Purchasing Manager

Purchasing Manager

Ichor Systems is a leading manufacturer of critical subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment industry, supplying the OEMs that build the tools behind today's most advanced chips. We are seeking a Purchasing Manager to lead a team of buyers in a high-mix, low-volume environment where new product introduction cycles are compressed and customer demand shifts rapidly. This role supports both New Product Development programs and ongoing OEM production builds, owning the procurement path from prototype through sustaining volume manufacturing, and deploying advanced ERP tools and procurement processes to optimize material cost, lead time, and inventory. This is an on-site position responsible for directly managing a team of Buyers. The selected candidate will report directly to the Director of Supply Chain.

Roles & Responsibilities

- Within project teams, foster a culture of accountability and commitment to stated goals. Ensure an organizational culture of transparent communication, early visibility and escalation of issues, and urgency for corrective action, emphasizing root cause understanding and continuous improvement.
- Serve as the procurement lead on New Product Development and NPI teams, partnering with engineering, program management, and quality from concept through first article, qualification, and volume release
- Own material availability for ongoing OEM production builds, aligning supplier commitments to the master production schedule and protecting customer on-time delivery against demand swings, pull-ins, and upside requests
- Source prototype and pilot builds against evolving designs; secure long-lead and single-source material early to protect customer build dates
- Balance competing NPD and production priorities across a shared supply base, allocating constrained capacity and material to the highest-impact customer commitments
- Manage engineering change orders and revision control through the supply base, ensuring clean cut-in, minimal excess and obsolescence exposure, and accurate quote and item master updates at every revision
- Facilitate new product releases to purchasing, including item and quote master setup, MRP parameter definition, and supplier onboarding for new commodities
- Drive supplier capacity planning, forecast sharing, and inventory programs — safety stock, consignment, kanban — to support sustained production demand
- Participate in defining and implementing team objectives aligned to corporate procurement strategy; ensure compliance with objectives and policies and continuously improve organizational and individual performance metrics
- Ensure department metrics are implemented and understood by direct reports and stakeholders; influence peers, cross-functional processes, and stakeholders to drive measurable results
- Expedite materials, manage supplier escalations, and manage an extensive network of outsourced service suppliers — machining, sheet metal, weldments, surface finishing, and specialty fabrication — coordinating with internal stakeholders and driving issues to closure
- Perform opportunity analysis to identify and execute projects delivering efficiency gains, cost savings, and inventory reduction
- Prepare management status reports on metrics, projects, and programs
- Own purchase-order data integrity and item master maintenance within the ERP system, ensuring supplier, pricing, lead-time, revision, sourcing, and MRP attributes are accurate, current, and aligned with approved business requirements
- Deliver annual training to the purchasing team on standard operating procedures and work instructions to maintain compliance with company policy and internal audit requirements.
- Other duties as assigned

Key Metrics

- On-time delivery to customer
- Production material shortages and clear-to-build performance
- NPD material readiness to build schedule; prototype and first article cycle time
- Supplier OTD, lead time, cost, RTV, and capacity
- Inventory turns and E&O exposure through engineering change

Skills

- Ability to operate with incomplete information and changing requirements, characteristic of NPD programs, without losing schedule control
- Ability to manage concurrent development and production demands, setting priorities that protect both new program milestones and running build schedules
- Ability to concisely communicate escalations, requirements, and issues to suppliers, stakeholders, peers, upper management, and customers, and drive resolution
- Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
- Strong leader — self-motivated, proactive, detail oriented, hands-on, results driven
- Strong knowledge of all aspects of purchasing, supplier selection, cost analysis, and negotiation
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, bills of material, and specifications
- Works independently in a fast-paced environment

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Business or Engineering
- 7+ years of relevant experience, including 2+ years managing direct reports
- Demonstrated experience supporting New Product Development or New Product Introduction in a manufacturing environment, including prototype sourcing, ECO/ECN management, and transition to production
- Experience supporting sustaining or volume production procurement, including MRP-driven buying, shortage management, and supplier capacity planning
- Strong understanding of a contract manufacturing environment; semiconductor capital equipment, or a comparable high-mix, low-volume, build-to-print industry
- Experience across several operational disciplines with depth in at least two of: procurement, planning, production management, master scheduling, factory engineering, logistics, program management
- Familiarity with precision machining, sheet metal, weldments, and ultra-high-purity or cleanroom-grade components
- Proven record of managing and driving continuous process improvement; strong analytical skills and ability to identify root cause for action and resolution

Preferred Qualifications

- Depth in at least two of: procurement, planning, production management, master scheduling, factory engineering, logistics, program management
- Experience with tier-one ERP and PLM systems such as Oracle, SAP, or Agile
- MBA or master's degree
- Lean, Six Sigma, or APICS/ASCM certification (CPIM, CSCP) or PMP