Strategic Procurement Lead

Kurita Group; Brooklyn Park (MN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Kurita America in the United States is seeking a Procurement Advisor to lead strategic sourcing, supplier development, and procurement execution to support production and projects. This role coordinates with engineering, project management, production, quality, logistics, accounts payable, and finance to ensure timely and cost-effective materials procurement.

Ideal candidates bring a bachelor's in a related field and 7+ years of procurement experience in manufacturing, with strength in

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Business Administration, Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of procurement, purchasing, or supply chain experience in a manufacturing, industrial, or engineered-to-order environment.
• Experience sourcing fabricated steel components, pressure vessels, water treatment equipment, or custom-manufactured products.
• Demonstrated success in strategic sourcing, supplier negotiations, contract management, and cost reduction.
• Proficiency with ERP or MRP systems and Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute procurement strategies aligned with production schedules, project requirements, and company objectives, while identifying, qualifying, and supporting the onboarding of suppliers to improve capacity, quality, delivery, and cost competitiveness.
• Lead supplier negotiations for pricing, lead times, contracts, commercial terms, and Master Supply Agreements.
• Review engineering drawings, specifications, and customer requirements to prepare complete RFQ packages, use RFIs and RFQs to obtain competitive, compliant proposals, and evaluate supplier quotations for technical scope, pricing, capacity, quality, and schedule alignment.
• Generate and manage purchase orders in the ERP system, ensuring accuracy of pricing, quantities, milestones, costs, and contractual requirements.
• Forecast, recognize and track expected revenue goal milestones for projects, accurately entering them into our ERP system for financial tracking and reporting.
• Monitor procurement activities from purchase order issuance through final delivery and hold suppliers accountable to purchase order requirements.
• Prepare and review procurement reports, including timelines, cost variances, project milestones, supplier compliance, and anticipated revenue milestones.
• Monitor and evaluate supplier performance using scorecards, nonconformance records, and supplier corrective action requests, while resolving supplier quality, delivery, commercial, and performance issues through corrective action or recovery plans.
• Minimize single-source risk by qualifying alternate suppliers, implementing supply chain risk mitigation plans, and cultivating strong supplier relationships while maintaining high standards of ethics, professionalism, and accountability.
• Partner with engineering, project management, production, quality, inspection, logistics, accounts payable, and finance to resolve issues promptly.
• Serve as a procurement subject matter expert by mentoring or training junior procurement team members and buyers while staying informed about relevant market conditions, labor and material rates, sources of supply, and procurement best practices.
• Performs special projects/duties as assigned

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Supplier negotiations

Contract management

Cost reduction

Analytical skills

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management

Tools

ERP/MRP systems

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Outlook

Job description

Kurita America in the United States is seeking a Procurement Advisor to lead strategic sourcing, supplier development, and procurement execution to support production and projects. This role coordinates with engineering, project management, production, quality, logistics, accounts payable, and finance to ensure timely and cost-effective materials procurement.

Ideal candidates bring a bachelor's in a related field and 7+ years of procurement experience in manufacturing, with strength in