Buyer 3

About the role

The Buyer 3 is a strategic partner who mentors junior staff and manages the most critical vendors. They are a subject matter expert responsible for the lifecycle management of complex products and services. This role provides leadership within the Purchasing team and partners with Strategic Sourcing to drive long-term strategies and manage vendor performance and relationships.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement long-range procurement plans for critical aircraft systems to ensure alignment with business OKRs and internal customer requirements.
• Conduct macro-economic analysis and monitor geopolitical trends to anticipate fluctuations in raw material pricing.
• Participate in "Make vs. Buy" teams.
• Identify underperforming critical vendors and participate in cross-functional "Tiger Teams" (e.g., Quality, Engineering, Logistics) to improve their manufacturing processes.
• Manage the total cost, including price, cost of quality, freight/duty, and inventory carrying costs.
• Partner with the Center of Excellence to define and standardize Purchasing workflows, ERP configurations, and data governance policies.
• Develop and present executive-level dashboards on Purchasing health, cost, quality, and performance KPIs and the impact to overall material availability.
• Lead Lean Six Sigma or Kaizen events that transcend the procurement department to optimize the entire end-to-end value stream.
• Support material readiness for First Article Inspections, ground tests, fit-checks, and aircraft integration validation events as applicable.
• Facilitate the transfer of technical data packages to suppliers and collaborate with Engineering and Quality to clarify drawing questions, part applicability, revision levels, and technical requirements prior to purchase.
• Procure specialized components for avionics integration, structural mods, mission equipment installs, antenna/radome integration, and wiring harness fabrication.
• Able to read and interpret engineering drawings, IPC diagrams, and blueprints for the purpose of identifying purchasing and sourcing requirements.
• Ability to derive purchasing requirements from proprietary data sets and construct purchasing plans/updates to show procurement progress based off MDL and BOM scopes assigned for procurement.
• Assist in identifying and problem-solving long lead or critical path materials that impact aircraft integration schedules.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent demonstrated experience required, MBA or specialized Master's preferred.
• Experience 5–10+ years’ experience developing and managing purchasing requirements for aviation MRO activities, with preference for a Part 21/Modification focused background.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating high value contracts and strategic sourcing.
• Demonstrated mitigation of global supply chain risks.
• Technical background in aerospace manufacturing processes and/or aircraft systems.
• Knowledge and understanding of Aviation Part Numbers/Alternate Part Numbers and National Stock Numbers.
• Demonstrated proficiency in understanding the documentation required for a part to be "airworthy." (e.g., FAA Form 8130-3).