Senior Buyer
Optimal Balance Pharmacy
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Job summary
Optimal Balance Pharmacy is seeking a Senior Buyer to own procurement, inventory planning, and supplier coordination across our nationwide compounding operations. The role emphasizes anticipating demand, ensuring material availability, and mitigating supply risks to keep production running smoothly.
You will work closely with Production, Quality, and Finance teams to optimize inventory levels, lead times, and supplier performance in a fast-growing, regulated environment.
Qualifications
- 3+ years in procurement, purchasing, inventory, or planning roles.
- Experience in pharmaceutical, compounding, healthcare, or regulated environments preferred.
- Strong purchasing and inventory-management knowledge.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems.
- Strong analytical and Excel/data-analysis capabilities.
- Vendor management and negotiating commercial terms.
- Ability to analyze consumption, lead times, and purchasing requirements.
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-growing environment with changing priorities.
- Strong cross-functional communication skills.
Responsibilities
- Own procurement of APIs, excipients, components, packaging, and lab supplies.
- Manage purchase orders from creation through receipt and resolution.
- Develop supplier relationships and identify alternative sources.
- Negotiate pricing, lead times, MOQs, payment terms, and other terms.
- Track orders and resolve delays, shortages, and backorders.
- Reduce purchasing costs without compromising quality.
- Maintain supplier data, pricing, and lead times in systems.
- Maintain inventory levels based on demand and production needs.
- Coordinate sourcing for new products and launches.
- Provide visibility into supply risks and recommended actions.
Skills
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Job description
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All Full Time Houston, TX, US
This is an opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the purchasing and material-planning function within one of the fastest-growing compounding pharmacies in the country.
Over the past few years, we have grown from a local compounding pharmacy into one of the fastest-growing national compounding operations in the country.
Today, Optimal Balance Pharmacy has over 200employees, is licensed in 35 states with additional states in process, supports a nationwide sales organization of more than70 sales representatives working directly with physicians and medical practices, and offers more
Our ambition is to build Optimal Balance into one of the largest and most recognized compounding pharmacy brands in the country. Reaching that level will require an entirely new level of operational infrastructure, leadership, technology and discipline.
We are looking for an experienced Buyer / Procurement Planner who will take ownership of purchasing, material availability, inventory planning, and supplier coordination across our pharmacy operations.
This is not simply a purchase-order processing position.
The person in this role will be expected to understand our production needs, anticipate demand, identify supply risks before they affect operations, and ensure our compounding teams have the materials and supplies they need to meet production requirements.
- Purchase APIs, excipients, components, packaging materials, laboratory supplies, operational supplies, and other materials required by the pharmacy
- Manage purchase orders from creation through receipt and resolution
- Develop strong working relationships with existing suppliers while identifying qualified alternative sources
- Negotiate pricing, lead times, minimum order quantities, payment terms, and other commercial terms
- Track outstanding orders and aggressively resolve delays, shortages, backorders, and discrepancies
- Identify opportunities to reduce purchasing costs without compromising quality or reliability
- Maintain accurate supplier, pricing, lead-time, and purchasing information within company systems
- Maintain appropriate inventory levels based on prescription volume, production requirements, supplier lead times, and expected demand
- Establish and continuously improve reorder points, minimum/maximum inventory levels, safety stock, and purchasing quantities
- Analyze historical usage and current demand to anticipate future material requirements
- Identify potential shortages before they disrupt compounding or fulfillment
- Monitor slow-moving and aging inventory to minimize expiration, waste, and unnecessary working capital
- Partner with inventory and receiving teams to investigate and resolve inventory discrepancies
- Develop contingency plans for critical materials with long lead times or limited supplier availability
- Work closely with compounding leadership to understand upcoming production requirements
- Translate prescription and production volume into material purchasing requirements
- Ensure materials are available before scheduled production begins
- Identify supply constraints that could prevent the pharmacy from meeting production goals
- Support new compound and product launches by coordinating sourcing, purchasing, lead times, and initial inventory requirements
- Adjust purchasing plans as prescription volume and product demand change
- Work closely with Quality and Compliance when onboarding or changing suppliers
- Purchase materials only from approved and appropriately qualified suppliers
- Maintain complete and accurate purchasing and supplier documentation
- Support traceability of APIs, excipients, components, and other materials
- Assist with documentation requests related to audits, inspections, investigations, recalls, and supplier issues
Develop and maintain reporting around:
- Critical shortages
- Open purchase orders
- Supplier lead times
- Inventory levels
- Inventory turns
- Stockouts
- Purchase-price variance
- Cost savings
Provide leadership with visibility into current supply risks and recommended actions.
Success in this position means our compounding teams are not discovering material shortages when they are ready to produce.
You are planning ahead.
You understand what we're using, what we're likely to need, what's on order, what's delayed, what's at risk, and what alternatives are available.
The right person will help OBP build a procurement operation that becomes increasingly predictable, data-driven, scalable, and proactive as the company grows.
- 3+ years of experience in procurement, purchasing, inventory planning, supply planning, or a Buyer/Planner position
- Experience in pharmaceutical, compounding pharmacy, healthcare, manufacturing, biotechnology, medical device, or another regulated environment strongly preferred
- Strong understanding of purchasing and inventory-management principles
- Experience working with ERP, MRP, inventory-management, or purchasing systems
- Strong analytical and Excel/data-analysis capabilities
- Experience managing vendors and negotiating commercial terms
- Ability to analyze consumption, lead times, inventory levels, and purchasing requirements
- Strong organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-growing environment where priorities and demand can change quickly
- Strong communication skills and ability to work across Procurement, Operations, Compounding, Quality, Finance, Receiving, and Inventory teams
- Experience purchasing pharmaceutical APIs, excipients, packaging, or compounding materials
- Experience with pharmaceutical or compounding-pharmacy suppliers
- Understanding of supplier qualification and material traceability requirements
- Experience with controlled-substance purchasing requirements
- Experience establishing reorder points, safety-stock models, and demand forecasts
- APICS CPIM, CSCP, CPSM, or similar supply-chain certification
You will also be joining a highly experienced executive and leadership team with deep knowledge of the 503A compounding pharmacy industry, spanning quality, regulatory and compliance, pharmacy operations, compounding, technology, sales and commercial leadership.
Our ambition is to transform Optimal Balance Pharmacy from a successful
high-growth compounding pharmacy into one of the largest, most operationally
sophisticated and most recognized compounding pharmacy brands in the country.
- Very Competitive compensation
- Annual performance bonus
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 18 days of PTO plus 6 paid holidays
- Free prescribed medications with a valid prescription
- A fast-growing environment where strong performers can take on significantly greater responsibility
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