Buyer Planner
Aston CarterBuyer / Planner
The Buyer / Planner role supports procurement, material planning, and production scheduling in a high-tech manufacturing environment. You will manage purchasing activities for direct production materials, MRO items, and services while ensuring accurate financial review of purchasing transactions. This position is ideal for a detail-oriented professional who enjoys working with ERP/
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MRP systems, collaborating across departments, and ensuring materials and services are available to support on-time production.
Responsibilities
• Manage day-to-day purchasing activities for direct production materials, MRO items, services, recurring charges, and blanket purchase orders.
• Plan and coordinate material requirements to support production schedules, ensuring materials are available to meet manufacturing timelines.
• Create, validate, and maintain purchase orders in the ERP/MRP system, ensuring accuracy in pricing, quantities, terms, and delivery dates.
• Review and validate invoices against purchase orders and contracts, ensuring alignment of pricing, discounts, and service billing.
• Investigate and resolve purchase order, invoice, pricing, discount, and service billing discrepancies before approving or confirming payment.
• Support Accounts Payable by researching and reconciling discrepancies related to purchasing and invoicing transactions.
• Collaborate frequently with Engineering, Planning, Operations, Vendors, and Accounts Payable to clarify requirements and resolve issues.
• Monitor inventory levels and support inventory management activities to balance material availability with cost and storage considerations.
• Utilize ERP/MRP tools to support demand planning, material planning, and coordination with production planning functions.
• Follow up with suppliers to confirm order status, delivery dates, and resolve any supply issues or delays.
• Support technical purchasing requirements in electronics, aerospace, PCB, or manufacturing environments as applicable.
• Apply strong accounting and finance accuracy to ensure purchasing transactions are financially sound and compliant.
• Support service contracts, software licenses, maintenance agreements, and other recurring spend items to ensure continuity of services.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of purchasing, planning, and financial review processes within the supply chain function.
• Use negotiation skills when appropriate to support favorable terms, while prioritizing accuracy, analytical review, and financial integrity.
Essential Skills
• Minimum 5+ years of experience in a Buyer, Buyer/Planner, Procurement, Supply Chain, or Production Planning role.
• Strong knowledge of ERP/MRP systems with the ability to manage purchasing and material planning activities; experience with systems such as QAD, SAP, Oracle, or similar.
• Proven experience in purchasing and planning within a manufacturing environment, including production scheduling and inventory management.
• Demonstrated accounting and finance accuracy, including invoice reconciliation, purchase order validation, and discount verification.
• Experience supporting MRO purchasing, service-based purchasing, and recurring charges.
• Ability to investigate and resolve purchase order, invoice, pricing, discount, and service billing discrepancies.
• Strong analytical skills and financial acumen to review and validate purchasing transactions.
• Experience working closely with Accounts Payable and other finance-related functions.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with Engineering, Planning, Operations, Vendors, and Accounts Payable.
• Proficiency in purchasing and planning processes, including procurement, supply chain coordination, and inventory management.
• Strong attention to detail, follow-through, and organizational skills to manage multiple purchasing and planning activities concurrently.
Additional Skills & Qualifications
• Degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a relat