The posting
IPEX is one of the North American leading providers of advanced plastic piping systems. Our mission is to shape a better tomorrow by connecting people with water and energy.
We currently have an exciting opportunity as a Buyer, Indirect! This role is based at our Office in Lynchburg, Virginia and reports to the Purchasing Manager.
Do not miss the opportunity to join a diverse group of people-centric professionals, thought leaders and rapid thinkers, entrepreneurs in spirit and status quo-fighters!
Job Summary
The Buyer, Indirect is responsible for managing the strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier management, and contract administration of indirect goods and services across multiple manufacturing facilities. This role plays a key part in driving operational efficiency and cost optimization by developing sourcing strategies, leading supplier negotiations, managing commercial agreements, and ensuring consistent supplier performance.
As a trusted business partner, the Buyer collaborates closely with stakeholders across operations, maintenance, engineering, finance, human resources, information technology, and plant leadership to deliver high-quality procurement solutions that align with organizational objectives. The successful candidate will help advance a structured and scalable indirect procurement function while promoting governance, compliance, and continuous improvement across the business.
Principal Responsibilities
- Develop and execute sourcing strategies for assigned indirect spend categories to achieve cost savings, service improvements, risk mitigation, and supplier performance objectives.
- Manage the full sourcing lifecycle, including supplier identification, RFQ/RFP development, supplier evaluations, commercial negotiations, and supplier selection recommendations.
- Negotiate pricing, contracts, service level agreements, and commercial terms to maximize value and optimize total cost of ownership.
- Support contract lifecycle management activities, including contract development, renewals, compliance monitoring, and supplier performance reviews.
- Analyze spend data and purchasing trends to identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, process improvements, cost savings, and strategic sourcing initiatives.
- Establish supplier performance metrics and conduct regular business reviews to drive accountability, service excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand business needs and deliver effective procurement solutions.
- Ensure purchasing activities comply with company policies and governance requirements.
- Lead competitive bidding events and supplier benchmarking initiatives.
- Prepare procurement reports, dashboards, and performance metrics to support leadership decision-making and category strategies.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate supplier-related risks that could impact business continuity, service delivery, or financial performance.
- Support the development and implementation of procurement policies, procedures, supplier management programs, and category management best practices.
- Identify and mitigate supplier-related risks while supporting continuous improvement initiatives.
Qualifications & Experience
- 3-5 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, purchasing, supply chain, or category management.
- Experience sourcing indirect goods and services within a manufacturing environment highly preferred.
- Proven experience managing RFQs, RFPs, supplier evaluations, negotiations, contract management, and competitive bidding.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation, and supplier relationship management skills.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including data analysis and reporting. Experience with data visualization tools including PowerBI or Tableau is an asset.
- Experience with ERP, purchasing, or spend analysis systems is an asset.
- Strong business acumen, attention to detail, and organizational skills.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
- Self-motivated with a continuous improvement mindset and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
IPEX is committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities throughout the recruitment process and, upon request, will work with qualified job applicants to provide suitable accommodation in a manner that takes into account the applicant’s accessibility needs due to disability. Accommodation requests are available to candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process for IPEX jobs. To request an accommodation, please contact HR at [email protected]
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