The Buyer I supports the purchasing team by ordering materials, parts, equipment, and supplies needed for the organization. This role helps ensure that items are ordered at a good price, meet quality standards, and arrive on time. The Buyer I works with vendors, tracks orders, and assists with day-to-day purchasing tasks to keep operations running smoothly.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Coordinate procurement of required products and services from intent to purchase through delivery
- Communicate requirements of assigned commodities, including technical specifications, compliance, quality and schedule requirements
- Request and evaluate quotes for assigned commodities when needed
- Negotiate best value and terms with suppliers to achieve lowest possible cost that meets quality, quantity, inventory and schedule requirements
- Generate purchase orders that comply with company, customer, contractual, and government regulations
- Manage and maintain required documentation for purchasing, including orders, amendments and shipping notices
- Apply Total Cost of Acquisition principle to short and long term buying decisions
- Realign purchase order schedules to support demand with lowest impact on DSI while maintaining cost and production continuity objectives
- Support the bid and proposal process
- Develop strong supplier relationships for assigned commodities
- Develop and implement cost reduction initiatives to ensure favorable PPV
- Identify risk and escalate issues when appropriate for mitigation
- Support development of supplier agreements for assigned commodities
- Meet with supplier representatives, conduct quarterly business reviews with key suppliers
- Monitor supplier performance, provide feedback to support corrective action plans
- Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor
Job Requirements
- Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Operations, Supply Chain Management, Business or a technical discipline preferred
- Minimum 1-3 years successful purchasing experience
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office software
- Excellent organizational skills