Purchasing Specialist/Buyer

Job Description

Job Description

Purchasing Specialist / Buyer

Position Summary

Prospect is seeking a detail-oriented and organized Purchasing Specialist / Buyer to manage supplier relationships, purchasing activities, and supplier performance. This position will be responsible for sourcing and qualifying suppliers, obtaining quotes, issuing purchase orders, monitoring deliveries, and ensuring optimized cost of purchased materials and services that meet company, customer, quality, and regulatory requirements.

Experience in aerospace or manufacturing purchasing is highly desirable.

This role supports compliance with applicable aerospace, customer, and regulatory purchasing requirements by ensuring supplier approvals, flow-down requirements, documentation, certifications, and purchasing records are complete, current, and traceable.

The position may purchase raw materials, hardware, tooling, outside processing services, subcontracted machining, calibration services, inspection services, packaging, and other production or business-critical supplies as assigned.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, communicate with, and evaluate potential suppliers.
• Establish purchasing terms and negotiate pricing, delivery, and other order requirements.
• Evaluate and measure suppliers based on cost, quality, delivery, capabilities, risk, and customer requirements.
• Support the approval and onboarding of new suppliers.
• Laise between suppliers and Prospect to ensure optimal material selection and/or design for manufacturability.
• Maintain accurate supplier information in accounting and ERP systems.
• Verify required supplier documentation, certifications, and qualifications.
• Ensure suppliers meet applicable quality and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain and monitor the company’s Approved Supplier List.
• Evaluate supplier risk and performance and assign appropriate supplier ratings.
• Monitor supplier quality and delivery performance and address issues when performance does not meet expectations.
• Document supplier non-conformances, including quality issues, errors, and late deliveries.
• Work with suppliers on corrective actions and performance improvement when necessary.
• Obtain and evaluate competitive quotations when applicable.
• Review and approve supplier quotations.
• Prepare and issue purchase orders to approved suppliers.
• Ensure purchase orders include required specifications, delivery dates, inspection requirements, certifications, and other applicable customer requirements.
• Track purchase orders and supplier delivery performance through the ERP system.

• Monitor material availability, lead times, price trends, minimum order quantities, and inventory needs to support production schedules while controlling total cost and avoiding unnecessary stock exposure.

• Review supplier certifications and test reports for completeness and accuracy.
• Ensure appropriate requirements are communicated to suppliers, including applicable aerospace and customer requirements.

• When applicable, verify that supplier communications, purchase orders, drawings, specifications, and technical data are handled in accordance with ITAR, EAR, customer, and company requirements.

• Verify that suppliers are authorized manufacturers or distributors when required.
• Maintain purchasing records, supplier documentation, purchase orders, and certifications in accordance with company procedures.
• Work closely with internal departments, suppliers, and customers to resolve purchasing and supplier-related issues.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in purchasing, procurement, supply chain, or supplier management.
• General competency of purchasing for a manufacturing operation.
• Strong organizational and attention-to-detail skills.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Ability to evaluate pricing, quality, delivery, and supplier capabilities.
• Experience using ERP, purchasing, or accounting systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in aerospace, manufacturing, or precision machining .
• Familiarity with AS9100, ISO 9001, NADCAP, ITAR, or EAR requirements.
• Experience working with supplier quality and qualification processes.
• Knowledge of material certifications, test reports, and supplier documentation.
• Experience with OEMs, authorized distributors, or specialized-process suppliers.

Success Criteria

Success in this role is measured by supplier on-time delivery, supplier quality performance, purchase order accuracy, cost savings or cost avoidance, documentation completeness, responsiveness to production needs, and effective resolution of supplier issues.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a proactive, organized, and analytical purchasing professional who can build strong supplier relationships while maintaining high standards for quality, cost, and delivery. This person should be comfortable working in a regulated manufacturing environment and coordinating with both suppliers and internal teams.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to join a dynamic team in a thriving aerospace business and play an important role in the company’s purchasing and supply chain operations while working directly with suppliers and internal teams to ensure the timely availability of quality materials and services.

Reports to : Supply Chain Manager. 

Employment type : Full-time. 

Work location : On-site, with regular coordination among purchasing, quality, production, engineering, and project management teams.