Principal Buyer

About the Role

Join the Materials Management team at Boston Scientific in Arden Hills, MN as a Principal Buyer within the Purchasing department. This role focuses on ensuring supply continuity, supplier execution, inventory health, and material availability for critical product families and capital equipment needs in a highly regulated manufacturing environment. The responsibilities include partnering with Production Planning, Manufacturing, Quality, Engineering, Finance and Global Sourcing to align material availability with production schedules and business priorities.

• Own material availability for assigned commodities, suppliers and product families; proactively identify supply constraints, assess business impact, develop mitigation plans and escalate risks with clear options and recommendations.
• Manage supplier relationships to drive delivery, quality, responsiveness and accountability; resolve supplier‑related issues through root‑cause analysis and corrective action.
• Generate, adjust and expedite purchase orders based on MRP, authorized spend, production priorities, repair requirements and field‑service needs.
• Balance service, inventory investment, safety stock and total cost while managing moderate‑to‑high‑complexity commodities and expense items.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to align material plans with build schedules, supplier capabilities, engineering changes and business priorities.
• Maintain accurate purchasing master data, vendor lists and source records; use ERP/MRP, reporting tools and advanced planning systems to monitor supply‑chain performance.
• Analyze key supply‑chain metrics and identify improvement opportunities to support process adherence across purchasing and planning workflows.
• Leverage data analytics and planning tools to improve visibility and efficiency; support adoption of digital capabilities such as Kinaxis Rapid Response and emerging analytics or AI‑enabled solutions.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Industrial Engineering or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in purchasing, supply chain, inventory management, materials management or production planning.
• Experience managing high‑complexity commodities, critical suppliers or supply‑constrained product families.
• Experience operating in a highly regulated manufacturing environment.
• Strong ERP/MRP experience with ability to interpret demand, supply, inventory and purchasing signals.
• Advanced Excel and Microsoft Office proficiency.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to clearly communicate risks, tradeoffs, recommendations and business impacts.
• Proven ability to influence cross‑functional partners, lead through ambiguity and drive accountability without direct authority.

• Experience in medical device, life sciences or other regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience supporting capital equipment, service parts, OEM components, tooling or repair material flows.
• Experience with advanced planning systems such as Kinaxis Rapid Response.
• Experience supporting SI&OP, inventory optimization, supplier recovery or supply risk mitigation processes.
• Experience with data visualization, digital analytics, AI‑enabled tools, machine learning or digital twin modeling in supply chain.

Minimum Salary: $85,000
Maximum Salary: $161,500

Compensation will be commensurate with demonstrable level of experience and training. Non‑exempt (hourly) and exempt positions may receive variable compensation such as overtime, shift differential, annual bonus or long‑term incentives subject to plan eligibility.

Boston Scientific requires COVID‑19 vaccination or a valid exemption for U.S. based positions that call on hospitals and/or health care centers.

Boston Scientific Corporation is an equal opportunity employer. All personnel decisions are made without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information or any other protected class.

Nearest Major Market:
Minneapolis