Sr. Buyer

Solar Turbines; Tijuana; Presencial; USD 40,000 - 80,000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Buyer to manage supplier relationships and procurement processes. This role involves strategic supplier management, contract negotiation, and cost management, ensuring compliance with corporate policies. You'll work in a dynamic environment, collaborating with various teams to achieve organizational objectives. Ideal candidates will possess strong analytical skills, a Bachelor's degree, and experience in purchasing. Join a company that values innovation and teamwork, where your contributions will help shape a sustainable future.

Formación

• 1-3 years of purchasing experience or equivalent.
• Fluent in Business English, both written and oral.

Responsabilidades

• Manage supplier relationships and performance metrics.
• Develop and maintain procurement processes and strategies.

Conocimientos

Purchasing Experience

Supplier Management

Negotiation Skills

Cost Management

Analytical Skills

Educación

Bachelor’s Degree

Master’s Degree (Preferred)

Herramientas

ERP Software

MS Office Suite

Cognos

Windchill

Descripción del empleo

Career Area:

Procurement

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you'rejoining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don'tjust talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Position Objective

This position is responsible for day-to-day and strategic supplier management including, but not limited to: purchase order placement, follow-up, issue resolution, communication of demand and forecasts, preparing contracts, negotiating contract terms, providing solutions to a wide range of issues, managing supplier relationships and performance metrics, facilitating communications and mitigating risk that could impact Solar’s ability to meet the business plan.

Nature and Scope

This position acts with a sense of urgency and is diligent in providing timely support to internal clients and external customers. This individual operates in compliance with corporate and Supply Chain policies and procedures and continuously practices and demonstrates Safety and acts in adherence to Our Values in Action. A Senior Buyer may manage relationships of some non-strategic suppliers but will predominately oversee strategic or complex suppliers. This individual has no direct reports but works within a team structure typically including a Sourcing Specialist, Supply Chain Coordinator/Planner, Supplier Technical Engineer and reports directly to a Supply Chain Manager. There is an expectation to participate and possibly lead projects from conception to maturity that directly support organizational objectives. The work environment is mostly office based however, this position may visit internal production areas as well as external supplier sites, which may involve domestic and/or international travel. The decisions that are made by the Senior Buyer will be based on: Supply Chain Management and/or Sourcing Specialist direction, Our Values in Action, Worldwide Procedures, Solar Policies, Quality Management System, other process documentation, Import/Export compliance guidelines as well as adherence to State, Federal, and international regulations. Failure to achieve results or making erroneous decisions or recommendations, could result in legal issues, production delays, impact to supplier relationships and/or the allocation of additional resources.

The primary functions of the job include but are not limited to:

Supply Chain Management –

- Applies advanced Supply Chain knowledge to manage processes, establish policies, and develop value-adding strategies.

- Develops and maintains relationships with internal clients and supplier executives functioning as the Supply Chain and Solar ambassador.

- Monitors and manages ownership of risk from financial, business continuation, and compliance perspectives.

- Ensures procurement processes meets audit, regulatory, and legal standards.

Contract Management –

• Develops agreements that align with sourcing strategies. Utilizes appropriate standard Solar contracts and templates with legal review, as required.
• Identifies and balances key risks at all stages. Integral in tracking contract execution, leading contract teams, closing contracts, and enforcing any applicable rights beyond contract completion. Works closely with users defining supplier performance measurements and reporting frameworks.
• Manages the transition process when changing contracted suppliers.
• Leads commercial negotiations and is accountable for contract execution and maintenance (NDA’s, GP’s, PSAs, JDAs, etc).

Negotiation –

• Creates negotiation strategies based on thorough knowledge of business requirements.
• Communicates negotiation strategies and parameters to negotiating team and defines roles.
• Able to ethically execute negotiation strategy for low criticality/low complexity items displaying varied negotiation techniques to achieve best results.
• Identifies and resolves areas of risk.

Supplier Selection & Management –

• Manages relationship of moderately complex suppliers.
• Drives cost management through identifying and implementing opportunities for cost reduction, utilizes cost modeling techniques, and analyzing TCO to ensure the best overall value to Solar.
• Manages and maintains the Supplier relationship at a day-to-day and strategic level. Day-to-day activities include purchase order issuance and maintenance, grief resolution, and business review meetings. Strategic activities include working with the Supply Chain Leadership and/or Sourcing Specialist to define the buyer-supplier relationship that determines as well as executes the strategic direction (Hold, Grow, Consolidate, Exit).
• Supports NPI, global strategic sourcing, and Supplier selection to ensure flexible capacity and consistent supply from qualified suppliers to support business objectives.

Cost Management –

• Applies business strategies to daily activities, contributes to make-buy decisions, identifies market opportunities, gaps and trends.
• Understands, applies and coaches others in building and analyzing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models.

Purchasing Execution –

• Resolves highly complex purchasing related grief issues with minimal assistance.
• Develops, recommends, and provides training & mentorship around purchasing processes, process changes and tools.
• Develops a network that allows the Senior Buyer to leverage internal and external relationships to continuously improve responsiveness & service levels.
• Initiates and promotes cross functional teaming in Supplier development, problem resolution, and continuous improvement efforts.
• Executes risk mitigation strategies to avoid Supply Chain disruption.
• Validates data integrity, identifies data gaps, and updates & corrects system data.
• Effectively evaluates, improves, and sustains supplier performance, including but not limited to: Quality, Cost, Delivery, Lead-time, Bid & Proposal Turn-times, Project & Field Support, etc.

Primary Challenges of Position Include:

• Making sound decisions with the Business’ best interest in mind and knowing the impact decisions will have on organizational objectives.
• Improving and sustaining supplier performance with regards to Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Field Support (when required).
• Achieving business commercial objectives where minimal supplier leverage exists.
• Management of critical supplier contract development and execution.
• Concurrently managing multiple critical priorities.
• Building relationships inside and outside of the Global Supply Chain Organization; influencing, persuading, and collaborating with others in order to support business objectives.

Position could use all or any of the following tools: ERP software, Windchill, Cognos (or other analytical tool), MS Office Suite, Lotus Notes or Outlook, Sourcing Tools, Virtual Conferencing (WebEx / Skype), industry research tools and codes, cost analysis and make/buy decision tools, supplier financial health reporting (D&B, 10-k, 10-Q, etc), travel expense reporting tools.

Interpersonal and Analytical Skills

• Well-developed interpersonal skills are required in dealing with sensitive issues and reaching consensus on specific actions.
• Capability to influence and persuade Suppliers and internal clients to effective solutions.
• Ability to build constructive and inclusive business relationships.
• Demonstrates responsiveness and acts with a sense of urgency.
• Ability to lead teams, coach, mentor, as well as provide and accept constructive criticism.
• Effective communicator in written and oral form.
• Dedicated to meeting and exceeding the expectations of external customers and internal clients.
• Ability to cope with change effectively and adjust to accommodate the unknown or unproven.
• Capable of setting priorities to support business requirements; can sense what will help or hinder achieving a goal, eliminates roadblocks, and creates focus.
• Holds self and others accountable to commitments in support of business objectives.
• Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems.
• Can unearth root cause to assess risk to the business and develop business continuation plans.

Required Qualifications

• The position requires a Bachelor’s degree (or willingness obtain degree) with 1-3 years of purchasing experience or equivalent experience in similar business role
• Experience with ERP software and proficient with MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio)
• Fluent in Business English in written and oral form

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Supply Chain or other related field.
• Supply Chain Certification from a professional institution (APICS, IIPMR, ISCEA, ISM, etc)
• Understanding and demonstration of 6-Sigma and Lean Manufacturing principles.
• 6-Sigma Blackbelt Certification

Posting Dates:

May 8, 2025 - May 16, 2025

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO).

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