Head of Purchasing

PEPL•Pittsburgh, PA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Purchasing Executive is responsible for leading the purchasing function and developing sourcing strategies that support manufacturing, cost control, supplier performance, inventory availability, and customer delivery requirements. This role oversees the purchasing department and is accountable for ensuring the business has the raw materials, components, services, and supplies needed to support production while managing cost, quality, risk, lead times, and supplier relationships. This position requires strong purchasing leadership experience, knowledge of industrial manufacturing supply chains, and preferred knowledge of the conveyor belting industry, textiles, rubber compounds, polymers, fabrics, chemicals, or similar technical materials. The role is responsible for sourcing and managing critical suppliers for compounds, textiles, rubber-related materials, production supplies, MRO, equipment, and services, including suppliers such as AirBoss, API, and other domestic or international vendors. The Purchasing Executive must understand the impact of global sourcing, international logistics, air freight, customs, tariffs, supplier capacity, lead times, and production risk. This role works closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Technical, Quality, Finance, Engineering, Sales, and plant leadership to ensure purchasing decisions support production continuity, customer commitments, quality standards, and long-term business objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Engineering, Finance, or related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
Minimum of 7–10 years of progressive purchasing, procurement, sourcing, supply chain, or materials management experience in a manufacturing or industrial environment preferred.
Minimum of 3–5 years of leadership experience overseeing buyers, purchasing staff, supply chain personnel, or similar teams preferred.
Experience purchasing for manufacturing operations, including raw materials, production supplies, MRO, services, equipment, and capital projects.
Experience with conveyor belting, rubber products, textiles, fabrics, polymers, chemicals, compounds, or similar technical/industrial materials strongly preferred.
Experience sourcing rubber compounds or related materials from suppliers such as AirBoss, API, or similar domestic and international suppliers preferred.
Strong understanding of supplier management, strategic sourcing, negotiations, purchase orders, contracts, lead times, inventory impact, and production support.
Experience with international purchasing, global logistics, air freight, ocean freight, customs, tariffs, expedited freight, and total landed cost preferred.
Experience with ERP, purchasing, inventory, or supply chain systems required.
Experience supporting supplier quality, technical approvals, material substitutions, and cross-functional supplier issue resolution preferred.
Strong understanding of cost control, supplier risk management, production continuity, and customer delivery impact.
Strong purchasing, sourcing, negotiation, and supplier management skills.
Strong leadership and people management skills.
Ability to lead a purchasing department with clear expectations, accountability, urgency, and follow-through.
Strong knowledge of manufacturing supply chains and production support requirements.
Ability to understand technical materials, specifications, supplier capabilities, and quality requirements.
Strong business judgment and ability to make purchasing decisions based on cost, quality, delivery, risk, and total business impact.
Strong analytical, system, computer, reporting, and data management capabilities.
Ability to evaluate total landed cost, freight impact, supplier risk, and inventory implications.
Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly explain purchasing risks, supplier issues, cost impacts, and recommended actions.
Strong conflict resolution skills with the ability to address supplier performance issues and internal priority conflicts professionally.
Ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Technical, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Finance, and Sales.
Strong planning, organization, prioritization, and follow-up skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
Positive, professional, collaborative, and solution-oriented approach.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to accurate documentation.
Domestic and International travel of up to 30%.
Valid driver’s license and passport without restrictions.
Ability to travel to company locations, supplier sites, customer locations, conferences, or industry events as required.
Ability to work outside normal business hours when urgent supplier, production, logistics, or customer delivery issues require support.
Must maintain professional behavior during working hours, while traveling for business, while on company or supplier sites, and at all times when representing the company.

Responsibilities

Lead, manage, and develop the purchasing department to ensure strong execution, accountability, communication, and follow-through.
Establish clear purchasing processes, priorities, expectations, and performance standards for the department.
Oversee daily purchasing activity, purchase order management, supplier communication, expediting, issue resolution, and internal customer support.
Ensure buyers and purchasing staff are properly trained, supported, and held accountable for performance.
Monitor department workload, open purchase orders, overdue items, supplier responsiveness, and purchasing-related risks.
Promote a professional, positive, collaborative, and service-oriented approach within the purchasing team.
Ensure the purchasing department supports plant operations, production schedules, engineering projects, maintenance needs, and customer delivery requirements.
Develop and execute sourcing strategies for raw materials, compounds, textiles, fabrics, rubber-related materials, chemicals, MRO, services, equipment, and other critical business needs.
Identify, qualify, and manage suppliers capable of meeting company requirements for cost, quality, delivery, technical capability, compliance, and reliability.
Build and maintain strong relationships with domestic and international suppliers.
Negotiate pricing, payment terms, lead times, freight terms, supply agreements, service levels, and other commercial terms.
Evaluate supplier performance related to delivery, quality, responsiveness, cost, technical support, and overall reliability.
Develop supplier scorecards, performance reviews, and corrective action plans where needed.
Identify alternate suppliers and dual-sourcing options to reduce risk and improve supply continuity.
Ensure supplier decisions are based on total value, reliability, quality, lead time, risk, and business impact, not price alone.
Support sourcing and purchasing activity related to conveyor belting materials, rubber compounds, polymers, fabrics, textiles, covers, skim stock, chemicals, and related production materials.
Work with Technical, Quality, and Operations to understand material specifications, performance requirements, approvals, and supplier capabilities.
Manage supplier relationships for compound and rubber-related materials, including suppliers and other domestic or international sources.
Understand the operational impact of compound availability, fabric availability, lead times, substitutions, and material changes on production schedules and customer orders.
Coordinate with Technical and Quality before approving material changes, alternate suppliers, substitutions, or specification deviations.
Ensure purchasing decisions support product performance, quality consistency, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations.
Maintain awareness of market conditions affecting rubber, chemicals, textiles, fabric, polymers, freight, and other key materials.
Manage purchasing risks related to global sourcing, international suppliers, air freight, ocean freight, customs, tariffs, port delays, geopolitical issues, supplier capacity, and long lead times.
Evaluate total landed cost, including material cost, freight, duty, tariffs, handling, lead time, working capital impact, and supply risk.
Coordinate with Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations, and Finance to determine when air freight, expedited freight, or alternate shipping methods are justified.
Monitor global market conditions and supplier risks that could impact material availability, cost, or delivery.
Develop contingency plans for critical materials and high-risk suppliers.
Ensure the organization understands the financial and operational impact of expedited freight, international sourcing decisions, and supplier delays.
Support inventory planning decisions for long-lead-time, imported, or high-risk materials.
Partner with Supply Chain, Operations, and plant leadership to ensure purchasing activity supports production schedules and customer delivery commitments.
Prioritize purchasing and expediting activity based on customer orders, production needs, inventory levels, and risk to delivery dates.
Communicate material shortages, supplier delays, cost changes, and supply risks clearly and promptly to affected departments.
Work proactively to prevent material-related downtime, production disruption, and missed customer commitments.
Support contingency planning when supplier delays or material shortages may affect production or customer delivery.
Ensure purchasing decisions consider customer impact, production continuity, quality requirements, and business priorities.
Develop purchasing strategies that support cost control, margin protection, working capital management, and long-term profitability.
Negotiate favorable commercial terms while protecting quality, service, delivery, and supply continuity.
Identify cost savings, cost avoidance, process improvements, and supplier consolidation opportunities.
Analyze price increases, market changes, freight costs, and supplier proposals to determine reasonableness and business impact.
Partner with Finance to support budgeting, forecasting, standard cost reviews, supplier cost analysis, and capital or project-related purchasing.
Track and report purchasing performance, savings initiatives, cost increases, supplier risks, and major supply chain impacts.
Ensure purchasing decisions are documented and supported by appropriate analysis.
Review and negotiate supplier terms and conditions, supply agreements, service agreements, purchase commitments, and major project-related contracts.
Work with Legal, Finance, Engineering, and leadership to ensure purchasing agreements include appropriate protections related to delivery, quality, warranties, penalties, risk, liability, compliance, and supplier obligations.
Ensure purchasing activity complies with company policies, approval requirements, ethical standards, and internal controls.
Support CAPEX and high-dollar purchasing processes by ensuring vendor terms are reviewed, negotiated, and escalated appropriately.
Maintain accurate purchasing records, supplier documentation, agreements, approvals, and supporting information.
Ensure supplier compliance with applicable safety, quality, environmental, regulatory, and customer-specific requirements.
Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, Technical, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Finance, Sales, and plant leadership to align purchasing activity with business needs.
Work with Technical and Quality on supplier approvals, material trials, quality concerns, nonconforming materials, and specification requirements.
Work with Engineering and Maintenance on equipment, parts, contractor services, capital projects, and plant reliability needs.
Work with Sales and Supply Chain to understand customer demand, order priorities, and material requirements.
Communicate clearly with internal stakeholders regarding supplier performance, material availability, price changes, sourcing risks, and purchasing priorities.
Support a collaborative culture where Purchasing is viewed as a strategic partner to the business.
Ensure purchasing systems, ERP data, supplier records, purchase orders, pricing, lead times, and item master information are accurate and maintained.
Use purchasing reports, supplier data, inventory data, demand information, and market intelligence to support decisions.
Develop dashboards, tracking tools, and reporting methods to improve visibility to open orders, supplier performance, cost trends, and supply risks.
Identify opportunities to improve purchasing processes, approval workflows, supplier communication, and internal service levels.
Ensure purchasing activity is documented clearly and consistently to support accountability, continuity, and audit readiness.
Communicate clearly, directly, and professionally with suppliers, employees, plant leadership, and senior management.
Demonstrate strong leadership, judgment, negotiation skills, and conflict resolution when addressing supplier issues or internal priorities.
Set expectations and hold suppliers and internal team members accountable for performance.
Maintain professional conduct when representing the company with suppliers, customers, contractors, and internal stakeholders.
Promote urgency, ownership, accountability, and follow-through within the purchasing function.
Perform other duties as assigned to support business, purchasing, supply chain, and operational needs.