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Job Description Job Description Reporting to the Purchasing Manager, the Senior Buyer plays a critical role in managing the procurement and supply of vegetable seed inventory to support Stokes Seeds' North American operations. This position combines tactical purchasing execution with strategic sourcing responsibilities, ensuring the right products are available at the right time while maintaining optimal inventory levels and supplier performance. The successful candidate will leverage market intelligence, sales forecasting, and supplier relationships to drive purchasing decisions, negotiate contracts, manage procurement processes, and support long-term supply chain objectives. This role requires strong analytical skills, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. This role will work out of our Thorold, ON office. Key Responsibilities Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management Manage annual and in-season procurement activities for a diverse portfolio of vegetable seed products. Develop and maintain strong relationships with domestic and international suppliers to ensure supply continuity and service excellence. Support supplier negotiations, pricing agreements, and contract management activities. Monitor supplier performance, delivery schedules, lead times, and quality expectations. Collaborate with suppliers to resolve shipment delays, product shortages, and other supply chain issues. Purchasing & Inventory Management Maintain full lifecycle ownership of purchase orders, including creation, confirmation, tracking, receiving, issue resolution, and closure. Analyze sales trends, forecasts, budgets, and inventory levels to determine purchasing requirements. Assist in preparing annual booking commitments and supplier forecast submissions. Review and reconcile supplier invoices to ensure accuracy of pricing, quantities, shipment dates, and freight terms. Investigate and resolve discrepancies related to orders, shipments, substitutions, pricing, or invoicing. Monitor inventory availability, and supplier lead times to proactively mitigate supply risks. Data, Process & Operational Excellence Manage supplier price lists and ensure SKU pricing accuracy within ERP and inventory management systems. Support new item creation and product setup for new seed varieties and SKUs. Maintain accurate lot traceability records and support lot card creation processes. Participate in annual catalog planning and review activities, including product additions, deletions, and updates. Coordinate seed treatment requirements and supplier processing activities to support customer demand. Identify opportunities to improve procurement processes, inventory management practices, and overall supply chain efficiency. Cross-Functional Collaboration Work closely with Sales, Inventory Control, Operations, and Product Management teams to support forecasting and supply planning initiatives. Contribute to inventory optimization strategies that balance customer service levels and working capital objectives. Provide purchasing analysis, reporting, and recommendations to support business decision-making. Qualifications Required Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Materials Management, or a related field. Minimum of 5 years of purchasing, procurement, or strategic sourcing experience. Experience managing supplier relationships, contracts, and inventory planning activities. Strong knowledge of procurement principles, sourcing methodologies, and supply chain best practices. Experience working in complex, multi-SKU environ Location St. Catharines , ON Work location On site Salary $ 90,214.41 YEAR annually Terms of employment Permanent employment Full time Starts as soon as possible vacancies 1 vacancy Source ZipRecruiter #b9c52f2d1 Various locations St. Catharines, ON
Here's where they are and how to stand out in your interviews.
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Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore account for 642 of the open purchasing roles on WorkMundi. If you're looking in those regions, you have real volume to work with. The US has 130 open positions. Check where your target employers are hiring before you apply.
About 59% of purchasing ads are written in English on our board. That's a useful signal: it tells you which postings to prioritize if English is your working language, but it says nothing about whether the job itself requires you to speak it. Read the full job description.
When you interview for purchasing, expect to explain how you've managed a vendor relationship that went wrong. Hiring managers want to hear a concrete example: which vendor, what broke down, and what you did to fix it or end it. They're testing whether you can handle conflict without burning bridges.
The employers posting most are Private Advertiser (43 jobs), Veterans Health Administration (16), zffriedric (11), and avnet (10). These names tell you where volume hiring is happening—worth researching their interview style and culture before you apply.
