Senior Buyer

JSG is a professional search firm, seeking a Senior Buyer for one of the our top food, contract manufacturing clients in the near north suburbs.

Position Summary

The Senior Buyer plays a strategic and hands-on role in ensuring the timely procurement of commodities, raw materials, packaging, and other critical supplies. This position is responsible for securing goods at the most competitive cost without compromising quality, quantity, or delivery standards. The Senior Buyer works closely with both internal teams and external suppliers to maintain a seamless supply chain that supports the company’s operational efficiency and long-term growth.

This role requires strong cross-functional communication and collaboration with key stakeholders including customers, sales, planning and scheduling, R&D, warehouse, distribution, logistics, and production. The Senior Buyer will actively manage supplier relationships, support new product launches, and lead cost optimization initiatives.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage material requirements using MRP to identify and address shortages or surpluses.
• Issue purchase orders and coordinate deliveries to align with production schedules.
• Monitor inventory levels for packaging, raw materials, and coatings to prevent stockouts or excess.
• Track and resolve return-to-vendor issues to recover costs for defective materials.
• Build and maintain strong supplier partnerships to ensure quality, service, and cost objectives are met.
• Collaborate with customers and suppliers to source materials for new product development.
• Conduct plant and supplier visits to verify quality standards and supply reliability.
• Participate in weekly commercialization meetings and customer calls.
• Partner with Sales, R&D, and Planning to align material sourcing with product and project timelines.
• Work closely with Finance to complete monthly purchase price variance (PPV) reports and quarterly pricing updates.
• Identify cost reduction opportunities without compromising quality or delivery.
• Track procurement KPIs to measure efficiency and drive process improvements.
• Support initiatives to streamline ordering, reduce lead times, and improve vendor performance.
• Attend Plant tours to ensure knowledge of the processes of all items responsible for purchasing.
• Attend plant tours for the purpose of insuring Georgia Nut is purchasing from reputable sources of supply to insure continued supply without interruption.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS

Compensation

$90k-$110k.

Full Benefits

Ie. Medical, Dental, Vision, Supplemental Life / AD&D