Excel for data analysis (e.g., pivot tables, lookups, and working with large datasets)
• Experience using data and KPIs (e.g., OTD, COT, inventory levels) to identify root causes of supply or performance issues and implement improvements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional certifications such as CPM, CPSM, or APICS
• Experience in the office furniture or manufacturing industry
• Experience in textile or fabric procurement and supplier management
• Bilingual skills (Mandarin or Spanish)

Why This Role

• Opportunity to make a direct impact on supply chain performance and business results
• Collaborative, cross-functional environment
• Exposure to global supplier networks and strategic sourcing initiatives