Lead Maintenance, Repair, and Operations Procurement Specialist II

Role Overview

The Senior MRO Buyer is the site-facing procurement leader for maintenance, repair and operations covering materials and services. The role protects plant uptime by ensuring critical parts, consumables and contracted services are available at the required quality, cost and lead time, while maintaining strong purchasing controls and disciplined inventory practices. The position combines hands‑on transactional execution with category sourcing, supplier performance management, JDE master‑data stewardship, storeroom optimization and cross‑functional partnership with Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, Master Data Governance and other Procurement teammates.

Over the next three to five years, the role is expected to shift from manually processing routine transactions toward exception‑based buying, data‑driven inventory decisions and AI‑assisted sourcing. The Senior MRO Buyer will remain accountable for validating system recommendations, managing operational risk, making sound commercial judgments and strengthening supplier relationships.

This position is based at an active mine site and requires daily onsite presence. Work conditions may include uneven terrain, climbing ladders, navigating steps, and exposure to varying weather conditions such as heat, rain, or mud.
Monday - Friday onsite required.

Key Responsibilities Plant Support and Purchase Execution

• Own the end‑to‑end procurement of assigned MRO stock items, non‑stock parts, repair services, facility services, tools, consumables and other indirect requirements; coordinate order acknowledgements, expedites, returns, repairs, warranty claims, invoice discrepancies and purchase‑order closeout
• Convert properly approved requisitions into accurate purchase orders in JDE; verify supplier, item, quantity, unit of measure, price, promised date, freight terms, payment terms, tax treatment and delivery location before release.
• Prioritize critical, emergency and production‑impacting requirements; communicate status, alternatives and risks to Maintenance and Operations until resolution.

MRO Inventory and Storeroom Optimization

• Partner with Maintenance, Operations and storeroom personnel to determine which parts should be stocked and establish appropriate minimum, maximum, reorder point, safety stock and order‑quantity settings.
• Maintain accurate JDE item‑branch planning data, supplier lead times, pack quantities, costs, stocking locations, equipment references and approved substitutes using usage history, equipment criticality, lead time, downtime exposure and supplier availability to balance service level with working capital.
• Lead reviews of slow‑moving, obsolete, duplicate and excess inventory; recommend redeployment across Oil‑Dri locations, return‑to‑supplier, repair, disposition or retention as insurance spares.

Sourcing and Supplier Management

• Develop sourcing strategies, conduct RFQs and negotiate total cost, payment and freight terms, lead times, warranties, service levels, consignment and VMI programs.
• Consolidate spend where beneficial; qualify alternate sources for single‑source, long‑lead and critical items.
• Manage supplier performance, corrective actions, continuity risk and onboarding requirements using delivery, quality, responsiveness and invoice‑accuracy data.

Systems, Data, Controls and Continuous Improvement

• Serve as the site MRO purchasing and JDE subject‑matter resource; protect item, supplier and purchasing master‑data quality.
• Follow Procurement, Accounting, approval, contract, records‑retention, ethics and segregation‑of‑duties requirements; maintain auditable documentation.
• Reduce manual touches, emergency buys, invoice exceptions, stockouts and cycle time; coach junior buyers and authorized site…