Senior Buyer / Planner

About the role

The Senior Buyer Planner integrates procurement, material planning and production scheduling to meet customer demand while balancing supplier performance, manufacturing capacity, inventory and cost. The role turns customer forecasts and sales orders into executable production and purchasing plans, manages supplier commitments and leads cross-functional actions to prevent shortages, reduce backorders and support on-time delivery.

Key responsibilities

• Demand and production planning: manage customer forecasts in the ERP, develop finite production schedules and tactical supply plans, assess capacity constraints, release and prioritize work orders, and run weekly planning and priority reviews.
• Purchasing and supplier management: review MRP requisitions, create and maintain purchase orders and supplier releases, track promise dates, forecast raw material requirements by supplier, negotiate pricing and lead times, and support new product introduction.
• Inventory and cross-functional execution: monitor critical items, maintain planning parameters such as safety stock, lead and order quantities, and take part in inventory control and continuous improvement projects.
• Vendor-managed inventory programs for production and facility maintenance consumables, inbound material priorities with Receiving, intercompany transfers, freight coordination, and resolution of nonconforming material issues.
• Maintain accurate ERP records and performance reporting on on-time delivery, backorders, supplier delivery, inventory and schedule execution, and comply with quality system and regulatory requirements.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, industrial engineering, business administration, operations or equivalent relevant experience.
• Five or more years of progressive experience in purchasing, material planning or production scheduling, with hands-on experience in both procurement and manufacturing planning.
• Experience managing purchase orders, supplier relationships, shortages and production plans in an ERP environment; DELMIAWorks or IQMS experience preferred, familiarity with WMS a plus.
• Preferred: experience in medical device manufacturing or another regulated environment, knowledge of FDA and ISO requirements, and ASCM or APICS Certified in Planning and Inventory Management certification.

Required skills

• Strong understanding of MRP, finite scheduling, capacity planning and inventory management.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel; Power BI experience preferred.
• Leadership, project management, negotiation, analytical and problem-solving skills, and strong communication with suppliers, customers and management.