Senior Strategic Buyer (Hybrid)

Lonza; Walkersville (MD); On-site; USD 101,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in life sciences seeks a Senior Strategic Buyer/Category Manager to enhance procurement strategies and manage supplier relationships. This role involves collaborating with stakeholders to ensure business needs are met while optimizing procurement processes. Candidates should possess strong negotiation skills and relevant educational qualifications in business or supply chain management.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package

Performance-related bonus

401k plan

Medical and dental coverage

Paid time off (PTO)

Qualifications

• Advanced level of experience in raw materials procurement in a Pharmaceutical or High-Quality industry.
• Handles ambiguity through effective communication.
• Demonstrates high integrity and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Category managers to deliver value and continuous improvements.
• Manage supplier relationships and performance at site level.
• Support the execution of sourcing initiatives for delegated spend across assigned sites.

Skills

Purchasing expertise in tendering

Negotiation tactics

Indirect spend management

Effective communication

Decision making

Education

Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Business, Economics, Engineering, Procurement or Supply Chain

MBA or advanced degree in Business, Economics, Engineering, Procurement or Supply Chain

Job description

Today, Lonza is a global leader in life sciences operating across five continents. While we work in science, there’s no magic formula to how we do it. Our greatest scientific solution is talented people working together, devising ideas that help businesses to help people. In exchange, we let our people own their careers. Their ideas, big and small, genuinely improve the world. And that’s the kind of work we want to be part of!

The role: The Senior Strategic Buyer/Category Manager will collaborate effectively to site stakeholders to deliver the raw material category strategy and procurement value. They will partner with key collaborators across sites to ensure business continuity and Procurement meet site business needs, manage supplier relationships and performance at site level, provide purchasing expertise in tendering, negotiation, contracting and purchasing systems and handle delegated spend. Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate effectively with the Category managers to deliver value and continuous improvements:

• Support Central Category manager with category strategy development (e.g. provide site current and future business needs)

• Support implementation and execution of category strategies at site level

• Support the execution of sourcing initiatives for delegated spend across assigned sites.

• Provide purchasing expertise in tendering, negotiation tactics, planning and contracting.

Support global & regional sourcing efforts

• Support the roll-out of new procurement policies/procedures and tools

• Support the optimization of transactional costs & efficiency of procurement activities (e.g. automation rates)

Share best-practice sharing and commonalities across sites

• Support standardization of specifications across sites and regions

• Track country savings performance and identify potential savings, risks & opportunities

• Drive utilization of on-line catalogues, E-Auctions and other innovative sourcing tools

Ensure business continuity and meet site business needs:

• Ensure business continuity and supply/availability of indirect materials for production

• Partner with site customers to understand and support the delivery of current and future business needs

• Work with site controllers to provide spend and savings forecasts to management

Manage supplier changes and transitions

• Manage supplier relationship and performance at site level:

• Maintain and drive professional partnership/collaboration with suppliers

Manage portfolio of suppliers and ensure compliance with requirements/policies

• Support comprehensive supply risk assessment across existing supplier portfolio (incl. single source, capacity constraints, financial risks, quality risks, etc…).

• Develop and implement mitigation solutions for key business risks identified

• Be aware of the supply market dynamics and changes to ensure competitiveness and supply risks are mitigated

Personal development and capability building:

• Define personal development goals and associated training and development needs

Complete mandatory training and capability building program

• Define personal development goals and associated training and development needs

Complete mandatory training and capability building program

Perform other duties as assigned.

Key Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree or equivalent experience in Business, Economics, Engineering, Procurement or Supply Chain

• MBA or advanced degree in Business, Economics, Engineering, Procurement or Supply Chain

• Advanced level of experience in raw materials procurement in a Pharmaceutical or High-Quality industry

• Purchasing expertise in tendering, negotiation tactics, planning and contracting

• Indirect spend management

• Handles ambiguity through effective communication, removes barriers and overcomes resistance skillfully

• Demonstrates timely and accurate decision making, ensuring escalation where appropriate

• Finds the right balance between internal/external customer needs and achieving business needs

• Leads multiple initiatives simultaneously to successful conclusion while mitigating business continuity risks

• Demonstrates high integrity and accountability for their area ensuring team(s) actions and decisions are aligned to business objectives

Moderate Travel

Every day, Lonza’s products and services have a positive impact on millions of people. For us, this is not only a great privilege, but also a great responsibility. How we achieve our business results is just as important as the achievements themselves. At Lonza, we respect and protect our people and our environment. Any success we achieve is no success at all if not achieved ethically.

People come to Lonza for the challenge and creativity of solving complex problems and developing new ideas in life sciences. In return, we offer the satisfaction that comes with improving lives all around the world. The satisfaction that comes with making a meaningful difference.

We recognize that attracting, developing and retaining the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure that we are able to attract the best candidates. As required by law in this state, the quoted salary range for this position is$101,000 – $140,000. We use broad salary ranges that reflect the competitive market for similar jobs, provide sufficient opportunity for growth as you gain experience and expand responsibilities, while also allowing for differentiation on performance Based on the breadth of our ranges, most new hires will start at the company between the lower and the middle part of the applicable range. We tailor our offers within the range based on job-related factors, including organizational needs, internal equity, market data, geographic area and the selected candidate’s experience, education, industry knowledge, location, technical and/or communication skills and other factors that may prove relevant during the selection process.This range is only inclusive of base salary, and base pay is just one component of Lonza’s total compensation package for employees. Full-time employees are eligible to receive a performance-related bonus, as well as a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental coverage, 401k plan, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance, an employee assistance program, paid time off (PTO), and more.

Lonza is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a qualified individual with disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.