Associate II Purchasing

Where you will work

Our Cypress Bend team is a close-knit group of approximately 275 skilled employees who take pride in what we do. Together, we make paperboard used in products across the United States, including food packaging, plates, cups and more.

Located in the historic Mississippi River Delta, this facility offers a slower pace with plenty of outdoor activities like fishing, hiking, and biking. Many employees commute from nearby towns such as McGehee, Monticello, Dumas, Dermott and Lake Village, which are known for affordable living, strong local pride and family-friendly schools.

The Cypress Bend team also supports local cultural and the arts, with past contributions to the WWII Japanese Internment Museum and SEArk Concert Association.

What you will do

The Purchasing Associate II position performs site purchasing functions to include PO processing and lifecycle management through Material Requirements Planning (MRP) activities, storeroom inventory management, and reconciling inbound receipts of raw materials & speciality chemicals. This role collaborates closely with other buyers in the department as well as with maintenance and operations to ensure parts, materials, chemicals, services are available to help sustain mill operations. This requires effective cross functional communication for planning and problem resolution.

Key Responsibilities:

Purchasing and Stores:

• Support Safety initiatives and foster engagement with mill team.
• Responsibility over MRP/MRO ordering and Purchase Order management.
• Work with Maintenance & Engineering Teams by supporting outage and capital project parts management as needed, creating new item stock requests as needed.

• Create, monitor, and update purchase orders to ensure accuracy and timely delivery of parts and equipment (price, delivery dates, freight codes).
• Ensure compliance with corporate supply agreements.
• Train to effectively build skills for higher-level buying responsibilities, to include reconciling chemical receipts & supporting department specific procurement requests.
• Weekend duty responsibility on rotation as required.
• Special Projects as assigned.

Vendor Relations

• Build relationships with vendors, participate in meetings and help lead communications.
• May monitor vendor performance, assist in the development of corrective actions and ensure completion.
• Develop alternate suppliers in collaboration with mill stakeholders.
• Represent mill stakeholders with insight and feedback for corporate sourcing events.
• Assist as a point of contact for vendors regarding purchase orders, acknowledgments, quotations, shipments, delivery schedules, and invoice inquiries.
• Maintain vendor records and ensure supplier information remains current within company systems.
• Assist with supplier onboarding and maintain required documentation.

Process Administration

• Manage PO/invoice exception process: Ensure invoicing is correct, resolve issues and vendor concerns.
• Manage Receipts Not Vouchered (RNV) process to ensure timely receipt of vendor invoices.
• Comply with freight routing guidelines and other logistics as required.
• Collaborate with Storeroom, EH&S, Maintenance, Reliability, and Operations.

• Comply with all relevant Policies & Procedures.

• Support Storeroom on inventory discrepancies and/or parts errors.
• Assist in annual Cycle Count inventory inspections and observations as needed.
• Work with Finance on month end closing duties as needed.

Success Measurements

• Accountable for safety performance and related improvements consistent with a culture of EH&S excellence.
• Annually, this role will work alongside the department to deliver relevant productivity values across categories including P&L savings, cost avoidance, negotiated savings, working capital, and additional levers.
• Continuously build skills for future responsibilities and provide occasional backfill coverage as needed.

Key Competencies and Attributes

• Supports purchasing activities by executing assigned tasks accurately and on time, with strong attention to detail.
• Learns and applies basic procurement and business processes, demonstrating curiosity and a willingness to develop new skills.
• Communicate effectively with internal teams and suppliers, practicing clear written and verbal communication and active listening.
• Assists in resolving routine issues by identifying problems, gathering information, and escalating when appropriate.
• Follows customer-focused practices to help ensure timely delivery, quality service, and issue prevention.
• Collaborates well with others, building positive working relationships across a variety of personalities and functions.
• Adapts to changing priorities with a positive attitude and openness to feedback in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrates a continuous improvement mindset, proactively identifying opportunities to improve processes, increase efficiency, and enhance overall performance

What you will need

Education and Experience

• High School Diploma or GED
• Associate degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Accounting, Finance, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of two (2) years of administrative, purchasing, inventory control, customer service, or related business experience preferred.
• Experience in manufacturing, industrial operations, pulp and paper, or supply chain environments is highly desirable

Skills/Abilities

• Strong computer skills required including experience using Excel spreadsheets.
• Experience using JD Edwards software preferred or demonstrated experience/proficiency with SAP-based systems.
• Ability to work on non-routine purchases that require analysis to arrive at best decision.
• Must have strong professional communication, planning, and organizational skills.
• General knowledge of manufacturing operations preferred.
• Demonstrated work experience in continuous improvement efforts and methodologies preferred.
• Must be self-motivated, able to set priorities and maintain confidentiality.
• Self-directed and high initiative with ability to handle variety of tasks as well as provide support in a 24/7 manufacturing environment.
• Must be able to work with a diverse group of people in a professional manner and be able to handle several work tasks concurrently.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint are strongly preferred.

Other Key Job Requirements

• Some mental, visual, physical fatigue from computer terminal use.
• Reading
• Keyboarding
• Communication
• Office and manufacturing environment
• Must wear required Personal Protective Equipment in the manufacturing environment.
• Able to lift up to 20 pounds.

Total Rewards Details

We prioritize an exceptional workplace experience, offering a comprehensive total reward package. Compensation ranges are estimates based on market data. Actual offers account for internal equity and the candidate's job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience. Benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and more, generally begin after 30 days. Our paid time off includes vacation days, personal days, and company holidays. For more on our compensation philosophy, please contact our Talent Acquisition Team at Talent.Acquisition@clearwaterpaper.com.

Clearwater Paper will not offer sponsorship for employment-based visa status (including, but not limited to, H-1B visa status and other employment-based nonimmigrant visas) for this position. Accordingly, all applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and must not require Clearwater Paper's sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.

#ClearwaterPaper #CypressBend

This role will be open for a minimum of 2 weeks or at the point a successful candidate is selected.