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.