Global Strategic Buyer & Category Manager

Zeiss Group; Dublin (OH); On-site; USD 77,000 - 96,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Vision

Dental

401k Matching

Employee Assistance Programs

Vacation and sick pay

Job summary

ZEISS in Dublin, CA is seeking a Strategic Buyer / Category Manager to drive category strategies for Electronics, Mechanics, IT Software & Hardware, and more across multiple regions.

You will lead supplier selection, negotiations, and cost models, ensure supply continuity, and collaborate with NPI, manufacturing, quality, and project management teams. Travel up to 20%; English fluency required.

Qualifications

• Three years of purchasing experience in technical categories.
• Strong technical understanding of high-tech systems and complex parts.
• Analytical and financial capability to assess suppliers and total cost of ownership.
• Strong negotiation skills and knowledge of contracts.
• Project-management capability and strategic procurement methods.
• At least one year of SAP experience, preferably in Materials Management, and proficient use of Microsoft Office.
• Structured, data-driven approach to manage large data sets.
• Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, customer-focused mindset.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally (up to 20%).
• English fluency; additional languages such as German, Chinese or Hindi are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement cross-site category strategies across the USA, Germany, UK, Italy, China, and India.
• Manage supplier selection, qualification, and performance to meet requirements for quality, service, delivery, cost, risk, innovation, and capability.
• Ensure supply continuity by monitoring industry trends, assessing supplier and market risks, and initiating mitigation measures that strengthen supply-chain resilience.
• Identify and develop new suppliers and propose alternative materials, technologies, or manufacturing processes to support series production and NPI projects.
• Lead national and international commercial and contractual negotiations, and resolve supplier discrepancies relating to quality, delivery, price, or service.
• Develop and apply product cost-driver and total-cost models to benchmark, evaluate, and negotiate prices and deliver agreed savings targets.
• Ensure purchased-product costs, source data, and outline agreements are accurately established and maintained in SAP.
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives and contribute to standardized procurement policies, procedures, KPIs, materials-management systems, and digital tools.
• Collaborate closely with operational procurement, NPI project buying, manufacturing, quality, project management, and other business partners to implement category strategies and supporting programs.
• Build strong supplier and internal stakeholder relationships and communicate effectively with ZEISS leaders at all organizational levels.

Skills

Negotiation

Analytical thinking

Data-driven

Stakeholder management

MS Office

SAP experience

English fluency

Tools

SAP

Microsoft Office

Job description

ZEISS in Dublin, CA is seeking a Strategic Buyer / Category Manager to drive category strategies for Electronics, Mechanics, IT Software & Hardware, and more across multiple regions.

You will lead supplier selection, negotiations, and cost models, ensure supply continuity, and collaborate with NPI, manufacturing, quality, and project management teams. Travel up to 20%; English fluency required.