Strategic Buyer
About The Position
The Strategic Buyer is responsible for sourcing, negotiating, and managing suppliers to support Delta ModTech’s custom machinery manufacturing operations, with a primary focus on ensuring on-time delivery of parts and materials critical to production schedules. This role blends hands on purchasing execution with strategic sourcing, supplier performance management, and cross functional collaboration to prevent material shortages and production disruptions. The Strategic Buyer owns supplier relationships end-to-end, proactively monitoring lead times, delivery performance, and capacity constraints while balancing cost, quality, delivery, and risk—including proactively managing cost by analyzing spend and cost drivers, running competitive sourcing events, negotiating commercial terms, and partnering with Engineering and suppliers on value‑engineering opportunities. The ideal candidate is highly proactive, analytical, and execution‑focused, with a strong sense of urgency and accountability for meeting production commitments through reliable supplier delivery.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Business, Engineering, or related field—or equivalent experience.
- 3–5+ years of purchasing, sourcing, or supply chain experience in a manufacturing environment.
- Experience negotiating with suppliers and managing vendor performance.
- Proficiency with ERP systems (Epicor preferred).
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem‑solving skills.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work cross‑functionally.
- Strategic thinking with strong execution skills
- Ownership mentality and sense of urgency
- Supplier relationship management
- Attention to detail and follow‑through
- Ability to manage multiple priorities independently
- Team‑oriented, service‑focused mindset
- Model, steward, make decisions upon, and expect to be held accountable to Delta ModTech’s values which include: BELIEVE IN PEOPLE, FEARLESS INNOVATION, INTEGRITY, PASSIONATE & TENACIOUS, SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Nice To Haves
- Directly working with internal and external fabrication shops
- Experience working directly with Engineering
- Experience sourcing machined and fabricated components.
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings and specifications.
- Experience in low‑volume, high‑mix or custom machinery manufacturing.
- Exposure to cost modeling or should‑cost analysis.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute sourcing strategies for machined and fabricated parts, commercial parts, and indirect materials.
- Lead supplier selection, qualification, and onboarding to support new products, engineering changes, and capacity needs.
- Build and manage strong supplier relationships, including performance tracking for quality, on‑time delivery, cost, and responsiveness.
- Identify and implement cost‑reduction opportunities.
- Proactively analyze spending and cost drivers (e.g., material, labor, and outside processing) to prioritize savings opportunities.
- Lead competitive sourcing events (RFQs, benchmarking, and rebids) and negotiate pricing, lead times, and commercial terms to reduce total cost.
- Partners with Engineering and suppliers on value-engineering and specification optimization to reduce cost while meeting quality and performance requirements.
- Monitor market conditions, supplier capacity, and supply chain risk; recommend mitigation strategies.
- Track purchase order status and proactively expedite or resolve delivery, quality, or service issues.
- Prepare and manage purchase orders, bid requests, and change orders in the ERP system.
- Negotiate pricing, lead times, and commercial terms to achieve best total cost outcomes.
- Purchase production materials, stock components, tooling, safety supplies, office supplies, uniforms, and other operational needs as required.
- Maintain accurate purchasing records, pricing, contracts, and documentation.
- Partner closely with Engineering on new product development, drawings, specifications, and design changes.
- Work with Manufacturing, Engineering, Production, Inventory, and Sales to align sourcing decisions with production schedules and business priorities.
- Support management and internal teams with quotations, supplier data, and procurement analysis.
- Collaborate with Manufacturing to align internal shop capabilities and skill sets to machined-part demand (e.g., routing work to the right resources, leveling load, and reducing outside processing where practical) to improve cost and lead time.
- Initiate reviews of engineering drawings and specifications to identify simplification opportunities (e.g., tolerance rationalization, standard hardware, and reducing setups) that lower machining and fabrication cost.
- Analyze spend data and inventory trends to support better planning and sourcing decisions.
- Maintain a cost-savings pipeline (cost reduction and cost avoidance), track results, and communicate progress to stakeholders.
- Improve data quality (pricing, lead times, and supplier performance metrics) to enable accurate spending analysis and better sourcing decisions.
- Contribute to procurement process improvements, policies, and best practices.
- Support ERP data accuracy and purchasing workflow improvements.
Benefits
- Medical Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Short-Term Disability
- Long-Term Disability
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
- Life Insurance
- Health Savings Account (HSA) with up to $500 annual match (for High-Deductible Health Plans)
- 401(k) match
- Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Discretionary Bonus
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Number of Employees
11-50 employees
