Senior Buyer

About the role

The Senior Buyer leads sourcing and pricing for electrical, mechanical, and heavy equipment on major industrial projects nationwide. This role builds bid packages from project requirements, runs competitive quotes, negotiates price and terms, and makes sure materials and equipment arrive on time to support installation and relocation schedules. The Senior Buyer is accountable for protecting project margin on the company's largest commitments and works closely with the Procurement Manager on major material purchases and heavy equipment sourcing for upcoming projects.

Responsibilities

• Bid packages: Build RFQs from project BOMs, drawings, and specifications for electrical (wire and cable, conduit, gear, controls, lighting), mechanical (pipe, valves, fittings, supports, fasteners), and heavy equipment (cranes, forklifts, aerial lifts, rigging, specialized transport).
• Competitive sourcing: Obtain a minimum of three qualified quotes where the market allows; level bids on a like-for-like basis and recommend award with written justification.
• Negotiation: Negotiate unit pricing, payment terms, freight, lead times, and price-escalation clauses; for equipment, negotiate daily/weekly/monthly rental rates, operated vs. bare rates, standby, and mobilization/demobilization.
• National vendor base: Develop and qualify suppliers in each project market on price, capacity, lead time, safety, insurance, and financial stability, with a focus on industrial and MRO installation work.
• Heavy equipment network: Cultivate vendor networks for heavy equipment rentals, including heavy forklifts, container handlers, trucks, cranes, and gantries.
• Agreements and rebates: Establish project, regional, and national pricing agreements for recurring categories; secure rebate agreements on T&M projects and line-item discounts on fixed-price projects.
• Schedule and risk: Track long-lead items and commodity trends (copper, steel); flag schedule and budget risk to project management early.
• Project partnership: Work with project managers, estimators, and superintendents from kickoff through closeout; support estimating with current market pricing.
• Terms review: Review vendor terms and conditions and elevate insurance, indemnity, and contract risk to management; review Buyer POs on major commitments.
• Warehouse stock: Work with the warehouse inventory team to stock PPE, harnesses, tooling, and supervisor gang boxes.
• DeWalt program: Deploy the DeWalt