Buyer

Responsibilities

• Commercial Management & Cost Optimization (Focus: "Lowest total cost" & "Commercial relationship")
• Strategic Negotiations: Lead negotiations for piece price, tooling, and design costs with suppliers to achieve best-in-class pricing without compromising quality.
• Cost Analysis: Deconstruct supplier quotes using "should-cost" modeling and breakdown analysis (labor, material, overhead, profit) to identify gaps and leverage points.
• Annual Cost Reductions: Drive year-over-year cost savings initiatives (Total Value Management) through commercial leverage, re-sourcing, or Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VA/VE) ideas.
• Contract Management: Draft and execute sourcing agreements, ensuring favorable Terms & Conditions that protect the company against raw material fluctuations and currency risks.
• New Program Launch & Strategy (Focus: "Launch new vehicle programs" & "Commercial lead")
• Sourcing Execution: Manage the Request for Quotation (RFQ) process for new vehicle programs, ensuring suppliers are selected and nominated in alignment with program timing milestones.
• Sourcing Strategy: Develop commodity strategies that align with the company’s long-term technology roadmap and capacity requirements.
• Tooling Management: Oversee the kickoff and validation of supplier tooling to ensure parts are production-ready (PPAP) by the required deadline.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration (Focus: "Collaborating with Engineering, Quality, and Finance")
• Engineering Alignment: Partner with Product Engineering to influence design decisions early in the process to optimize for cost and manufacturability (DFM).
• Financial Tracking: Work with Finance to set target costs for new programs and track actual sourcing performance against the budget (Bill of Material management).
• Quality Resolution: Support Supplier Technical Assistance (STA) and Quality teams in resolving critical defects; lead commercial discussions regarding warranty recovery and chargebacks.
• Supply Chain Continuity & Lifecycle Management (Focus: "On time" & "Manage current production life-cycles")
• Capacity Planning: Monitor supplier manufacturing capacity to ensure they can meet fluctuating production volumes.
• Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify supply chain risks (e.g., geopolitical issues, sub-tier shortages) and develop contingency plans to prevent line stoppages.
• Change Management: Manage Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) for current production parts, negotiating the cost impact of design changes and ensuring smooth implementation.
  

Qualifications