Buyer IV

Wabtec•Buffalo Grove, IL

5d•$79,100 - $112,800•Onsite

About The Position

Wabtec Bus Solutions is seeking an experienced Senior Buyer / Senior Purchasing Agent to provide end-to-end commercial and material execution leadership across multiple commodities and supplier bases in a complex, high-mix manufacturing environment. This role combines strategic sourcing and commodity management with hands-on purchasing execution. The Senior Buyer is directly accountable for material availability, supplier commitments, purchase order execution, shortage mitigation, supplier performance, and supply continuity while also leading negotiations, sourcing strategies, supplier transitions, cost-reduction initiatives, and risk-mitigation activities. The ideal candidate demonstrates exceptional urgency and ownership, strong supplier leadership, manufacturing fluency, sound commercial judgment, and the ability to influence suppliers and cross-functional partners without direct authority. Success requires a professional who anticipates problems, develops executable solutions, and follows issues through to measurable closure.

Requirements

12+ years of relevant experience in procurement, sourcing, or supply chain supporting complex manufacturing environments
High school diploma required

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's Degree preferred

Responsibilities

Own purchasing execution and commercial performance across multiple assigned commodities and suppliers, balancing cost, quality, delivery, inventory, capacity, lead time, and business risk.
Monitor MRP, shortage, exception, open-order, past-due, demand, and other purchasing reports to identify requirements and supply risks and ensure purchased components arrive in support of production and customer commitments.
Analyze historical usage, current inventory, open purchase orders, forecasts, and future demand to develop the best available estimate of total purchasing requirements and appropriate order quantities.
Generate, release, maintain, and adjust purchase orders in accordance with demand, planning signals, sourcing strategy, and established approval requirements.
Obtain and validate supplier acknowledgements and delivery commitments; maintain accurate supplier promise dates in Oracle and communicate material risks to Planning, Operations, and other stakeholders.
Expedite critical, late, or production-constraining material. Establish recovery actions with suppliers, challenge unreliable commitments, and escalate appropriately until an executable delivery plan is in place.
Develop and execute commodity and sourcing strategies, including competitive RFQs, supplier selection, negotiations, supplier consolidation, dual/alternate sourcing, capacity planning, and supply-risk mitigation.
Lead complex commercial negotiations and sourcing decisions using analysis of total cost of ownership, price, tooling, logistics, payment terms, lead time, quality, capacity, inventory, and supply-chain risk.
Confers with vendors to obtain product or service information such as price, availability, and delivery schedule.
Identifies suppliers with Supply Chain Manager based on criteria such as quality certification, capacity analysis, financial analysis, etc.
Contacts suppliers for PO follow-up, communicates product need-by dates, and enters supplier promise dates into the ERP system.
Generates buy orders based on 60-day, 30-day, 14 day-buy & adjustment reports.
Works with Senior Buyers to assist in expediting orders.
Builds and sends out Request-For-Quote packages by working with engineering and supplier base.
Maintains procurement records such as items or services purchased, costs, delivery, product quality or performance, and inventories.
Discusses defective or unacceptable goods or services with inspection or quality control personnel, users, vendors, and others to determine and execute the proper disposition, and carry out the proper Non-conforming Material Return processes.