Lead Purchasing Manager Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Purchasing Manager

Location: Anaheim, CA area
Schedule: Hybrid flexibility after initial onboarding

We are seeking an experienced Purchasing Manager to lead purchasing, materials planning, and inventory management for a highly specialized industrial products business.

This is an excellent opportunity for a purchasing professional who enjoys an environment where every day is a little different. Unlike a traditional high-volume purchasing operation built primarily around predictable forecasts and repetitive demand, this business supports highly configurable and customized industrial products. Customer requirements can change quickly, one-off applications are common, and success requires strong communication and coordination across Purchasing, Sales, Engineering, Operations, and suppliers.

The Purchasing Manager will lead an experienced team of buyers while serving as a key member of the local leadership team. The right person will bring strong purchasing and inventory-management fundamentals, but equally important will be the ability to prioritize, solve problems, communicate effectively, and confidently lead in a fast-moving environment.

What You'll Do

• Lead, coach, and support an experienced purchasing team responsible for domestic and international suppliers.
• Manage purchasing, material planning, and inventory activities to ensure materials are available to meet customer commitments.
• Coordinate purchasing requirements for configurable and customized products, including components, finished goods, and subcontracted services.
• Manage multiple priorities, projects, suppliers, and material requirements while maintaining strong organization and follow-through.
• Proactively identify and resolve material shortages, supplier issues, long lead times, and other risks that could impact customers.
• Work closely with Sales, Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Production to support customer-specific requirements and changing business priorities.
• Manage supplier relationships, including pricing, terms, lead times, delivery commitments, and performance.
• Coordinate outside processing with suppliers providing services such as machining, welding, polishing, and other product modifications.
• Balance material availability with inventory objectives and identify opportunities to reduce excess or obsolete inventory.
• Support engineering changes, new product requirements, and unique customer applications.
• Participate in planning and S&OP activities and help improve purchasing and inventory-management processes.
• Serve as a key leader within the La Palma operation, working closely with Engineering and Sales leadership to solve problems and keep customer commitments on track.

The formal position is responsible for procurement, materials planning, inventory management, supplier performance, and material availability across a highly configurable product environment.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who understands purchasing but is also comfortable operating beyond the traditional buyer/procurement function.

The strongest candidates will have:

• 7+ years of experience in purchasing, procurement, supply chain, materials management, or a related function within an industrial, manufacturing, assembly, or distribution environment.
• Previous experience leading or managing purchasing, sourcing, or supply-chain employees.
• Strong understanding of purchasing, supplier management, inventory management, and material planning.
• Experience working in an environment involving customized, configured, engineer-to-order, assemble-to-order, or otherwise non-standard products.
• The ability to manage competing priorities and make good decisions when demand or customer requirements aren't always predictable.
• Strong business acumen and the confidence to work alongside other functional leaders.
• Excellent organizational skills and disciplined follow-through.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience working with ERP/MRP systems; SAP experience is preferred.
• Experience working with international suppliers and supply chains.
• Strong analytical skills and advanced Microsoft Excel capabilities.
• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience

The Environment

This is a customer-focused organization where Purchasing plays an important role in delivering on commitments made to customers. Many products are configured for specific applications, which means priorities can shift quickly and purchasing must work closely with Sales and Engineering to keep projects moving.

You'll inherit an experienced purchasing team with strong supplier knowledge and established vendor relationships. This isn't a role focused solely on finding new suppliers or constantly rebidding business. Instead, you'll be expected to provide leadership, organization, prioritization, supplier management, and strong execution while helping the broader team solve problems.

Work Schedule

The company offers flexibility for a hybrid schedule of approximately three days in the office and two days remote once the individual is established in the position.

During the initial onboarding period, the expectation will be to spend more time onsite to learn the business, products, team, and processes.

Start and end times have some flexibility, with earlier schedules available for individuals who prefer them.