IDP Purchasing Country Buyer

Date:  20 Oct 2025
Country/Region:  ZA
City:  CAPE TOWN
Job Type:  Unlimited
Custom Field 1:  63682

Forvia, a sustainable mobility technology leader

We pioneer technology for mobility experience that matter to people.

Your mission, roles and responsibilities

The role of a IDP Country Buyer is to implement commodity strategies based on GCD/M – RCD/M guidance, as well as deploy commodities strategies, and standard tools defined by central teams in their perimeters. The IDP Country buyer is responsible for executing local purchasing and managing local supplier relationships for specific needs. The IDP Country buyer must secure the best possible value for the company through building and maintaining the supplier panel for one or more commodities, ensure the overall productivity of the panel as well as define, implement and follow the supplier strategies aligned with the Country and the Business Group. 

 

The main missions of the role are:

  • Performance / Savings:
    −    Manage local spend based on commodities in scope
    −    Run sourcing processes based on needs coming from business, in line with the commodity strategies
    −    Perform rigorous analysis on cost base and suppliers to ensure delivery of spend targets
  • Quality:
    −    Ensure supply of product and/or services to the business and execution of local purchasing
  • Supplier management: 
    −    Own, manage and negotiated local supplier relationships
    −    Manage local supplier performance (performance to SLAs, continuous improvement – cost innovation)
    −    Stay abreast of market conditions and trends (including global pricing benchmarks) to inform strategy and ensure supply continuity
  • Commodity Management:
    −    Define and implement a local commodity strategy if not covered by global and/or regional teams
  • Purchasing Excellence:
    −    Implement best practice commodity management techniques
    −    Implement standards, processes and tools consistent with the overall purchasing function
  • Compliance:
    −    Comply with overall purchasing spend and preferred supplier policies, and monitor compliance of business end users
  • Team and skills management:
    −    Participate in local and central skill development activities
  • When required, organize and lead escalation meetings with supplier leadership to address disruptive suppliers that are impacting FORVIA plants and programs and jeopardizing FORVIA customer deliveries
  • Propose continuous improvement ideas in business efficiency and cost reduction
  • Capitalizes on knowledge and shares best practices / lessons learned across organization and within the site
  • Commitment to the highest ethical standards and adherence to:
    −    Faurecia Group Code of Ethics
    −    Faurecia Group Code of Management
    −    Faurecia Group Environmental Policy
    −    Faurecia Group Quality Policy

Your profile and competencies to succeed

Minimum education level: Bachelor's degree in Engineering (industrial or mechanical preferred) or Business.

Experience:

  • Minimum 5 years’ Automotive manufacturing experience
  • Minimum 5 years’ experience in purchasing in an industrial environment
  • Experience of successfully managing and negotiating contracts

 

Skills & Competencies:

  • Negotiation skills
  • Supplier Management experience
  • Purchasing financial skills, including data analytics, budgeting and savings calculation
  • Business acumen and strategic thinking ability
  • Drive, creativity and willingness to learn
  • Strong interpersonal skills including written and oral communication skills
  • Knowledge of core AIAG Standards
  • Proactive and results oriented
  • Good analysis skills and able to meet deadlines
  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Financial acumen
  • Ability to work in cross-functional teams
  • International mindset
  • Fluent in English
  • Must have very good Excel and Word skills
  • Commitment to the highest ethical standards and willingness to adhere to Faurecia’s Code of Ethics and Code of Management

What we can do for you

  • At Forvia, you will find an engaging and dynamic environment where you can contribute to the development of sustainable mobility leading technologies.  
  • We are the seventh-largest global automotive supplier, employing more than 157,000 people in more than 40 countries which makes a lot of opportunity for career development. 
  • We welcome energetic and agile people who can thrive in a fast-changing environment. People who share our strong values. Team players with a collaborative mindset and a passion to deliver high standards for our clients. Lifelong learners. High performers. Globally minded people who aspire to work in a transforming industry, where excellence, speed, and quality count. 
  • We cultivate a learning environment, dedicating tools and resources to ensure we remain at the forefront of mobility.  Our people enjoy an average of more than 22 hours of online and in-person training within FORVIA University (five campuses around the world) 
  • We offer a multicultural environment that values diversity and international collaboration. We believe that diversity is a strength. To create an inclusive culture where all forms of diversity create real value for the company, we have adopted gender diversity targets and inclusion action plans. 
  • Achieving CO2 Net Zero as a pioneer of the automotive industry is a priority: In June 2022, Forvia became the first global automotive group to be certified with the new SBTI Net-Zero Standard (the most ambitious standard of SBTi), aligned with the ambition of the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Three principles guide our action: use less, use better and use longer, with a focus on recyclability and circular economy. 

Why join us

FORVIA is an automotive technology group at the heart of smarter and more sustainable mobility. We bring together expertise in electronics, clean mobility, lighting, interiors, seating, and lifecycle solutions to drive change in the automotive industry.

With a history stretching back more than a century, we are the 7th largest global automotive supplier, employing more than 157,000 people in 43 countries. You'll find our technology in around 1 out of 2 vehicles produced anywhere in the world.

In June 2022, we became the 1st global automotive group to be certified with the SBTI Net-Zero Standard. We have committed to reach CO2 Net Zero by no later than 2045.

As technological innovation and the need for sustainability transform the automotive industry, we are ideally positioned to deliver solutions that will enhance the lives of road-users everywhere.