Purchasing Operations Supervisor or Purchasing & Open Order Supervisor

Work Schedule

Environmental Conditions

Job Description

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.

Job Overview

The Purchasing Operations Supervisor or Purchasing & Open Order Supervisor is responsible for purchasing activities and supplier management for assigned Third Party suppliers while leading the team responsible for expediting open orders and resolving back orders.

In this role, you will manage and develop a team of three employees while ensuring effective execution of purchasing and open-order activities. You will oversee backlog performance, establish priorities, resolve supplier and order issues, and partner across the organization to support timely product delivery and an exceptional customer experience.

You will also play a key role in identifying trends and root causes, improving operational processes, and developing enhanced tracking and reporting. This position provides leadership during quarter-end, year-end, and other critical business initiatives and drives continuous improvement across supplier and open-order operations.

The role builds on the purchasing and supplier-management responsibilities of the Buyer position and the backlog-management, supplier-resolution, reporting, and training responsibilities of the Open Order Team Lead.

What You'll Do

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of employees responsible for expediting open orders and resolving open orders.
• Oversee day-to-day team activities, establish priorities, balance workloads, and ensure timely follow-up and resolution of open-order issues.
• Manage purchasing activities and relationships with assigned Third Party suppliers.
• Review, approve, and process direct-ship purchase orders within established turnaround expectations.
• Evaluate and process stock orders to support appropriate inventory availability.
• Maintain customer-specific pricing, evaluate sell-price adjustments when appropriate, and maintain Specials data.
• Manage the overall open-order and backorder portfolio, with particular focus on past-due, high-dollar, and customer-impacting orders.
• Analyze backlog trends, supplier performance, and operational reports to identify root causes, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with suppliers to obtain invoices, updated shipment information, promise dates, and other information necessary to resolve outstanding orders.
• Collaborate with Buyers, Category Management, internal suppliers, and other cross-functional partners to resolve purchasing and supply issues.
• Develop and maintain reporting that provides visibility to backlog status, trends, risks, supplier performance, team productivity, and progress against established goals.
• Monitor performance against relevant departmental goals and metrics and take appropriate action when results are off target.
• Provide leadership and support during quarter-end, year-end, vendor conversions, and other key business initiatives.
• Escalate significant supplier, customer, or operational issues when appropriate.
• Drive continuous improvement of customer experience by identifying and implementing process efficiencies, enhanced tracking and reporting, standardized workflows, and other operational improvements.
• Identify recurring issues and partner with appropriate stakeholders to implement corrective actions designed to prevent future backorders.
• Promote consistent processes, documentation, knowledge sharing, and best practices across the Open Order team.
• Provide ongoing coaching, training, feedback, and development opportunities to strengthen individual and team capabilities.
• Complete assigned projects and other duties as required.

Candidate Profile

You are a collaborative, results-focused leader who can balance hands-on purchasing and supplier responsibilities with the leadership and development of a team. You are comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, managing competing priorities, and taking ownership of issues through resolution.

You have strong analytical and problem-solving skills and can use data, reporting, and operational trends to identify root causes and determine appropriate actions. You communicate clearly with suppliers, internal partners, leadership, and team members and can effectively navigate challenging or ambiguous situations.

You bring a continuous-improvement mindset and look beyond resolving the immediate issue to identify opportunities to improve processes, eliminate recurring problems, strengthen team effectiveness, and improve customer experience.

Key capabilities include:

• People leadership, coaching, and employee development
• Supplier relationship management
• Purchasing and order-management expertise
• Strong analytical and root-cause problem-solving skills
• Ability to translate data and trends into actions
• Strong organization, prioritization, and attention to detail
• Effective written and verbal communication
• Sound judgment, persistence, and diplomacy
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively across functions
• Ability to lead effectively through changing, ambiguous, and high-pressure situations
• Continuous improvement and customer-focused mindset

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Science, or a related field.
• 3+ years of relevant buying/purchasing experience.
• Previous people leadership, supervisory, or demonstrated team leadership experience preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, support, and develop team members and effectively manage competing team priorities.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and resolving purchasing, order, or supply-related issues.
• Demonstrated ability to investigate and resolve issues independently and escalate appropriately when necessary.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet demanding schedules.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with Mainframe, AS400, or similar purchasing/order-management systems.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and adapt to changing requirements and priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively across teams and functions.