Procurement and Materials Operations Manager, Automotive Plastics

Lead the Flow of Materials from Strategy to Shop Floor

By 8 a.m., your IQMS dashboard tells you where to focus: a supplier’s lead time just slipped, a VMI threshold is approaching, and a new product launch needs expedited tooling components. By lunch, you’ve negotiated revised delivery windows and favorable pricing, approved key POs, and aligned buyers on capital request timing. Before the day ends, you’ve tuned cycle counts, eliminated unallocated inventory growth, and ensured production will exceed customer requirements tomorrow.

What You’ll Drive

• Own purchasing strategy end-to-end: policies for purchasing, MRO acquisition, VMI programs, capital requests, and all materials-related procedures.
• Set long-range goals for Materials Buyers; coach, measure outcomes, and elevate task completeness and thoroughness.
• Build and refine systems that consistently meet or surpass customer production requirements.
• Partner with the General Manager and leadership to hit company objectives with clear procurement roadmaps.
• Author and maintain instructions for purchasing systems and standard work.
• Manage disposition of surplus materials responsibly and cost-effectively.
• Review and approve requisitions and purchase orders for accuracy, value, and policy alignment.
• Continuously scan markets: analyze availability, lead times, cost trends, and price variances; publish market analyses.
• Validate PO claims and contracts for compliance with company policy.
• Audit and qualify suppliers; certify partners for the approved vendor list.
• Secure new suppliers/materials quickly and economically through structured sourcing programs.
• Negotiate pricing, discounts, and delivery commitments; craft sourcing strategies that support new product schedules while protecting continuity of supply for current products.
• Develop RFQs/RFPs, analyze bids, negotiate awards, and maintain contracts to strengthen supplier relationships and improve quality, delivery, and cost.
• Own inventory performance: guarantee availability while minimizing on-hand levels through robust cycle counts, E&O review, prevention of unallocated inventory, and better turns.
• Create and improve IQMS processes to ensure on-time, in-spec materials at optimal inventory levels; maintain accurate purchasing data.
• Drive value analysis: alternate sourcing, innovative partner agreements, and deep understanding of user requirements, supplier capabilities, market conditions, and relevant legislative/patent factors.
• Collaborate with internal customers to capture and document requirements.
• Implement, champion, and evolve IQMS modules; validate data integrity to safeguard stock accuracy and material flow.
• Coordinate seamlessly with internal/external customers and suppliers to fulfill contract deliverables.
• Note: You may be assigned additional duties as business needs evolve; performance will be assessed in part on the responsibilities listed above.

Experience & Education

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; OR 3–5 years related experience/training; OR equivalent combination.
• 3+ years leading teams.
• Automotive background with familiarity in OEM customer systems.
• Strong communicator and organizer; comfortable coordinating cross-functional meetings.
• Bonus: inventory management, logistics, and shipping/receiving experience.
• Preferred: working knowledge of injection mold design.

Certifications & Technical Foundation

• Valid driver’s license.
• Robust plastics materials and processing expertise.
• Strong computer skills; proficient with spreadsheets and word processing.

Core Competencies

• Read and interpret business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, and government regulations.
• Write clear reports, business correspondence, and procedural documentation.
• Present confidently to managers, clients, customers, and public groups.
• Apply probability/statistics and fundamentals of geometry and trigonometry.
• Use fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions in real scenarios.
• Troubleshoot practical problems with diverse variables and limited standardization.
• Interpret written, oral, diagrammatic, and schedule-based instructions.

Work Environment & Physical Expectations

• Regularly speaks and listens; frequently stands, walks, uses hands, and reaches.
• Sometimes climbs/balances; stoops, kneels, crouches, or crawls; may taste or smell as needed for process checks.
• Occasionally lifts/moves up to 50 lbs.
• Visual acuity: close/distance, color, peripheral, depth perception, and focus adjustment.
• Occasional exposure to moving mechanical parts and outdoor conditions.
• Typical noise level is quiet.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

These are duties that the person holding this job MUST be able to perform. The company makes accommodation on request, if the accommodation is reasonable, to allow otherwise qualified applicants to perform these functions.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS & WORKING CONDITIONS

: The physical demands, work environment factors and mental functions described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.