Senior Purchasing Manager
Senior Purchasing Manager
Job Summary
The Purchase Manager is responsible for leading strategic sourcing and procurement activities, ensuring uninterrupted supply of direct materials while achieving world-class performance in quality, delivery, sustainability, and supplier innovation. The role partners closely with Engineering, Planning, Manufacturing, Quality, Logistics, and Finance to support new product introductions (NPI), production ramp-ups, and global business growth.
Key Responsibilities
- Ensure uninterrupted supply of production materials to meet manufacturing schedules.
- Review and approve purchase requisitions and purchase orders.
- Manage long-lead and critical commodities.
- Resolve material shortages, supplier escalations, and logistics issues.
- Optimize inventory while maintaining production continuity.
- Partner with Engineering during New Product Introduction (NPI) to source new technologies and components.
- Work with Manufacturing and Planning to support production ramp-ups.
- Coordinate with Supplier Quality to resolve quality issues and improve supplier capability.
- Support Operations in achieving production, quality, and delivery goals.
- Develop supply continuity plans for critical components.
- Monitor geopolitical, commodity, and logistics risks.
- Establish dual sourcing and business continuity plans.
- Ensure compliance with ESG, environmental, ethical sourcing, and trade regulations.
- Lead and mentor procurement professionals.
- Establish procurement KPIs and drive continuous improvement.
- Promote Lean, Six Sigma, and digital procurement initiatives.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Engineering, or Supply Chain Management.
- MBA in Operations or Supply Chain preferred.
- Professional certifications (CPSM, CIPS, APICS/ASCM) are desirable.
Experience
- 6 –12 years of procurement experience in energy systems, electrical equipment, automotive, industrial equipment, or high-tech manufacturing.
- Experience managing global suppliers and cross-functional sourcing projects.
- Experience with ERP systems such as Oracle or similar.
Technical Competencies
- Strategic Sourcing
- Global Supplier Development
- Commodity Management
- Contract Negotiation
- Cost Analysis & Should-Costing
- Value Engineering / Value Analysis
- Supply Risk Management
- Inventory Optimization
- Production Planning Support
- New Product Introduction (NPI)
- Supplier Quality Systems
- Procurement Analytics
- ERP & eProcurement Systems
Leadership Competencies
- Strategic Thinking
- Business Acumen
- Negotiation & Influencing
- Stakeholder Management
- Team Leadership
- Change Management
- Problem Solving
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Contract Compliance
- New Supplier Qualification Cycle Time
- Production Line Stoppages Due to Material Shortages
- Supplier Risk Mitigation Effectiveness
- NPI Material Readiness Achievement
Success Profile
The successful Purchasing Manager builds a resilient, cost-competitive, and innovative supply base that enables rapid manufacturing scale-up, supports new technology introductions, minimizes supply chain risk, and delivers operational excellence through strong supplier partnerships and cross-functional collaboration.