Senior Buyer

Eaton; Royal Pines (NC); On-site; USD 86,000 - 126,000; Full time

Job summary

Eaton in Arden, NC is seeking a Senior Buyer to lead procurement of direct materials from domestic and global sources. You will drive cost reduction, negotiate strategically, and implement sourcing strategies while collaborating with design engineering and planning teams to ensure on-time launches of new products.

The role requires leadership to improve processes and supplier performance, with a focus on total cost of ownership and maintaining quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or an associate degree with 7+ years in supply chain purchasing.
• At least 3 years direct buying experience in manufacturing or operations.
• Must reside within 50 miles of Arden, NC; no relocation.
• Eaton will not sponsor immigration.

Responsibilities

• Initiate quoting activity, evaluate supplier proposals, and negotiate price and delivery based on total cost of ownership.
• Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers for long-term relationships.
• Collaborate with design engineering to develop sourcing strategies for new products.
• Coordinate with material planning to meet delivery and inventory requirements.
• Provide leadership within the department and train personnel as needed.
• Act as liaison between suppliers and Eaton to resolve quality/technical issues.

Skills

Supply chain principles

Negotiation skills

Communication skills

Microsoft Office

Vendor management

Leadership

Cost reduction

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Associates degree + 7 years experience

MBA

Job description

This position is onsite, Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, at our Arden, NC Eaton facility.

This Senior Buyer supports Eaton’s supply chain purchasing department through the effective procurement of a wide variety of direct material from domestic and global sources ensuring that quality, delivery, and specification requirements are met at the lowest possible total cost. This individual will take leadership of cost reduction projects, commercial negotiations, and implementation of sourcing strategies. Additionally, this individual will be expected to identify, improve, and implement business processes as well as provide leadership within the department and with the supply base. This position requires the ability to develop a competitive environment within the supply base and to make sourcing decisions based on total cost of ownership considerations.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $86000 - $126000 a year.

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What You’ll Do

• Initiates quoting activity, evaluates supplier proposals, and negotiates price and delivery based on total cost of ownership and ensuring strategic alignment with corporate and local goals and objectives.
• Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers seeking mutually beneficial long-term relationships.
• Work with design engineering groups across multiple product lines, to ensure successful, on time development and launch of new products, by identifying the optimal sourcing strategies.
• Works with the material planning group to drive supply base to meet delivery and inventory requirements.
• Lead by example in the tasks required to meet departmental requirements. Assist in the training and development of personnel within the department.
• Acts as a conduit between suppliers and Eaton personnel to resolve quality and / or technical issues as they arise.
• Lead supplier management and development activities driving continuous improvement in Eaton’s metrics and Talenthub goals.
• Research new sources of supply and performs tactical Supply Chain assessments of these sources, including the development of supplier selection criteria. Facilitate the implementation of goals and objectives between Corporate commodity management and the facility SCM team.
• Leverage relationships to hold suppliers accountable to perform to Eaton’s expectations on delivery, quality and overall cost.
• Maintains all records and correspondence relative to quotations, purchase orders, contracts, and agreements.
• Proactively resolve supplier accounts payable issues.
• Participate in cross-functional teams chartered with improving supplier performance and executing corrective actions and drive continuous improvement through the supply base with a focus on cost, quality, on-time-performance and inventory DOH.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Must meet one of the following: A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution OR an Associates Degree AND a minimum of 7 years of experience in a supply chain/purchasing environment.
• Minimum of 3 years of supply chain experience in manufacturing industry or operations environment.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience with direct buying within a manufacturing, operations, or supply chain environment.
• No relocation is offered. Candidates must currently reside within a 50-mile radius of Arden, NC to be considered. Active-Duty Military are exempt from this geographical limitation.
• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced Master's degree from an accredited institution.
• CPIM, CPM or similar professional certifications.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic purchasing and sourcing within a manufacturing or supply chain environment.

Skills

• Broad understanding of supply chain principles and the ability to interpret and communicate complex specifications and instructions.
• Thorough understanding of negotiation techniques and tactics
• Self-directed, self-starter with exceptional negotiating skills, excellent communication (verbal and written) and interpersonal skills are required.
• Demonstrated proficiency in the use of personal computers and strong knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Thorough knowledge of purchasing and principles including the ability to research, analyze negotiate and close various types of purchase efforts within guidelines of good business and ethical practices.
• Possessing the following leadership characteristics: handling ambiguity; flexibility; integrity; leading change; learning agility; strategic agility; and vision.
• Assuring a timely delivery of quality raw materials and components requires the proper choice of vendors and continual communications with vendor of choice.
• Maintaining consistent pricing and cost improvement required the creativity of product review, new vendor search, department interface or redesign and the ability to negotiate needed price.
• Responding to all levels of managerial requests requires flexibility of dealing with new situations and demands while maintaining normal activities.
• Operating within the confines of a receipt budget while balancing the requirements of manufacturing and need to control inventory investment.
• Providing leadership and informing various members of total organization while their individual interest is not in conformance with materials.
• Planning the timely acquisition of quality materials to assure the smooth flow of manufacturing, while maintaining minimum inventory investment and improving costs.
• Demonstrated success in materials, purchasing, or customer support activities.

We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws.

You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

To request a disability-related reasonable accommodation to assist you in your job search, application, or interview process, please call us at 1-800-836-6345 to discuss your specific need. Only accommodation requests will be accepted by this phone number.

We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.