Senior Category Buyer

Caterpillar Inc.•East Peoria, IL

6d•$128,470 - $192,710

About The Position

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it. About Power & Energy Procurement Caterpillar’s Power & Energy Procurement organization plays a critical role in supporting all divisions within Power & Energy. Our work is geared towards our pistons of Predictable Supply Excellence, Optimized Total Cost of Ownership, Supplier Relationship Management and Lifecycle Sourcing Strategy. We continue to develop suppliers who competitively deliver operational excellence, enabling our customers to build a better world. With a strong focus on data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency, Power & Energy Procurement leverages advanced tools and processes to connect the physical and digital supply chain, enabling business units to deliver high-performance solutions that meet evolving customers and business needs Role Definition We are seeking a Senior Category Buyer. This person will provide purchasing solutions expertise, using Quality, Cost, Logistics, Development, and Management (QCLDM) to deliver maximum value.

Requirements

Negotiating: Knowledge of successful negotiation concepts and techniques; ability to negotiate successfully across the organization and with external vendors and clients in a constructive and collaborative manner. Ensures negotiators have awareness of complementary yet diverse interests. Successfully completes significant negotiations, both internal and external. Details the risks of negotiation breakdown from each party's perspective Protects own position, while demonstrating willingness to achieve win-win. Identifies similarities and differences in position and assesses impact on discussions. Detects and addresses lack of progress or a stalemate.
Purchasing Tasks and Activities: Knowledge of policies, regulations and processes of purchasing; ability to use practices and procedures for procurement of materials, components, equipment and services. Works with the implementation of complex purchasing programs and tasks. Advises on the appropriate solutions to complex purchasing activity problems. Monitors the effectiveness of procurement policies and strategies in high cost purchases. Improves procurement processes to maximize products or services efficiency and effectiveness. Teaches others how to use advanced technologies and tools for purchasing activities. Evaluates issues and considerations for purchasing various goods and services.
Supplier Relationship Management: Knowledge of supplier relationship management concept and strategies; ability to address critical issues to meet supplier needs and maintain engaged, partnering relationship with suppliers. Advises others on the organization's supplier relationship management practices. Builds consensus, resolves conflicts, and applies techniques to achieve influence and impact results with different suppliers in the organization's supplier network. Coaches juniors on selecting, evaluating, and managing suppliers. Conducts periodic reviews of work effort, progress, issues, and successes in supplier relationship establishment and management. Evaluates the impact of SRM on the organization's different financials. Refines organizational processes for establishing and maintaining supplier partnerships.
Strategic Sourcing: Knowledge of strategic sourcing methods, technologies and processes; ability to analyze, improve and re-evaluate organizational procurement process continuously. Participates in monitoring the execution for all stages of the strategic sourcing process. Trains others on strategic sourcing in multiple and diverse environments. Designs and develops standard supplier agreements and procurement policies with standardized terms and conditions. Works with complex strategic sourcing components including but not limited to negotiations, contracting, and continuous process improvement and implementation. Consults on strategic sourcing methods in relation to business relationships, inter-dependencies and integration. Develops and explains strategic sourcing best practices and rationale for the organization and industry.

Responsibilities

Developing, managing and executing the category strategy managing policies, agreements, source catalogs, and special procurement programs.
Recognizing the potential for cost decreases, inventory reductions and quality improvement, as well as responsibility for soundness of business proposals and risk assessment.
Acting as the liaison between the organization and the supplier to communicate information explicitly, while considering production demands and suppliers' conditions.
Documenting the suppliers' performance on time sensitiveness and production; maintains a strong relationship with suppliers.