Senior Buyer

About Company:

Steele Solutions Inc. is the nation's leading designer and manufacturer of platforms and mezzanines used to support equipment in distribution, fulfillment, and sortation centers throughout the United States. We also design and build structures to support and access equipment in numerous other industries, with installations in every state and throughout the world!

About the Role

Reporting to the Purchasing Manager, the Senior Buyer is a key member of the Supply Chain team responsible for ensuring material availability, optimizing supplier performance, and supporting operational excellence across the organization. This role combines strategic sourcing, purchasing execution, supplier relationship management, problem-solving, and data analysis to ensure materials and outsourced services are available to meet production requirements and customer commitments. This position also plays a critical role in onboarding, training, and mentoring Buyers to strengthen overall team capability and performance.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as management may deem necessary from time to time.

• Review MRP requirements and procure materials, components, and outsourced services to support production schedules and customer commitments.
• Develop, maintain, and strengthen supplier relationships through effective communication, collaboration, accountability, and performance management.
• Lead supplier negotiations related to pricing, lead times, service levels, and commercial terms while identifying opportunities for cost savings and supply chain optimization.
• Monitor supplier performance and proactively manage delivery commitments, shortages, capacity constraints, quality concerns, and other supply risks to ensure continuity of operations.
• Analyze supplier and purchasing data to identify trends, mitigate risks, and support continuous improvement initiatives that enhance purchasing processes, supplier performance, and operational efficiency.
• Develop and maintain accurate forecasts in partnership with the Supply Chain team to improve material availability, inventory performance, and production planning.
• Resolve supply chain issues by expediting deliveries, coordinating quality concerns, and addressing purchasing, receiving, and invoice discrepancies in collaboration with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate purchasing, supplier, lead-time, pricing, planning, and forecasting data within the ERP system to support operational and inventory objectives.
• Partner cross-functionally with Production, Inventory, Quality, Engineering, Accounting, and other departments to support business needs, improve processes, and achieve organizational goals.
• Support supplier qualification, evaluation, and development efforts to improve supplier reliability, quality, and overall performance.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for procurement processes and best practices while assisting with the onboarding, training, and mentoring of buyers and other Supply Chain team members.
• Support organizational objectives by balancing cost, quality, delivery, inventory, and service requirements while driving supply chain performance improvements.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Purchasing Manager or other operational leaders.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain or a related field required.
• Three to five (3-5) years of previous supply chain experience required.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating supplier pricing, contracts, lead times, and commercial agreements.
• Experience managing supplier performance and implementing cost reduction or process improvement initiatives.
• ERP/MRP system experience required; Epicor experience preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.

Other Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work professionally across departments and with suppliers.
• Ability to prioritize work and resolve issues in a fast-paced environment.

Why Will You Love Working Here?

• A collaborative culture.
• Opportunities to make a real impact as we grow.
• Competitive pay, great benefits, and a great team.
• Celebrations, volunteer days, and moments that make work more than just "work"!

Are You Ready to Join the SSi Team?

Steele Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-Verify. We are committed to maintaining a lawful workforce and verify employment eligibility for all newly hired employees in accordance with federal requirements.