Job Title: Purchasing Specialist
Germantown, MD, US, 20876
As a Purchasing Specialist, you will play a key role in ensuring the uninterrupted flow of materials and services that support manufacturing and business operations. You will partner with suppliers and cross-functional teams to procure quality products at competitive costs, maintain inventory accuracy, support compliance requirements, and contribute to continuous improvement initiatives. This role is ideal for a detail-oriented professional who enjoys solving problems, managing priorities, and building effective supplier relationships.
Responsibilities
In this role, you will:
- Execute daily procurement activities, including purchase order creation, order placement, lead time verification, pricing validation, order acknowledgment review, rescheduling, and supplier follow-up.
- Support procurement strategies aligned with quality, cost, delivery, and inventory objectives.
- Build and maintain supplier relationships and participate in pricing, sourcing, and contract discussions.
- Monitor and evaluate supplier performance, including quality, delivery, reliability, responsiveness, and compliance.
- Identify supplier and supply chain risks and support mitigation efforts.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to understand sourcing requirements and support supplier selection and qualification activities.
- Maintain accurate purchasing records, supplier documentation, and system data.
- Investigate and resolve purchasing, supplier, inventory, receiving, and invoice-related issues in a timely manner.
- Track, analyze, and report purchasing metrics, including cost savings, supplier performance, delivery performance, and inventory trends.
- Recommend and support continuous improvement initiatives related to purchasing processes, inventory management, and supplier performance.
- Support inventory accuracy by coordinating the receipt, organization, and issuance of materials while maintaining appropriate inventory controls and resolving inventory discrepancies.
- Participate in cycle counts and physical inventory activities to ensure inventory accuracy and resolve discrepancies.
- Follow applicable quality procedures and support compliance with regulatory requirements, industry standards, and company policies.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications
To be successful in this role, you will have:
- An Associate degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Two to five years of experience in purchasing, procurement, supply chain, inventory management, manufacturing operations, or a related field.
- Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and follow-through.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze data and support business decisions.
- Experience building supplier relationships and supporting pricing, sourcing, or negotiation activities.
- The ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
- Proficiency with ERP systems and Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.
- Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability and willingness to use AI tools to improve productivity, decision-making, work quality, and cost efficiency. You must be able to identify appropriate AI use cases and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a regulated manufacturing environment.
- Medical device industry experience.
- Experience using ERP systems, Ariba, Qlik, or similar procurement and analytics tools.
- Knowledge of inventory control, material planning, and supply chain best practices.
- Professional purchasing or supply chain certification, such as APICS, CPIM, CSCP, CPSM, or an equivalent credential.
Nearest Major Market: Washington DC