Purchasing Jobs in Kansas (NOW HIRING)

Overview
Do you want to join a team that's changing the world? Do you have a strong background as an Indirect Purchasing Manager? Then we're looking for you! Check out the job description and apply now! Put your skills to meaningful use, gain unique experience, and work with world-class team members with diverse backgrounds and expertise who share the same vision. Join the PECNA team today!
Responsibilities
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Meet the Recruiter: Eric Laffey
Summary:
Join us at Panasonic Energy as we expand to De Soto, Kansas, where we're building the world's largest lithium-ion battery factory. This is an exciting opportunity to grow your career while contributing to the future of electric vehicles. As part of our team, you'll help push the limits of battery technology, enhancing performance and efficiency in sustainable transportation.
Our state-of-the-art facility, just outside the Kansas City Metro, will be a hub for innovation in green energy solutions. If you're passionate about sustainability and eager to contribute to the electric vehicle revolution, we invite you to be part of our dynamic team. Join us and make a meaningful impact on the future of energy and transportation.
Job Summary:
The Indirect Purchasing Manager is a recognized procurement expert responsible for developing, implementing, and sustaining end-to-end purchasing strategies across a broad range of indirect spend categories, including professional services, contingent labor, MRO, manufacturing equipment, consumables, facilities operations, and related services. This role drives value beyond cost savings by integrating data-driven decision-making, supplier performance management, demand optimization, process improvement, and risk mitigation. The position partners cross-functionally with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and global teams to optimize purchasing operations, enhance system integration, and improve inventory and receiving processes. The role emphasizes continuous improvement, compliance with procurement policies, and the application of advanced analytics to support operational excellence and business outcomes in a complex manufacturing environment.
Essential Duties:
Functional Leadership & Operations:

• Lead and oversee end-to-end indirect purchasing operations, providing subject-matter expertise across assigned indirect spend categories to ensure optimized cost, service, and operational performance.
• Drive and govern procurement strategies, policies, and procedures, ensuring consistent execution and alignment with organizational objectives.
• Provide operational leadership for purchasing system integration, including vendor onboarding, master data governance, and coordination of ERP and related tools in partnership with IT, Finance, and Inventory teams.
• Ensure purchasing activities meet internal customer requirements and service level expectations while maintaining efficiency and accuracy across purchasing and receiving processes.
• Provide purchasing oversight and support related to inventory and receiving discrepancies, coordinating with suppliers and internal partners to ensure timely resolution and process improvement.

Strategic Alignment & Continuous Improvement:

• Develop and execute indirect category strategies informed by spend analytics, supply market intelligence, total cost of ownership analysis, and business requirements
• Identify and lead value-creation initiatives beyond sourcing, including demand management, process optimization, value engineering, insource versus outsource evaluation, and innovation opportunities
• Apply advanced analytical techniques to evaluate spend patterns, cost drivers, consolidation opportunities, and performance trends to support data-driven decision-making
• Monitor external market trends, supplier capabilities, and industry best practices to proactively enhance procurement effectiveness and resilience

Team Development & Knowledge Sharing:

• Support cross-site resource planning and task alignment between Kansas and Nevada operations to enable continuity, flexibility, and effective workload distribution
• Facilitate knowledge transfer, role clarity, and operational hand-offs to strengthen indirect procurement capabilities and mitigate business disruption due to personnel changes

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain strong partnerships with internal stakeholders and external suppliers to ensure procurement solutions align with business needs and operational priorities
• Lead supplier performance management activities, including issue resolution, capability development, and ongoing engagement to support operational effectiveness
• Gather, validate, and translate business requirements into procurement solutions through effective collaboration with functional and category stakeholders

Quality, Safety, Compliance, & Risk Management:

• Enforce compliance with procurement policies, procedures, and internal controls while promoting adoption and standardization across the organization
• Identify root causes of supplier, system, or process performance issues and lead corrective actions in collaboration with internal and external partners
• Support risk management efforts related to supplier performance, operational continuity, and compliance within the indirect purchasing function

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This position will have direct and indirect reports and provides strategic direction, guidance, and performance oversight to ensure alignment with organizational goals

Travel Requirement:

• Requires up to 10% travel to supplier locations and other company sites to support strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, and business alignment

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Requirements:

• To ensure the health and safety in the workplace and for the protection of our employees, wearing PPE is a possibility and may include equipment such as a full Tyvek suit, safety shoes, gloves, safety glasses, face mask, bump cap, and a full hazmat suit that includes a respirator.

The foregoing description is not intended and should not be construed to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills and efforts or work conditions associated with the job. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the general nature and level of the job.
Qualifications
Requirements - Required and/or Preferred
Required Education, Certifications, and Licenses:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Engineering, Finance, or a related STEM or business discipline
• Relevant work experience may be substituted for required education

Preferred Education, Certifications, and Licenses:

• Master's degree (MBA or MS) in a related discipline
• ISM CPSM
• Lean Six Sigma Certification (Green Belt or higher)

Essential Qualifications:

• 5+ years of progressive indirect purchasing or procurement leadership experience, with demonstrated accountability for end-to-end category ownership and business outcomes
• Proven experience developing and executing indirect procurement strategies, including category strategy development, supplier segmentation, and value delivery beyond cost savings
• Demonstrated success leading complex negotiations and managing commercial risk through effective contract structures and supplier governance
• Strong working knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies, with experience supporting manufacturing or operational improvement initiatives
• Advanced analytical and financial acumen, including the ability to analyze spend data, identify cost drivers, evaluate total cost of ownership, and support data-driven decision-making
• Experience managing procurement projects and initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and tight timelines
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with a proven ability to influence cross-functional partners and senior leaders without direct authority
• Experience utilizing supplier relationship management (SRM) tools, performance scorecards, and formal supplier review processes (e.g., QBRs)
• High proficiency with procurement and sourcing technologies, including e-sourcing platforms, ERP systems (e.g., SAP or Ariba), and advanced Excel-based analysis
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in global, matrixed organizations, including collaboration with offshore or remote teams
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with experience facilitating meetings, leading executive-level discussions, and presenting recommendations
• Must have working-level knowledge of the English language, including reading, writing, and speaking English
• Alignment to Panasonic's seven (7) core principles (contribution to society, fairness and honesty, cooperation and team spirit, untiring effort for improvement, courtesy and humility, adaptability, gratitude)

Preferred Qualifications:

• 7+ years of progressive purchasing leadership experience
• Bilingual or multilingual capabilities (e.g., Japanese, Spanish)
• Experience in high-volume manufacturing procurement, preferably within the energy storage, automotive, or electronics industries
• Experience leveraging data, analytics, or digital procurement tools to improve spend visibility, supplier performance, or demand management
• Experience supporting procurement system implementations, upgrades, or process transformations (e.g., ERP, e-sourcing, or supplier management platforms)
• Exposure to sourcing or managing indirect spend related to capital equipment, facilities, or large-scale manufacturing operations
• Experience supporting supplier risk management, business continuity, or procurement resilience initiatives

Physical Demands:
Physical Activities: Percentage of time (equaling 100%) during the normal workday the employee is required to:

• Sit: 40%
• Walk: 30%
• Stand: 30%

Required Lifting and Carrying: Rare (<1%), Occasional (1-33%), Frequent (34-66%), Continuous (67-100%)
For this position, the required frequency is:

• Up to 10 lbs.: Occasional
• Up to 20 lbs.: Rare
• Up to 35 lbs.: Rare
• Team-lift only (over 35 lbs.): Rare

Benefits & Perks - What's In It For You:
Panasonic Energy prioritizes total well-being and offers comprehensive benefits options to support physical, emotional, financial, social, and environmental health:

• Health Benefits - Offering medical, dental, vision, prescription plans, plus Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account options.
• Voluntary Benefits - Life, accident, critical illness, disability, legal, identity theft, and pet insurance.
• Panasonic Retirement Savings & Investment Plan (PRSIP) - 401(k) plan with company matching contributions and immediate vesting.
• Paid Time-Off Benefits - Vacation, holidays, personal days, sick leave, volunteer, and parental & caregiver leave.
• Educational Assistance - Tuition reimbursement for job-related courses after six months of service.
• Health Management and Wellbeing Programs -Lifestyle Spending Account, EAP, virtual health management, chronic condition, neurodiversity, tobacco cessation, substance abuse support, and life stage and fertility resources. Available to eligible employees starting the first day of the month following your start date. Eligibility for each benefit may vary based on employment status, location, and length of service.
• Employee Recognition Program - High5 employee recognition and awards platform, quarterly and annual employee recognition
• Annual Bonus Program - Opportunity for an annual performance-based bonus.
• On-site Food Options: Several on-site cafes, plentiful snack and beverage kitchens, revolving on-site vendor visits and employee events.

Where You'll Be:
For our onsite roles, Panasonic Energy is committed to fostering an ideal working environment that goes beyond the conventional. We understand the significance of moments that matter in your onsite experience, and we prioritize creating a workspace that not only promotes productivity but also ensures a fulfilling and positive work atmosphere. Join us at Panasonic Energy, where your onsite presence is valued, and we strive to make each moment count in your professional journey.
Who We Are:
Meet Panasonic Energy! At Panasonic Energy, you'll do work that matters as we are dedicated to transforming the world through the acceleration of sustainable energy. By producing safe, high-quality lithium-ion batteries, you become part of a team that plays a crucial role in creating technologies that move us.
Our journey began in 2017, and now, as the world's largest lithium-ion battery factory, we are expanding operations to De Soto, Kansas, providing you with the opportunity to experience career growth in more ways than one.
As an innovative thinker, you'll thrive here, as we continually push the boundaries of lithium-ion battery technology and production capabilities to enhance efficiency and performance in EVs.
Being part of Panasonic Energy means positively contributing to society, aligning with our commitment to building a better world through sustainable energy solutions.
We care about what you care about, fostering an environment where your contributions make a meaningful impact on the future of energy and transportation. Join us and be part of a team that values your work, encourages innovation, and actively contributes to a positive societal impact.
In addition to an environment that is as i...