Lilly

Buyer/Purchasing

US, Concord NC Full time

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Organization Description:
At Lilly, we serve an extraordinary purpose. We make a difference for people around the globe by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines that help them live longer, healthier, more active lives. Not only do we deliver breakthrough medications, but you also can count on us to develop creative solutions to support communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. Lilly is entering an exciting period of growth, and we are committed to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world.

Lilly is investing over $1 billion to create a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site, in Concord, North Carolina. The brand-new facility will use the latest technology to increase the company's manufacturing capacity in parenteral (injectable) medications, device assembly and packaging operations. This is an exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help build and operate a new site. The Lilly Concord site will be built using the latest high-tech equipment, advanced highly integrated and automated manufacturing systems, and have a focus on minimizing the impact on our environment. This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Position Description
The Buyer/Purchaser is responsible for purchasing activities supporting the Concord, NC manufacturing site. This role primarily supports analysis of purchasing needs, placing orders with suppliers, ensuring proper inventory levels are maintained, and general support of the supply chain and logistics team, including Shop Floor Control, Material Requirements Planning, and Purchasing processes. This role interfaces with both internal and external teams to achieve key site objectives.

Key Objectives/Deliverables:

  • Analyze inventory levels of items within SAP and act as needed (placing purchase orders, etc.)
  • Place purchase orders (PO) with vendors providing proper lead time to allow production orders to be released on-time
  • Monitor and adjust PO quantity and delivery dates as needed. Build strong relationships with external vendors and internal team.
  • Forecast and manage material expirations and revisions to prevent production schedule disruptions and minimize destructions and obsolescence.
  • Oversight of material data, such as reorder points, safety stocks, lead times, and lot sizes
  • Setup new material purchasing data in SAP Work closely with production planners/schedulers and project teams to ensure production needs are met.
  • Troubleshoot receiving issues with POs and communicate to vendors on documentation needed to perform receipt.
  • Track and report purchasing metrics, including On-time deliveries, On-time PO release, Past due POs, and On-time Incoming inspection.
  • Project leadership and participation for process improvements, material revisions, launches, etc.
  • Partnership with finance/procurement on evaluation of materials for slow-moving/obsolete inventory (SMOI) and obsolete inventory for destruction
  • Process material destructions Coordination of test materials for project support
  • Completion of investigations and tasks in deviation management system
  • Support the start-up of the Concord, NC site, partnering with quality, planning, and procurement to purchase raw materials required for both start-up activities and routine operations.
  • Create procedures / processes for the purchasing process.

Requirements (Education, Experience, Training):

  • Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience
  • Experience in manufacturing, procurement, or supply chain function
  • Minimum of 3 years work experience
  • Experience in a pharmaceutical environment SAP experience
  • Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States. Lilly does not anticipate providing sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B or TN status) for employment positions on the P path.

Preferred attributes but not required:

  • Ability to work independently with little day-to-day direction.
  • Strong communication skills
  • Capability to prioritize and multi-task effectively.
  • Responsible for maintaining a safe work environment, working safely and accountable for supporting all HSE objectives.
  • Collaborate with other functions as teams as appropriate.
  • APICS CPIM certification OSSCE knowledge and experience
  • Advanced SAP experience 5+ years of work experience desired

Additional Information:

  • Must be available as needed outside of core working hours as needed to support production issues.
  • Some travel may be required.

Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form (https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.

Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.


Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia Network, Black Employees at Lilly, Chinese Culture Network, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), PRIDE (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN), Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL), enAble (for people with disabilities). Learn more about all of our groups.

Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location.  The anticipated wage for this position is

$58,500 - $137,500

Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

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