Buyer

About Us

Exemplis started in a small California warehouse with three employees and has grown over 30 years into a leader across multiple industries through brands like SitOnIt Seating, Timbuk2, X-Chair, Maverick, Mavix, Edloe Finch, and Albany Park. We focus on sustainable manufacturing, community outreach, and social justice, with people and their communities at the core of our organization. With headquarters, offices, and retail stores across the U.S., we offer flexible work opportunities and strive to make a positive impact.

About the Role

We are seeking a driven and detail-oriented Buyer to support procurement, supply planning, and supplier management activities in a fast-paced, global environment. This role ensures material availability, optimizes supplier performance, and contributes to cost and service improvements that support overall business objectives. The Buyer will partner cross-functionally with operations, engineering, and quality teams while proactively managing supplier relationships to meet delivery, quality, and cost targets. This is a hybrid role requiring onsite work three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).

Responsibilities

• Procure supplies, materials, services, and equipment to ensure on-time delivery aligned with production requirements.
• Place, maintain, and update purchase orders to support continuity of supply and prevent backorders or stockouts.
• Plan, schedule, and monitor the movement of materials through the fulfillment cycle.
• Identify and communicate potential material shortages and implement mitigation plans.
• Ensure suppliers have complete and accurate product information to meet quality and delivery requirements.
• Monitor and manage supplier performance using key metrics (OTD, COT, lead time, capacity, safety stock), develop corrective actions, and deliver supplier scorecards.
• Track order fulfillment performance, assign root causes for failures, and drive continuous improvement for assigned commodities.
• Monitor internal min/max levels and vendor safety stock to optimize inventory turns while ensuring material availability.
• Review and manage daily supply chain exceptions including shortages, backorders, late shipments/receipts, excess inventory, and master data discrepancies.
• Track and resolve supplier-related issues including MRB items, non-conformances, and cost recovery actions.
• Conduct regular supplier reviews to evaluate forecasts, capacity commitments, and risk mitigation plans to maintain demand-supply balance.
• Partner cross-functionally to support inventory planning, forecasting, and production requirements.
• Manage engineering change orders (ECOs) and ensure effective material transitions.
• Drive cost improvement initiatives, including PPV and supplier/part transitions.
• Own and report on procurement KPIs for assigned suppliers and commodities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of experience in procurement, purchasing, or supply chain roles.
• Knowledge of materials requirement planning (MRP), inventory control techniques, forecasting, and production planning.
• Understanding of cost/price analysis, standard costing, and production processes (internal and supplier-side).
• Experience with supplier kanban, safety stock programs, lead time reduction, and vendor-managed inventory (VMI/VOI).
• Experience managing a global supply chain, preferably including Asia and/or Mexico, with exposure to Just-in-Time (JIT) principles.
• Proficiency in Excel for data analysis (e.g., pivot tables, lookups, and working with large datasets).
• Experience using data and KPIs (e.g., OTD, COT, inventory levels) to identify root causes of supply or performance issues and implement improvements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree.
• Professional certifications such as CPM, CPSM, or APICS.
• Experience in the office furniture or manufacturing industry.
• Bilingual skills in Mandarin.

Why This Role

• Opportunity to make a direct impact on supply chain performance and business results.
• Collaborative, cross-functional environment.
• Exposure to global supplier networks and strategic sourcing initiatives.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary: Externally competitive and internally fair, with ranges adjusted for cost of labor, experience, skill set, and education. Salary range: $65,040.00 - $97,561.00.
• Hybrid Work Schedule: Remote work on Mondays and Fridays; onsite collaboration on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• Health Insurance: Variety of options (medical, dental, vision, etc.) available from the first month.
• 401(k): 100% match up to 3% and 50% match of the next 2% deferred.
• Time Off: Paid time off starts accruing on day 1.
• Observed Holidays: 10 company-observed holidays.
• Employee Discounts: Discounts across all product lines.
• Hit Our Numbers Lunch: Celebratory lunches for monthly milestones.
• Tuition Scholarships: Partnership with UMASS Global for 10%-20% off tuition for you and/or your family.

Schedule

Hybrid role requiring onsite work three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).