Senior Purchasing Agent

The Senior Purchasing Agent is responsible for raw materials, equipment and MRO purchasing in support of manufacturing operations, to include procuring all required paper products, adhesives, production supplies, equipment, and consumables, and managing inventories, securing market competitive rates, and associated transportation costs, while ensuring materials are delivered within the required timeframes. 

Primary Duties/Responsibilities:

• Review purchasing jobs to validate paper requirements, facilitate procurement activities and generate purchase orders, validate purchase orders costs to invoices, and suggest alternate stocks based on market product availability.

• Negotiate pricing with suppliers and facilitate quotes for client estimates as requested.

• Coordinate shipments and deliveries across multiple paper sources in meeting production schedules.

• Maintain JIT stock purchasing without risk of stock outages; identify, escalate and resolve paper shortages before they impact production schedules.

• Oversee aged/on-hand inventory with regular reviews; anticipate needs from current/historical data.

• Serve as key paper and related inventory resource for manufacturing, sales, and client services.

• Maintain accurate transaction records in ERP systems (i.e. Foundation/Monarch , Verticent, or PSI).

• Research alternative products and/or alternate suppliers as needed or assigned.

• Provide back-up support for other Paper Purchasing Agents as needed.

• Execute paper claims resolution and processing with suppliers.

• Support FSC paper audit and certification activities for operations.

• Establish and maintain professional and appropriate relationships with all suppliers and internal teams.  

• Key point of contact for assigned commodities from scheduling, operations, or management.

• Ability to work independently, managing various activities with limited direction, while achieving defined operational and department objectives.

• Serve as a mentor for other team members including training

• Perform other (or other related) duties as applicable or assigned.

Required Skills/Abilities/Competencies:

• Excellent negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to organize and manage multiple priorities and balance changing client and company needs.

• Microsoft Office suite proficiency.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Graphic Arts, or related field; or equivalent work experience. 

• 5+ years’ purchasing experience in a manufacturing environment; paper industry experience preferred. 

• Previous paper buying experience required; demonstrated product and market knowledge. 

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to work 8 hours consecutively.

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.