Job Description
We are hiring a Buyer to support a growing manufacturing operation. This is a hands-on purchasing role responsible for sourcing production materials, managing supplier relationships, maintaining inventory levels, and ensuring materials are available to support production schedules. The Buyer will have one direct report and will work closely with Operations, Engineering, Production, Quality, and Accounting.
Location: McKenzie, TN
Hire Type: Direct Hire
Compensation: $75k–$85k
Schedule: 100% onsite with flexible hours.
What You’ll Do:
- Manage purchasing for production materials, maintenance supplies, consumables, services, and contracts
- Source, quote, negotiate, and purchase items such as castings, plate, bar stock, valve components, and other manufacturing materials
- Review material requirements, bills of material, Kanban cards, requisitions, and purchase requests
- Issue purchase orders, blanket orders, and supplier agreements while maintaining accurate records
- Negotiate supplier pricing, quality, delivery terms, and service agreements
- Monitor inventory, forecast material needs, expedite orders, and help keep production on schedule
- Build strong relationships with domestic and global suppliers and resolve quality or delivery concerns
- Support Lean purchasing and inventory programs, including Kanban, vendor-managed inventory, consignment, and pull systems
- Use ERP systems to manage purchasing activity, planning parameters, supplier performance, and procurement data
- Track purchasing metrics and support continuous-improvement initiatives
- Supervise and support one direct report
- Travel up to 15% for supplier visits, client meetings, and business needs
What We’re Looking For:
- Must Have: 3+ years of purchasing, procurement, or buyer experience within a manufacturing or industrial environment
- Must Have: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field, or a high school diploma/GED with at least 5 years of purchasing experience
- Must Have: Experience purchasing raw materials, production components, or services for a manufacturing operation
- Strong negotiation skills and the ability to balance cost, quality, and delivery needs
- ERP purchasing system experience
- Comfortable reviewing BOMs, inventory data, and material requirements
- Strong communication, organization, and follow-up skills
- Experience with Lean manufacturing, Kanban, VMI, consignment inventory, or supplier performance metrics is a plus
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | McKenzie, TN |
| Industry | Staffing/Employment Agencies |
| Salary | $75,000–$85,000 Per Year |
| Company Size | 500 to 999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1969 |
| Website | http://www.sterling-engineering.com |
About Company
Sterling Engineering has been a trusted partner for engineering, project management, and staffing solutions for over five decades. We provide exceptional engineering/technical recruitment and engineering project services to clients nationwide:
- Engineering & Technical Recruitment - With our focus on engineering, technical, and IT, Sterling has the in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and robust employee pipeline it takes to rapidly find talent for even the most difficult to fill positions. Sterling’s extensive recruitment methodology allows us to engage the most talented employees in the marketplace. We offer exciting work and career-building opportunities for our candidates, along with expert support at every step of the process.
- Engineering Project Services – Our experienced, multi-disciplined team of project managers, engineers, and designers, led by licensed Professional Engineers (PE), provide project management, engineering, design, and Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation (CQV) to manufacturing, OEM, and R&D customers. We work on complex, highly technical projects across a number of industry sectors, and our ability to scale and seamlessly integrate at multiple levels of your organization is what differentiates us.
Sterling offers a unique combination of engineering solutions and Best of Staffing level service to help our clients and talent achieve their goals.
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