Senior buyer

Chipton-Ross is seeking a Senior Buyer for a direct opportunity in Buena Park, CA.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS (REQUIRED SKILLS/EXPERIENCE):

• Five or more years of progressive purchasing, procurement, sourcing, or supply chain experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience issuing purchase orders, conducting RFQs, negotiating commercial terms, managing suppliers, and resolving delivery or quality problems.
• Working knowledge of ERP or MRP systems, bills of material, drawings and specifications, inventory controls, lead times, and material requirements.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills and the ability to analyze quotations, cost information, supplier performance, and purchasing data.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and urgent requirements while maintaining accuracy, documentation, and professional supplier relationships.
• Strong judgment, negotiation, problem solving, written communication, and cross functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to work onsite and interact regularly with office, receiving, inspection, and production teams.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and execute sourcing and purchasing strategies for assigned commodities, including raw materials, machined components, castings, tooling, outside processing, production supplies, and services.
• Prepare and issue requests for quotation; analyze supplier proposals for price, lead time, capacity, quality, technical compliance, payment terms, and total cost of ownership.
• Negotiate pricing, delivery, minimum order quantities, tooling charges, freight, payment terms, and other commercial conditions within established authority.
• Create, maintain, and close purchase orders in the ERP system with accurate quantities, pricing, due dates, revisions, specifications, quality clauses, and customer or regulatory flow downs.
• Monitor open orders and supplier commitments, identify shortages and late deliveries early, and drive expedites or recovery plans to protect production schedules and customer delivery dates.
• Partner with Planning and Operations to align purchase priorities with MRP demand, inventory levels, lead times, safety stock, capacity constraints, and changing production requirements.
• Coordinate with Engineering and Quality on drawings, specifications, approved sources, first article requirements, supplier changes, nonconforming material, corrective actions, and technical questions.
• Evaluate supplier performance using delivery, quality, responsiveness, cost, and risk data; conduct supplier reviews and lead improvement or escalation activities when performance falls below expectations.
• Identify and qualify alternate sources to reduce cost, shorten lead times, resolve capacity constraints, and mitigate single source, obsolescence, geopolitical, or continuity risks.
• Initiate and coordinate supplier onboarding and setup for new sources, including nondisclosure agreements, vendor records and codes, and required documentation, in partnership with Quality and Finance.
• Support new product introductions, program transfers, engineering changes, and make or buy decisions by obtaining reliable cost, lead time, capacity, and supplier readiness information.
• Resolve invoice discrepancies, receiving issues, returns, credits, and purchase order variances in partnership with Receiving, Quality, and Finance.
• Maintain complete purchasing records and comply with company policies, delegated authority, customer requirements, the quality management system, and applicable export control and procurement requirements.
• Provide guidance to less experienced buyers and share market, supplier, and commodity knowledge across the team.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS (DESIRED SKILLS/EXPERIENCE):

• Bachelor degree in supply chain, business, operations, engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
• Purchasing experience in aerospace, defense, precision machining, die casting, metal products, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
• Experience purchasing aluminum or zinc alloys, CNC machined components, tooling, finishing, heat treatment, plating, coatings, or other outside processing services.
• Familiarity with aerospace quality requirements, customer flow downs, approved supplier controls, first article inspection, traceability, and counterfeit parts prevention.
• Knowledge of FAR or DFARS requirements and United States export controls applicable to aerospace and defense supply chains.
• APICS CSCP or CPIM, ISM CPSM, or comparable procurement or supply chain certification.

REQUIRED EDUCATION:

Accredited

WORK HOURS:

Full-Time