Buyer II

The Buyer II at Waters Corportation is responsible for managing procurement activities for direct materials to support manufacturing operations. Manage supplier relationships, negotiate pricing, lead times, and commercial terms while driving cost savings and supplier performance improvements. Execute purchase orders, monitor supplier confirmations and delivery schedules, and proactively resolve material shortages and supply disruptions. Partner cross-functionally with Planning, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Quality to ensure material availability and support on-time customer delivery.
Maintain accurate SAP purchasing data, manage raw material inventory levels, and support continuous improvement initiatives across the supply chain.

This is an onsite position

Material Availability: Ensure timely procurement of materials and components to support manufacturing schedules, production requirements, and customer delivery commitments.

• Purchase Order Management: Create, manage, and expedite purchase orders while monitoring supplier confirmations, delivery dates, and open order commitments.

• Supplier Management: Develop and maintain supplier relationships, monitor supplier performance, and drive improvements in on-time delivery, quality, and responsiveness.

• Shortage Management: Proactively identify, communicate, and resolve material shortages, supply constraints, and potential production disruptions.

• Strategic Sourcing & Cost Management: Negotiate pricing, lead times, payment terms, and supplier agreements while identifying cost reduction and sourcing opportunities.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Planning, Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, and Finance to align purchasing activities with business priorities.

• SAP & Master Data Management: Maintain accurate purchasing information, pricing, lead times, supplier records, and material master data in SAP S/4HANA.

• Inventory Optimization: Monitor inventory levels, excess and obsolete materials, supplier lead times, and purchasing trends to support inventory objectives.

• Supplier Risk Management: Identify supplier capacity constraints, financial risks, single-source dependencies, and other potential supply chain vulnerabilities.

• Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve procurement processes, purchasing efficiencies, supplier performance, and overall supply chain execution.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field preferred.

• Associate degree with relevant purchasing/procurement experience may be considered.

• Equivalent combination of education and hands-on procurement experience accepted.

Experience

• 3-5 years of purchasing, procurement, or supply chain experience in a manufacturing environment.

• Experience purchasing direct materials, components, and manufactured products.

• Demonstrated experience managing supplier relationships, negotiating pricing, and expediting purchase orders.

• Experience managing material shortages, supplier delivery issues, and competing business priorities.

• Understanding of inventory management, MRP, demand planning, and production scheduling.

Technical Skills

• Working knowledge of SAP ERP, preferably SAP S/4HANA, including purchasing, purchase orders, material master data, and inventory transactions.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including data analysis, reporting, and purchasing metrics.

• Ability to analyze supplier performance, lead times, pricing trends, and inventory requirements.

• Understanding of procurement processes, Incoterms, supplier agreements, and basic supply chain financial principles.

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is a global leader in life sciences and diagnostics, dedicated to accelerating the benefits of pioneering science through analytical technologies, informatics, and service. With a focus on regulated, high-volume testing environments, our innovative portfolio harnesses deep scientific expertise across chemistry, physics, and biology. We collaborate with customers around the world to advance the release of effective, high-quality medicines, ensure the safety of food and water, and drive better patient outcomes by detecting diseases earlier, managing routine infections, and combating antibiotic resistance. Through a shared culture of relentless innovation, our passionate team of ~16,000 colleagues turn scientific challenges into breakthroughs that improve lives worldwide.

Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our core values at Waters Corporation. It benefits our employees, our products, our customers and our community. Waters complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to sex, race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, marital status (including civil unions), military service, veteran status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, legally recognized disability, domestic violence victim status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Waters is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All hiring decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.