Senior Buyer

Main Purpose:

Reporting to the Procurement Supervisor, the Senior Buyer is responsible for supporting various business functions in all procurement-related activities. This role involves managing the procure-to-pay process, leading supplier performance reviews, and encouraging strategic supplier relationships. The Senior Buyer will coordinate and communicate procurement metrics, identify process improvements, and improve existing contracts to add customer value. Success in this role requires an operational outlook and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment. You will collaborate closely with Payables, Treasury, Operations, and Maintenance teams. We seek a mature leader, flexible and an outstanding teammate with a "can-do" attitude.

Key Responsibilities: responsibilities include but are not linited to:

• Ensure timely supply of goods and materials required by the business.
• Demonstrate value for money when spending company funds with suppliers.
• Apply Impala’s Procurement processes, ensuring all necessary controls, approvals, and reporting are carried out. Ensure compliance with all procurement policies, processes, and procedures, and provide mentorship to the business.
• Implement company strategies in daily actions.
• Lead tendering processes, ensuring alignment with procurement standards, technical requirements, and Health, Safety, and Environment standards.
• Conduct vendor market research and develop strategies for effective tenders.
• Contribute to the development of the procurement plan with the Regional Procurement Manager.
• Ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Prioritize tasks with internal collaborators (e.g., operations & maintenance) to develop a clear procurement pipeline and schedule.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Fundamental understanding of English (Proficiency in English is an added advantage).

• Portuguese (desirable).
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience in Engineering, Supply Chain, or a Business-related field (a Master’s degree is considered a plus).
• Proven experience in Oil & Gas.
• Minimum 5 years of Procurement experience (Ideally 2-3 years management experience OR 4+ years in a senior operations/senior supply chain specialist role).
• Ability to manage commercial relationships with local suppliers.
• Excellent negotiation and project management skills.
• Problem solver, exceptional teammate, with outstanding communication and persuasive skills.
• Experienced leader in conflict management.
• Basic functional skills using ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Navision).
• Solid understanding of legal matters related to Procurement.
• Capable of accurately managing and analyzing high levels of data.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethics.

Procurement Leadership & Reporting:

• Initiate, coordinate, and manage all procurement activities, including processing requisitions, crafting purchase orders, managing spot purchases, leading tender processes, negotiating contracts, and expediting supply.
• Supervise and report Procurement benchmarks (e.g., Savings, OTIF, P2P Cycle Time).
• Manage supplier payment terms in collaboration with internal cross-functional teams (e.g., Accounts Payable, Treasury).
• Innovate to optimize the Total Cost of Ownership. Establish plans and controls to achieve this.

Sourcing and Negotiation:

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams in contract negotiations.
• Identify, propose, and lead savings initiatives in areas such as: Technical requirements (standardization, value engineering). Volumes (consolidation, rationalization). Vendor pool diversification (new vendor sourcing). Pricing (payment terms, warranties).
• Coordinate the vendor qualification (KYC) process with the compliance team.
• Build and maintain a network of industry contacts and lead Impala’s strategic procurement relationships with key suppliers.

Supplier Selection and Contracting:

• Build vendor shortlists for RFPs and RFQs.
• Lead the end-to-end RFP/RFQ process.
• Negotiate commercial contract terms.
• Ensure negotiation outcomes are accurately detailed in contracts.
• Collaborate with Impala Legal for drafting and approval of contract terms and conditions.
• Manage contractor performance (e.g., compliance to terms, vendor disputes, invoicing, warranty issues) with relevant collaborators.