Lead Buyer

Lead Buyer - (2400006N)

Description

**EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF BEING PART OF SOMETHING CLEARLY ESSENTIAL**

**We are currently hiring a Lead Buyer to join the team at our Underground Salt Mine in Goderich, Ontario.**

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Compass Minerals’ Goderich Salt Mine, located 1,800 feet under Lake Huron, is the largest underground salt mine in the world. The mine is as deep as the CN Tower in Toronto is tall. The rock salt produced at the mine is used to keep citizens in North America safe as they travel through winter snow and ice. The salt is shipped to hundreds of communities around the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Some of the salt is trucked to the Compass Minerals plant less than 4 kilometers away, to be packaged for distribution and sale at retailers in North America. The salt is also sold in bulk to manufacturers that make plastics, detergents, disinfectants and other important products. Goderich is named Canada’s Prettiest Town and is best known for its stunning sunsets. Goderich is a lakeside community of 8,000 people located approximately 1.5 hours from London and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

**HOW WILL YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE TEAM?**

This position performs effectively sourcing, negotiating and contracting an uninterrupted supply of Direct and Indirect Goods and Services (non-inventory and stock inventory items). This position will also assist in purchasing capital project materials and have a high degree of inventory systems work. This position will also assist Procurement and Stores Manager with the monitoring of performance, continuous cost improvement, process improvement, safety, training and work activities related to the operation with an emphasis on controlling costs, total cost of ownership and inventory systems proficiency.
- Ensures and supervises the development and deployment of sourcing plans and/or sourcing strategies integrated with business plans and driven by internal customer requirements, manufacturing results and capabilities, distribution/logistics objectives and business economics. Maintains and supervises focus on value added activities. Can identify and implement alternative, innovative, and creative solutions to drive lowest total cost of ownership.
- Effective purchasing of capital, non-stock and project work ensuring appropriate sourcing, negotiations and contract development and documentation.
- Ensure compliance with corporate supply contracts on Direct and Indirect Goods and Services purchasing, including loading of contract pricing into the system, to permit automated/simple release of contracted inventory items.
- Follow up and resolve with Accounting any invoice discrepancies, ensuring costs in the system are accurate.
- Analyze inventory levels on consumable stock items and purchases replacement items as required and per established purchasing standards, best practices and production requirements; adjust min/max levels to reflect current usage and effective inventory management.
- Selects suppliers, assesses supplier capabilities, develops alternative sources and evaluates supplier performance. Negotiate price and delivery on purchased goods and services as required. Assist and monitors alliance/contract price agreements.
- Assures that open purchase orders are tracked, followed up on and expedited by staff as needed. Must be actively engaged in realizing, capturing and reporting cost savings opportunities.
- Issues purchase orders and maintains positive supplier relations. Work proactively with internal and external customer to maintain high level of customer service, confidence and working relationships. Extensive work done with maintenance planners and operations in quoting and sourcing non stock needs.
- Assists manager in contract preparation and/or review.
- Will be required to participate in career enhancement programs to attain/maintain professional level buying skills.
- Backfill during absences of the Procurement and Stores Manager, this position will fill in to supervise and develop buyers at Goderich Mine. Provides an environment that develops people in a way that achieves departmental objectives. Demonstrates leadership as an individual and as a team leader.
- Perform other related duties as required.

Qualifications

**WHAT SHOULD YOU BRING TO THE ROLE?**
- Bachelor’s Degree preferred.
- Certification requirements: SCMP or equivalent experience or employee willing to work towards and achieve SCMP certification based upon an agreed plan.
- Five years of purchasing experience including sourcing, capital purchasing, contract development and negotiations.
- Experience in the procurement of maintenance materials also preferred.
- To perform this job successfully, an individual should be PC proficient and possess the ability to quickly master skills required to function with expertise in an ERP system. Must be proficient in Microsoft Suite, etc.

**Physical Requirements**:The physical demands described here are representative of those t