Gorilla Circuits is a leading Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturer serving customers throughout North America. We operate in a fast-paced, customer-focused manufacturing environment where responsiveness, quality, innovation, and continuous improvement are critical to our success.
Our employees play an important role in building strong customer relationships and delivering solutions that meet demanding quality and delivery requirements. As we continue to grow, we are seeking a motivated and highly communicative Purchasing Lead to join our team.
Department:
Purchasing
Reports To: Purchasing Manager
FLSA Status: Exempt
Employment Type: Full-Time
Position Summary
The Purchasing Lead is responsible for coordinating and supporting day-to-day purchasing activities to ensure materials, supplies, equipment, and services are procured at the appropriate quality, cost, and delivery requirements. This position serves as a lead resource for the purchasing team, supports supplier relationships, monitors purchase orders and material availability, and works closely with Production, Planning, Engineering, Quality, Finance, and other departments.
The Purchasing Lead helps ensure purchasing activities support production schedules, inventory objectives, customer requirements, and company cost targets while maintaining accurate purchasing records and compliance with established procurement procedures.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Coordinate daily purchasing activities and provide guidance and work direction to purchasing team members.
- Review purchase requisitions and issue purchase orders in accordance with company policies, approved specifications, and authorization requirements.
- Purchase raw materials, components, supplies, equipment, and services necessary to support company operations.
- Monitor open purchase orders and proactively follow up with suppliers regarding delivery dates, shortages, backorders, and potential delays.
- Expedite critical materials to minimize production interruptions and customer delivery risks.
- Communicate material shortages, supplier delays, and other supply risks to Planning, Production, Operations, and management.
- Obtain and evaluate supplier quotations based on price, quality, lead time, capacity, payment terms, and other business requirements.
- Negotiate pricing, lead times, minimum order quantities, delivery schedules, and commercial terms within established authority.
- Identify cost-reduction and purchasing-efficiency opportunities.
- Develop and maintain professional relationships with suppliers and serve as a primary point of contact for purchasing-related issues.
- Monitor supplier performance related to quality, delivery, responsiveness, and cost.
- Coordinate with Quality regarding supplier quality issues, rejected materials, corrective actions, and supplier performance concerns.
- Partner with Engineering and Operations on new materials, specifications, alternate suppliers, and product or process changes.
- Work with Planning and Inventory Control to maintain appropriate material availability while minimizing excess and obsolete inventory.
- Review inventory levels, usage trends, lead times, and purchasing requirements to support effective replenishment decisions.
- Resolve purchase order, receiving, pricing, quantity, and invoice discrepancies.
- Coordinate purchasing activities with Accounts Payable to facilitate timely and accurate supplier payments.
- Maintain accurate supplier, pricing, lead-time, and purchasing information within the ERP system.
- Maintain appropriate purchasing documentation and records in accordance with company procedures and applicable requirements.
- Train and support purchasing personnel on company procedures, systems, documentation, and purchasing practices.
- Assist with workload prioritization and assignment of purchasing activities.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
Education and Experience:
- High school diploma or equivalent required.
- Associate's or bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations, Procurement, or a related field preferred.
- 3–5 years of purchasing, procurement, supply chain, or materials experience preferred.
- Previous lead or senior buyer experience preferred.
- Manufacturing purchasing experience strongly preferred for manufacturing environments.
- Experience working with ERP/MRP systems preferred.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong knowledge of purchasing and procurement practices.
- Ability to read and understand purchase orders, quotations, specifications, bills of materials, and supplier documentation.
- Strong supplier negotiation and relationship-management skills.