Senior Buyer

Watlow; Maryland Heights (MO); On-site; USD 75,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Watlow is seeking a Senior Buyer to manage daily purchasing for an assigned product line, support cost-down efforts, and track orders to keep production on schedule. You will negotiate terms, monitor materials, and resolve supply issues with cross-functional partners.

You will own supplier relationships, manage lead times and ERP/MRP data, and assist RFQ/RFP activities while tracking savings and supplier performance.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of purchasing, procurement, sourcing, or related supply-chain experience.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Strong experience with supplier management, purchasing, negotiation, and material planning.
• Experience with MRP/ERP systems and Microsoft Excel.
• Strong analytical, negotiation, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Excellent communication, organization, follow-up, and customer-service skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and build effective internal and external relationships.
• Project management and leadership experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Place, expedite, and track purchase orders for assigned materials and components against production and project schedules.
• Review MRP/ERP requisitions and exception messages, including shortages, late orders, and past-due purchase orders.
• Monitor supplier lead times, safety stock, and open-order backlogs to identify and mitigate supply risks.
• Own supplier relationships for assigned commodities, negotiating pricing, lead times, and terms.
• Resolve supplier delivery, quality, invoice, receiving, and material discrepancies.
• Support supplier onboarding, qualification, performance reviews, and corrective actions.
• Manage supplier engineering changes, obsolescence, and end-of-life notifications.
• Maintain accurate supplier and item master data in the ERP system.
• Track and communicate open orders, past-due items, and supply risks to Planning and Management.

Skills

Supplier management

Negotiation

Material planning

MRP/ERP experience

Excel

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred

APICS/ISM certifications preferred

Tools

MRP/ERP systems

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Senior Buyer

Position Summary

The Senior Buyer manages day-to-day purchasing activities for an assigned product line and supports cost-down and supplier improvement initiatives. This role is responsible for placing and tracking purchase orders, managing supplier relationships, negotiating cost and terms, monitoring material availability, and resolving supply issues to support production and project schedules.

The Senior Buyer partners with Engineering, Quality, Operations, Planning, Finance, and Logistics to ensure continuity of supply, improve supplier performance, reduce costs, and manage supply-chain risk.

Key Responsibilities

Purchasing & Supplier Management

• Place, expedite, and track purchase orders for assigned materials and components against production and project schedules.
• Review MRP/ERP requisitions and exception messages, including shortages, late orders, and past-due purchase orders.
• Monitor supplier lead times, safety stock, and open-order backlogs to identify and mitigate supply risks.
• Own supplier relationships for assigned commodities, negotiating pricing, lead times, and terms.
• Resolve supplier delivery, quality, invoice, receiving, and material discrepancies.
• Support supplier onboarding, qualification, performance reviews, and corrective actions.
• Manage supplier engineering changes, obsolescence, and end-of-life notifications.
• Maintain accurate supplier and item master data in the ERP system.
• Track and communicate open orders, past-due items, and supply risks to Planning and Management.

Cost Reduction & Sourcing

• Identify and lead cost-reduction opportunities through negotiations, re-sourcing, volume consolidation, and design-for-cost initiatives.
• Conduct should-cost analysis and benchmarking to validate pricing and establish negotiation targets.
• Partner with Engineering on Value Engineering/Value Analysis (VE/VA) opportunities.
• Lead or support RFQ/RFP activities and evaluate total cost of ownership.
• Evaluate alternate and second-source suppliers to improve cost, lead time, and supply risk.
• Support annual price negotiations and contract renewals.
• Track and report committed and realized savings against cost-down targets.

Cross-Functional Support

• Partner with Engineering on new part introductions, BOM changes, and ECOs to ensure supply continuity.
• Coordinate incoming freight shipments with Logistics, Trade Compliance, and Engineering.
• Support accurate HTS classifications and required import/export documentation.
• Participate in Lean and continuous-improvement activities.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and mentor within the purchasing function.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of purchasing, procurement, sourcing, or related supply-chain experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Strong experience with supplier management, purchasing, negotiation, and material planning.
• Experience with MRP/ERP systems and Microsoft Excel.
• Strong analytical, negotiation, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Excellent communication, organization, follow-up, and customer-service skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and build effective internal and external relationships.
• Project management and leadership experience preferred.

Preferred Certifications

• APICS (CPIM, CSCP, CFPIM), ISM (CPM, CPSM, CSM), or equivalent certification preferred.
• Lean certification preferred.

Travel

• Occasional intrastate travel.