Senior Buyer

Vital Bio • Oakville, ON

3d • CA$85,000 - CA$100,000 • Onsite

About The Position

You are a seasoned, proactive, detail-oriented supply chain professional who thrives in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment and is eager to help scale a startup into production and commercialization. With experience in biomedical or electro-mechanical manufacturing, you’re comfortable managing planning, procurement, and new product introduction activities while building strong relationships across engineering, manufacturing, quality, and finance. You are analytical, organized, and hands-on, with the judgment to keep material flowing and the curiosity to improve processes as the company scales.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, engineering, science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in procurement, supply chain, or production planning, ideally in biomedical, diagnostics, or electro-mechanical manufacturing.
• NPI experience is mandatory, candidates without demonstrated NPI involvement in a manufacturing, electronics, hardware, or related environment will not be considered.
• Hands-on experience with supplier management, purchasing, inventory control, and production planning.
• Deep experience with PO management systems, ERP/MRP platforms (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, or equivalent), and procurement analytics tools.
• Strong analytical, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and communicate clearly with technical and non-technical partners.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
• Strong organization and ability to manage multiple priorities in a lean environment.
• Strong understanding of inventory management principles — safety stock, reorder points, lot sizing, and aging/obsolescence management.
• Ability to read and interpret supplier agreements and escalate commercial discrepancies to the Sourcing team appropriately.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and track procurement KPIs including on-time delivery, supplier scorecards, cost savings, PO accuracy, inventory aging, and Purchase Price Variance (PPV).
• Experience in high-pressure, fast-moving environments requiring rapid decision-making and prioritization.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in regulated industries such as medical devices, diagnostics, biotechnology, or pharmaceuticals.
• Familiarity with GMP, ISO 13485, or other quality management systems.
• Experience with MISys or similar ERP/MES platforms.
• Exposure to NPI, design transfer, or prototype planning.
• Experience with continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean or Six Sigma.
• Interest in stepping into a broader procurement leadership role as the company grows.
• An appreciation for puns and a positive, solutions-oriented attitude.

Responsibilities

• Identify and lead improvements to planning, procurement, and inventory processes, championing better tools, smarter workflows, and scalable infrastructure as the company grows.
• Co-Develop and implement KPIs and procurement metrics dashboards (on-time delivery, cost savings, PO accuracy, supplier scorecards, spend analytics, and Purchase Price Variance (PPV)).
• Support supplier sourcing and RFQ activity for NPI and production materials.
• Support development of a diversified, resilient supplier base, leading qualification efforts and reducing single-source risk in coordination with Sourcing.
• Own purchasing and planning activities for assigned commodities, including raw materials, components, and services.
• Own prototype procurement and material readiness for new builds, coordinating assembly planning timelines, identifying long-lead risks early, and ensuring nothing blocks a build.
• Partner with Sourcing to develop a comprehensive per-part procurement plan for every component transferred, covering approved vendor qualification, lead times, MOQs, safety stock levels, PO strategy, and supply continuity risk.
• Manage end-of-life (EOL) and last-time-buy (LTB) strategies for components affected by product transitions.
• Own the formal design transfer and handoff process from Sourcing at the Pilot stage, assuming full procurement ownership of all parts from Pilot build onward.
• Partnering with Planning: Drive inventory strategy for assigned commodities — establishing safety stock levels, reorder parameters, and demand-aligned replenishment plans in close partnership with planning to minimize excess while protecting continuity.
• Hold suppliers accountable to performance standards, managing change controls, lead times, quality, delivery, and pricing with urgency, and escalating risks with clear recommendations and resolution paths.
• Partner with engineering and supplier quality to qualify new suppliers and support design transfer activities.
• Maintain and champion master data integrity in MISys, including items, BOMs, suppliers, jobs, and locations, establishing standards that others on the team can rely on.
• Partner with engineering and supplier quality on new supplier qualification and design transfer activities, contributing sourcing expertise early in the NPI cycle to reduce risk and accelerate timelines.
• Coordinate production and procurement schedules with manufacturing to support capacity and demand needs.
• Conduct spend analysis and category reviews across reagents and instrument hardware to identify consolidation and savings opportunities — surfacing insights to Sourcing for contract action.
• Support prototype procurement, assembly planning, and material readiness for new builds.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning, procurement, and inventory processes, and help implement better tools and workflows.

Benefits

• Compensation will be determined based on the individual’s demonstrated experience, education, training, relevant certifications or licensure, and other applicable business and organizational factors.

What This Job Offers

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