The Senior Buyer manages the end-to-end sourcing, procurement, and supplier management of critical materials, components, and equipment required for lithium-ion battery manufacturing. This role is responsible for securing a volatile supply chain, covering raw chemical materials, components, and capital expenditure, while balancing cost, strict quality standards, and regulatory compliance. The ideal candidate blends deep strategic sourcing expertise with a technical understanding of battery supply chains.
Duties and Responsibilities
An individual must be able to successfully perform the essential functions of this position with or without a reasonable accommodation.
Strategic Sourcing & Supply Chain Resilience
- Critical Category Management: Lead procurement strategies for key battery components (e.g., lithium cells, battery management systems, metals, current collectors, and structural pack components).
- Supplier Risk Mitigation: Identify, vet, and onboard global and domestic suppliers to establish a resilient multi-source pipeline, mitigating geopolitical, regulatory, and capacity risks.
- Supplier Performance Management: Conduct supplier business reviews (QBRs), maintain supplier scorecards, and drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on cost, quality, delivery, responsiveness, and capacity.
- CapEx Procurement: Partner with Engineering and Operations to source, negotiate, and purchase heavy manufacturing equipment, automated assembly lines, and testing infrastructure.
- Purchase Order Execution: Review and execute purchase orders generated through the ERP/MRP system, ensuring pricing accuracy, supplier acknowledgments, delivery commitments, and timely resolution of supply disruptions.
Contract Negotiation & Cost Optimization
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Drive cost-reduction initiatives through volume leverage, index-based pricing formulations (tied to raw metal markets like Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel), and long-term agreements (LTAs).
- Contract Management: Draft, negotiate, and execute complex supply agreements, master service agreements (MSAs), and statements of work (SOWs) ensuring favorable terms for liability, warranty, and lead times.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Inventory Control
- Production Alignment: Partner closely with Production Scheduling and Inventory Control to align raw material deliveries with the Master Production Schedule (MPS) to eliminate line-down situations while minimizing carrying costs.
- Material Planning: Collaborate with Planning and Production to review MRP recommendations, balance inventory levels, monitor excess and obsolete inventory, and ensure uninterrupted material availability.
- Quality Liaison: Work with Supplier Quality Engineering (SQE) to track supplier performance metrics (OTIF – On-Time, In-Full; PPM defect rates) and execute corrective actions (SCARs) when materials fail to meet stringent battery safety tolerances.
- ERP Utilization: Maintain immaculate data integrity within the ERP system (e.g., NetSuite), including lead times, safety stock thresholds, purchase order tracking, and vendor profiles.
- Manufacturing Knowledge: Working knowledge of Bills of Materials (BOMs), engineering drawings, manufacturing processes, and material flow within a high-volume manufacturing environment.
Regulatory & Hazardous Material Compliance
- Regulatory Alignment: Ensure all sourced materials conform to international and domestic transport, environmental, and safety regulations (e.g., DOT hazardous materials regulations, UN 38.3 transport testing standards, OSHA, and EPA compliance).
- Traceability: Support conflict-mineral tracking and supply chain traceability initiatives required for sustainable and ethical battery manufacturing.
- International Trade Compliance: Support import/export activities by ensuring suppliers comply with applicable Incoterms, customs documentation requirements, and international trade regulations.
Required Skills and Abilities
The following skills and abilities are necessary to perform one or more essential functions of this position.
Experience & Education
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience: 5+ years of procurement or strategic sourcing experience in a high-volume manufacturing environment. Direct experience in lithium battery, automotive EV, electronics, or chemical manufacturing is highly preferred.
- Certification: APICS (CPIM/CSCP) or ISM (CPSM) certification is a strong plus.
- Project Management Tools: Experience using project management platforms (e.g., Monday.com, Asana, Microsoft Project, or Smartsheet) to plan, track, and execute procurement and supply chain initiatives.
Technical & Core Competencies
- ERP Expertise: Advanced proficiency using tier-1 ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP) for material requirements planning (MRP), automated workflows, and purchasing analytics.
- Market Intelligence: Solid understanding of global commodity markets, particularly clean energy metals and chemical processing supply chains.
- MRP Planning: Ability to interpret MRP recommendations, analyze demand variability, and proactively manage supplier lead times to support production requirements.
- Negotiation Style: Proven track record of high-stakes vendor negotiations with international suppliers, especially in Asian and European manufacturing hubs.
- Analytical Excel Skills: Strong capacity for data manipulation, cost modeling, and creating pivot tables to track spending variances.
Soft Skills & Physical Requirements
- High-Velocity Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, rapidly scaling industry with fluid engineering changes.
- Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to act as the primary interface between technical internal engineers and global commercial vendors.
- Travel: Ability to travel up to 15-20% (domestic and international) for supplier audits and factory visits.
Physical Requirements and Work Environment
The following physical activities are necessary to perform one or more essential functions of this position.
- Ability to work in a team environment
- May be required to work in both an office environment and warehouse environment.
- May be subject to hazards in the warehouse including moving pallets; material and/or equipment handling.
Pay: From $75,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
