Senior Buyer/Planner

Company Description

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics. The Guardant Health oncology platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum. Guardant Health has commercially launched Guardant360®, Guardant360 CDx, Guardant360 TissueNext™, Guardant360 Response™, and GuardantOMNI® tests for advanced stage cancer patients, and Guardant Reveal™ for early-stage cancer patients. The Guardant Health screening portfolio, including the Shield™ test, aims to address the needs of individuals eligible for cancer screening.

Job Description

About the Role:

The Senior Buyer/Planner plays a critical role as the liaison between Guardant Health third-party suppliers as well as internal manufacturing & planning teams. This seasoned professional will be responsible for managing and maintaining optimal inventory levels for the Clinical Laboratory, Technology Development, and Research Operations teams. The Senior Buyer will oversee all inbound and outbound logistics for kits and reagents, collaborating closely with internal departments to ensure timely material availability and cost management. Additionally, this individual will work with Finance to manage cost control, excess inventory, and obsolete materials. 

 Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Aggregate demand from cross-functional teams to ensure consistent material availability across the organization. 
• Provide regular updates to senior management on the current state of the Supply Chain and material availability. 
• Proactively resolve material shortages by conducting gap analysis to anticipate and address shortages 4-5 weeks in advance. 
• Troubleshoot and resolve work order variance issues. 
• Create, manage, and track work orders based on global demand and changing business needs. 
• Develop and maintain work order part modifiers, including lead time, cost, MOQ, lot sizing, safety stock levels, etc. 
• Analyze and optimize manufacturing strategy to reduce scrap and improve material utilization. 
• Coordinate with stakeholders on MRB (Material Review Board) issues and ensure corrective actions are taken, meeting Guardant Health’s MRB aging targets. 
• Collaborate with engineering teams to implement change orders effectively. 
• Actively manage relationships with internal stakeholders, sharing rolling forecasts and ensuring the appropriate safety stock levels to facilitate quick responses to changes. 
• Participate in external audits to assess material quality, production capabilities, and overall business performance. 
• Stay informed about industry trends, lead times, supplier capacities, pricing trends, and other factors that impact the supply base. 
• Develop and maintain supplier scorecards; conduct quarterly business reviews with critical vendors. 
• Collaborate with supply chain teams to address sole-source issues and develop contingency plans as necessary. 
• Drive corporate initiatives aimed at product cost savings and supply chain optimization. 
• Work with management to address all aspects of commodity management, including procurement support, commodity business plans, market trend analysis, pricing, and product availability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required. 
• 3-5 years of related experience in purchasing, inventory control, and supplier management. 
• Experience managing strategic commodities and suppliers within a Biotech or turnkey environment. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with an ability to present complex data effectively. 
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. 
• Strong leadership, influencing, and negotiating skills. 
• Proficiency with ERP systems and MS Office (Excel and Outlook required). 
• Ability to work cross-functionally with different teams and departments to achieve business goals. 
• C.P.M. (Certified Purchasing Manager) and/or C.P.I.M. (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) certification preferred but not required. 

Additional Information

Hybrid Work Model: At Guardant Health, we have defined days for in-person/onsite collaboration and work-from-home days for individual-focused time. All U.S. employees who live within 50 miles of a Guardant facility will be required to be onsite on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days allows our teams to do the best work and creates the focused thinking time our innovative work requires. At Guardant, our work mod