Purchasing Manager

The High Companies • Lancaster, PA

4d

About The Position

The Purchasing Manager leads procurement, inventory planning, materials management, and production scheduling for the High Steel Service Center. The role ensures the timely and cost-effective acquisition of steel products, consumables, services, and transportation resources to meet customer demand and operational objectives. As a member of both the Service Center leadership team and the centralized Procurement organization, the manager balances local operational requirements with enterprise procurement strategies and supports corporate sourcing, sustainability, and supply chain initiatives.

The position leads category and sourcing strategies, supplier partnerships, cost optimization, supplier risk management, production planning, and team development. It partners with Service Center operations, sales, customer service, finance, and logistics, and participates in enterprise procurement initiatives and sustainability efforts. The role also supports procurement policies, system improvements, audits, supplier issue resolution, and other assigned duties.

Requirements

• 5–8 years of experience in procurement or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of leadership experience.
• Knowledge of general purchasing and accounting practices.
• ERP experience; SAP preferred.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Strong analytical, communication, multitasking, and organizational skills; detail-oriented.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Operations Management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• CPSM, CPM, CSCP, or APICS certification.
• SAP experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead category and sourcing strategies for key steel, transportation, and operational spend categories.
• Identify and execute cost optimization, supplier consolidation, and value-creation initiatives aligned with enterprise procurement objectives.
• Support enterprise-wide supplier risk management, business continuity planning, and strategic sourcing efforts.
• Develop strategic supplier partnerships, conduct periodic business reviews, and establish performance improvement plans where needed.
• Lead production scheduling and planning functions.
• Use the Steel Service Center Purchasing Playbook and validate its relevance to current market conditions, making necessary changes.
• Support supplier sustainability assessments and environmental stewardship initiatives consistent with enterprise sustainability objectives.
• Assess, monitor, and mitigate supplier, market, and supply continuity risks that may affect Service Center operations.
• Develop team capabilities through coaching, succession planning, performance management, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Partner with operations leadership to align procurement, inventory, and production planning strategies with service, quality, and operational objectives.
• Collaborate with sales and customer service teams to support customer demand requirements, forecast changes, and inventory availability.
• Work with finance on budgeting, working capital management, inventory performance, cost savings initiatives, and financial reporting.
• Coordinate with logistics and transportation stakeholders to ensure efficient material flow and optimize freight performance.
• Participate in centralized and enterprise procurement initiatives, strategic sourcing projects, supplier management programs, sustainability efforts, and procurement policy deployment.
• Represent the company at industry conferences, supplier events, trade associations, and networking functions as needed.
• Support the development of procurement policies and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Assist with supplier issue escalation and resolution when issues extend beyond normal operational processes.
• Participate in system enhancements, ERP improvement efforts, and testing of procurement-related technologies.
• Support internal and external audit activities as required.
• Serve on company committees, task forces, and employee engagement initiatives as assigned.
• Lead by example and support the High Philosophy by building trustworthy relationships and being an innovative leader.
• Perform other duties as assigned within the scope of the role.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager