Plant Buyer - Middletown, DE

Clarios • Middletown, CT

2d

About The Position

The Plant Buyer serves as the primary Procurement partner for an assigned group of manufacturing plants. The role builds strong relationships with plant leadership and cross-functional stakeholders, understands plant priorities and supplier needs, and translates them into Procurement solutions that improve cost, supplier performance, operational efficiency, and continuity of supply. The Plant Buyer connects local requirements with broader Procurement strategies and cross-plant opportunities, acting as a trusted, solutions-oriented partner to plant teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, Engineering, Finance, or a related field.
• Experience in Procurement, sourcing, manufacturing, supply chain, or plant operations.
• Knowledge of Lean techniques and facilitation, including A3, VSM, and Kaizen.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, commercial, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple manufacturing locations.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to balance cost objectives with operational requirements and continuity of supply.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn plant operations, Procurement processes, sourcing, and supplier management.
• Comfort engaging with different functions and organizational levels.
• Collaborative, hands-on, and solutions-oriented mindset.

Nice To Haves

• Strong Excel skills.
• Power BI skills.
• RFQ Tools experience.

Responsibilities

• Build strong relationships with leadership and stakeholders across assigned plants.
• Maintain regular engagement and appropriate plant presence to understand operational priorities, challenges, and supplier pain points.
• Influence sourcing decisions using market intelligence, supplier insights, category expertise, and total-cost-of-ownership analyses.
• Serve as a responsive Procurement partner focused on removing barriers and enabling plant operations.
• Build credibility through listening, responsiveness, follow-through, and delivery of results.
• Initiate RFQ and bid events to reduce costs and identify appropriate solutions.
• Analyze supplier spend to identify savings, cost avoidance, benchmarking, consolidation, and sourcing opportunities.
• Partner with Plant Finance to understand spend trends, price increases, and opportunities.
• Maintain a prioritized pipeline of Procurement initiatives across supported plants.
• Leverage corporate agreements and cross-plant synergies to optimize spend and reduce complexity.
• Identify quick wins while developing sustainable sourcing strategies.
• Monitor critical supplier performance and drive corrective actions as needed.
• Identify supplier and supply risks proactively and develop mitigation plans.
• Recommend solutions and actions to address problems.
• Support supplier selection, new supplier requests, purchase-order practices, and sourcing decisions.
• Increase spend under contract and improve Procurement and P2P compliance.
• Identify opportunities to consolidate suppliers and standardize requirements across plants.
• Simplify Procurement processes while maintaining appropriate controls and enabling plant operations.
• Negotiate and finalize supplier legal agreements in conjunction with the Legal department.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision care coverage starting on date of hire.
• 401(k) savings plan with company matching, starting on date of hire.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Perks and discounts.
• Parental and caregiver leave programs.
• Paid time off.
• Flexible spending.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.
• Business travel insurance.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Global market strength and worldwide market share leadership.
• The headquarters location has a full-service cafeteria and workout facility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time