Buyer/Purchasing Agent

Nuance Solutions, LLC is growing and seeking a Buyer to join our Award-Winning Team! The ideal candidate will report directly to the Director of Purchasing, and is responsible for coordinating and expediting the creation of purchase orders to meet the needs of our production and sales schedule.

In this role, you will collaborate with receiving to maintain on-time performance from our suppliers. You will also work closely with the Accounting Team and Shop Floor Managers/Co-Workers to resolve any invoice variances that come along due to price or quantity issues.

Who We Are:

Nuance Solutions is a chemical development and manufacturing company that recently celebrated our 50th year in business. We’re all about cultivating chemistry in and out of the lab and committed to building lifelong, trusted relationships with our customers in all three of our divisions.

Our Mission is to “Provide creative solutions for our customers. People and products you can count on.” Our Vision is to “Create chemistry that bonds our people and serves our customers.”

At Nuance Solutions, our 60 plus employees have access to big company benefits, hybrid work arrangements (consideration after successfully completing a 90-Day Introductory Period) and we encourage our staff to have a healthy work-life balance. We owe much of our success to our bright and innovative employees. The people at Nuance are dedicated, creative, and forward thinking and all an integral member of a family business.

To learn more about Nuance Solutions long history in chemical development and innovation, visit us at Nuance Solutions History Wall

A Day in the Life of a Buyer:

As a Buyer, you’ll be a vital part of our Purchasing Team. As a key contact with our vendors and internal production partners, you’ll be responsible for processing all purchase orders, maintaining strong relationships with our vendors including the sourcing of new vendors. As the lead for vendor management, you will be required to expediate, negotiate pricing and secure new orders to fulfill the needs of our production team. To be successful in this role, you will need to be very detailed orientated and have a strong ability to communicate with various personality types with a heavy emphasis on urgency, logistics and conflict resolution.

Changes to production schedules are going to happen, communicating in a timely manner to personnel including but not limited to compounding, production, maintenance and customer service departments is the key to your success. You’ll be asked to actively participate in evaluating supplier performance, maintain records to support evaluation, and materials arrive in a timely, and cost-conscious manner. Our Leadership Team is hands on, you’ll occasionally need to demonstrate personal and professional resourcefulness, insight, and intuition while speaking with them directly.

Integrity is a must have attribute to being successful is this role. “Say what you mean and mean what you say”, your ability to own any mistakes and learn from them is critical to growing as a Buyer with Nuance Solutions.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Monitor inbound shipments from suppliers to ensure materials are delivered on-time and at the right location; proactively identify and resolve delivery delays to ensure continuity of supply; respond to inquiries regarding purchase order status, changes, or cancellations.
• Resolve situations related to material shortages, supplier quality, delivery delays.
• Run MRP reports to assess demands and propose future purchases.
• Generate purchase orders and submit to approved vendors.
• Work with various internal departments such as production, scheduling, customer service, maintenance and accounting to communicate with and resolve purchasing related issues.
• Collaborate with Accounts Payable/Receivables to resolve purchase price variations.
• Maintain pricing for all raw materials and packaging components within operating system.
• Maintain a positive business relationship with suppliers which include communication with key contacts, pricing and supply discussions, identifying and disseminating new product opportunities to the appropriate people, as well as handling the resolution of quality and supply issues.
• Work collaboratively with Purchasing department on implementation of new order procurement by following up with vendors on the details of the order, shipment and due dates.
• Continuously seek alternate source of suppliers for both raw materials and packaging components.
• Assist in executing new packaging sizes and/or packaging projects for new and existing customers.
• Serve as back-up to fellow Purchasing team members.
• May be a Key Customer contact to help provide exceptional customer service to our strategic customers.
• Attend the daily morning production meeting.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Required Skills & Abilities:

• Language Ability: Strong verbal and written communication skills and ability to interact with manufacturing, sales/marketing personnel, and vendors are necessary.
• Math Ability: Strong general math skills (e.g., arithmetic, percentages); financial ratios; Payment terms calculations.
• Reasoning Ability: Ability to apply analytical and deductive reasoning skills which are essential to perform the duties and responsibilities of the job successfully. Ability to deal with problems involving multiple variables and sometimes unusual situations.
• Computer Skills: Must possess Intermediate Windows, Word and Excel Skills. Experienced with ERP software (TCM) and processes.
• Organizational Skills: Ability to multi-task, manage multiple priorities effectively through excellent time management skills.

Competencies:

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Cost Consciousness: Working within the organization's budgetary guidelines while minimizing expenses and maximizing cost efficiency.
• Accountability/Results: Assuming responsibility for successfully completing assignments or tasks; self-imposing excellence standards rather than waiting for others to impose or enforce them. Takes personal ownership, encouraging others to do the same, for actions and outcomes, regardless of positive or negative consequences.
• Adaptability/Flexibility: Open to change and/or welcomes change in the workplace. Able to adapt to the changes in a fast-paced environment without being negatively impacted.
• Detail Oriented: Thoroughly reviews details in completing work tasks.
• Dependability: Job requires being reliable, responsible, dependable and credible.
• Initiative: Willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges by setting goals and continually improving their skill sets.
• Interpersonal Skills/Team Player: Works as a competent member of the team, willing providing back-up support for co-workers when appropriate and actively supporting group goals.
• Problem Solving: Demonstrates the ability to foresee problems and prevents them by taking action. See a problem – Fix a problem.
• Organizing/Planning: Carrying out objectives and involving others in a way that facilitates time-sensitive work completion. Identifies scope of work to be completed and prioritizes work into buckets of importance (e.g., Priority A, B, C etc.). Develops specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work.

Education & Experience:

• High School Diploma required; minimum of two years related college course work preferred. New Grads are encouraged to apply!
• Minimum two years of relevant experience in purchasing, inventory, and vendor management required. Preference will be given for a chemical manufacturing environment.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This job has no direct supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment/Physical Demands Requirements:

Work Environment

• While performing the duties of the Job, the employee is often exposed to work near moving mechanical parts. The employee is sometimes exposed to wet or hot & humid conditions (non-weather) and fumes or airborne particles. The employee will be occasionally exposed to hazardous chemicals. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate but is occasionally loud.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Employee filling the job will be located at the 900 East 103rd Street building, but may be required to perform tasks at our manufacturing facility at the 1140 East 103rd Street building or warehouse at the 9860 Dorchester Avenue building on occasion.

Physical Demands:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to sit.
• The employee must infrequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include Close vision, Distance vision, Peripheral vision, Depth perception and Ability to adjust focus.
  

The Buyer position is a full-time exempt position and requires a 40-hour work, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Salary range is $50,000 to $68,000 annually, compensation is commensurate with experience.

Nuance Solutions, LLC is An Equal Opportunity Employer - We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, or any other status protected by law or regulation. It is our intention that all qualified applicants are given equal opportunity and that selection decisions be based on job-related factors.