Category Manager / Sr. Buyer

The Swiss based Bachem Group is a public, innovation-driven company specializing in the development and manufacturing of pepTides and oligonucleoTides. As a full service provider Bachem offers products for clinical development and commercial applications as well as a comprehensive catalog and exclusive custom synthesis. With 50 years of experience and subsidiaries in Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, Bachem is the partner of choice for the biotech and pharma industry worldwide.
Bachem. Leading Partner in Tides

In order to continue our organic growth, we are constantly looking for talent.

Job Requirements

Category Manager/Sr. Buyer will manage the categories of Direct Materials with a focus on chemicals, primary packaging and external lab services. She/he will be responsible for the development of the category and sourcing strategies and release of purchase orders. She/he have demonstrated putting risk mitigation plans in place. She/he must have built strong supplier relationships in these categories as well as contracting experience

Job Duties

Developing Category Strategies

• Define a supplier relationship management program, including segmentation criteria and a preferred supplier list for a given category
• Develop and execute a 3-5 year strategic plan to realize category strategy targets
• Conduct market and competitive conditions by category
• Develop cost saving targets for each category
• Deliver customer solutions via global/regional category strategy
• Bring Industry/business function-specific knowledge and experience
• Responsible for developing and executing Sourcing Strategies, leading Sourcing Events-e.g. RFP, and the negotiation and contracting of supply agreements with strategic terms and conditions.
• Initiate/build industry peer relationships
• Drive co-ownership of initiatives and accountability based on agreed-upon strategies

Supplier Relationship Management

• Foster collaborative relationships with highly strategic global/regional suppliers
• Identify, build, and maintain mutually beneficial relationships, partnerships, and alliances with strategic and bottleneck suppliers through Supplier Relationship programs
• Responsible for assessing supplier risks and materials and recommending risk mitigation plans
• Develop a list of strategic and bottleneck suppliers within a category of spend and manage compliance
• Recommend or implement changes to the organization’s purchasing, supply management and material usage policies as needed
• Measure supplier performance using rating systems or predetermined standards

Purchasing of material and services

• Process purchase orders based on SAP MRP reports for raw materials and technical components, or purchase requisitions for non-inventory acquisitions.
• Work with the suppliers and logistics to ensure on-time delivery to meet all scheduling requirements.
• Maintains accurate and up-to-date information on purchase orders including price, terms, quantity and delivery date. Process SAP-MRP exception messages as required.
• Communicates in a timely fashion, all information regarding raw material sourcing, pricing, delivery date changes, results, etc. to appropriate individuals in Material Management, Planning, R&D, and others as necessary.
• Resolve non-conformance items through internal and external processes. Ensure rejected material is returned to suppliers within established guidelines and that credits/replacement are received on time when appropriate.
• Working closely with Material Management and Accounts-Payable teams to make sure all Good Receipts and Invoices are posted against Purchase Orders

Team & Change Management

• Lead cross-functional teams to drive results on category, sourcing, supplier risk activities
• Contribute continuous improvements to achieve higher levels of business value.

Your Profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or Biotechnology and 3+ experience in strategic procurement in any industry or any other related Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of experience in strategic procurement in the Pharmaceutical/Biotech industry.
• Exceptional understanding and application of Procurement principles, concepts, practices, and standards (i.e. effective negotiation, supplier relationship management, business partnering, supplier diversity etc.) along with an in-depth knowledge of industry practices.
• Demonstrated experience in identifying and utilizing full set of sourcing levers to drive value for customers
• Very good knowledge and experience in SAP.
• Ability to conduct benchmarking to address cost, quality, risk and innovation considerations
• Ability to establish credibility and influence with diverse audiences and be perceived as a lead
• Able to develop solutions to complex problems that require an in-depth degree of ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness.
• Demonstrates excellent communication and presentation skills and the ability to work across functions, sites and geographies.
• Independent self-starter and able to motivate others to accomplish ambiguous tasks
• Ability to lead teams in a matrix organization, across geographic and functional reporting lines
• Demonstrated track record of identifying root causes to issues and proactively problem solving
• Change management experience with large and complex organizational transformations
• Demonstrated success in partnering cross-functionally
• Ability to own and strengthen relationships with key customers and to champion change
• Compelling and persuasive communicator (oral and written) with excellent interpersonal skills

Preferred

• An MBA is a plus
• Knowledge of cGMP and FDA regulations
• Experience with Peptides
• APICS, CPSM, or related certificationisa plus
• SAP system experience