Sr. Buyer

Job Description

Position Summary

The Logistics Procurement Sr Buyer is responsible for developing and executing logistics sourcing strategies and procuring logistics-related services that enable efficient, reliable, and cost-effective supply chain operations. This role supports procurement execution across a broad organizational scope, contributing to management of multimodal logistics spend, carrier and supplier capacity, freight volume, distributor service requirements, and network performance across Beer, Wine & Spirits operations. This position partners with Logistics, Transportation, Planning, Operations, Finance, Legal, and supplier stakeholders to secure capacity, optimize total landed cost, improve service performance, and mitigate supply and operational risk. The role owns competitive sourcing events, carrier and supplier selection recommendations, contract administration, supplier performance management, terms and conditions review, and continuous improvement initiatives across logistics spend categories while ensuring adherence to company policies, service requirements, and applicable transportation and trade regulations. The position influences organizational outcomes by supporting sourcing decisions, rate governance, contract compliance, productivity initiatives, and savings delivery across a network with significant annual spend, high-volume shipment activity, numerous carrier/supplier relationships, and measurable cost, service, and risk impacts. The position is expected to exercise independent judgment, influence cross-functional stakeholders, lead supplier discussions and negotiations, and provide coverage for higher-complexity procurement responsibilities as business needs require.

Core Responsibilities

• Support organizational impact across the logistics procurement portfolio, $1B spend under management, by helping manage annual transportation, warehousing, brokerage, ocean, brokerage, and related logistics spend while balancing cost, service, capacity, risk, and business continuity requirements.
• Lead the execution of logistics procurement priorities by independently coordinating work across internal stakeholders, suppliers, and cross-functional partners.
• Contribute to disciplined execution, process consistency, continuous improvement, and strong cross-functional partnership within assigned procurement scope.
• Coordinate with and influence a broad base of carriers, brokers, warehouses, distributors, internal stakeholders, and other logistics suppliers to support reliable execution across a complex, multimodal network.
• Demonstrate ownership, accountability, and independent judgment in sourcing, supplier management, negotiation preparation, and issue resolution activities.
• Provide coverage for higher-complexity procurement responsibilities as business needs require, including sourcing strategy development, supplier negotiations, bid analysis, stakeholder alignment, and procurement issue resolution.
• Support performance outcomes for assigned logistics and distributor operations workstreams, including service, execution discipline, issue resolution, and continuous improvement results.
• Executes established governance routines, metrics, and review cadences to assess performance, identify gaps, and support corrective action.
• Ensures logistics processes within assigned scope are standardized, practical, and aligned with broader logistics objectives.
• Executes annual and near-term priorities aligned with logistics strategy and business needs.
• Identifies opportunities to simplify, standardize, automate, and digitize logistics processes.
• Leads cross-functional improvement initiatives within assigned scope to deliver measurable, sustainable results.
• Partners with Operations, Network Design, Procurement, Finance, IT, Legal, Corporate Compliance, and Internal Audit to align priorities and execution.
• Influence cross-functional decision-making by representing logistics procurement in business discussions and providing sourcing recommendations, issue escalations, execution updates, and decision-support materials.
• Communicates effectively with functional leadership and prepares clear materials and insights for business reviews and decision-making.
• Partners with Finance to understand cost drivers, financial risks, and investment tradeoffs.
• Supports budget planning, forecasting, and financial performance tracking for assigned scope.
• Support financial impact through savings identification, cost avoidance, rate compliance, spend analytics, productivity tracking, and supplier performance governance tied to annual budgets and forecasted logistics costs.
• Makes prioritization and trade-off decisions within assigned scope, balancing service, cost, risk, and execution needs.
• Supports day-to-day relationship management with logistics service providers, distributor contacts, and other external partners within assigned scope.
• Ensures performance expectations, governance standards, and accountability mechanisms are in place.

Specific Responsibilities

• Lead sourcing and procurement activities for logistics categories including truckload, less-than-truckload, intermodal, parcel, drayage, warehousing, brokerage, packaging, and other transportation-related services as assigned.
• Support sourcing and supplier management for a high-volume logistics network spanning distributor lanes, brewery-to-warehouse flows, intermodal and rail capacity, warehouse and 3PL services, and other transportation-related supplier relationships.
• Develop and execute sourcing strategies that balance cost, service, capacity, quality, and risk, with a focus on supporting network performance, on-time delivery, and supply continuity.
• Manage competitive bid events including RFI, RFP, and RFQ processes; prepare bid packages, analyze responses, compare rate structures and service commitments, and recommend award decisions based on total value.
• Negotiate transportation rates, accessorial schedules, service level agreements, fuel surcharge mechanisms, payment terms, and contract language to achieve competitive commercial outcomes and appropriate risk protection.
• Provide support for Procurement Manager and Sr Manager, including managing escalated sourcing requests, preparing supplier recommendations, coordinating contract inputs, and maintaining continuity during workload peaks, absences, or business priority shifts.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with carriers, brokers, warehouses, and other logistics suppliers; support onboarding, qualification, performance reviews, corrective actions, and business reviews.
• Monitor freight market conditions, carrier capacity, regional constraints, seasonal impacts, and cost drivers to identify sourcing opportunities, mitigate disruption risk, and inform procurement decisions.
• Analyze spend, lane data, shipment profiles, supplier scorecards, and logistics KPIs to identify savings opportunities, improve network design decisions, and support budget planning and forecast accuracy.
• Quantify and communicate organizational impact by translating spend, volume, supplier performance, service levels, capacity constraints, and network cost drivers into actionable recommendations for procurement and logistics leadership.
• Partner with operations, logistics planning, customer service, finance, and legal teams to resolve supplier issues, align commercial terms with operational requirements, and ensure contracts are executable and measurable.
• Administer contract lifecycle activities including contract review, drafting support, redlining coordination, review of supplier terms and conditions, renewals, amendments, pricing updates, and documentation of supplier obligations, insurance requirements, indemnity considerations, service levels, and other commercial terms.
• Ensure compliance with company procurement policies and applicable transportation, trade, safety, and insurance requirements, and support audits, documentation standards, and supplier governance processes.
• Support continuous improvement projects related to freight optimization, supplier rationalization, packaging efficiency, network redesign, and process automation to improve cost, service, and visibility.
• Prepare reports and present recommendations on sourcing events, supplier performance, savings delivery, service issues, market trends, and risk mitigation actions to procurement and business stakeholders.
• Track and report annualized savings, cost avoidance, productivity benefits, supplier commitments, awarded volume, and service/risk impacts to demonstrate measurable financial and operational value from sourcing events and supplier governance.

Reporting Relationship

• This position reports to the Sr Manager, Logistics Procurement and Strategy.
• This position is an individual contributor role that operates within a matrixed stakeholder model across Logistics, Procurement, Operations, Finance, Legal, Planning, Customer Service, and supplier teams. The role supports enterprise logistics procurement outcomes across a broad network scope, including annual spend management, carrier and supplier governance, volume execution, cost performance, service reliability, and risk mitigation. The position may provide coverage for higher-complexity procurement responsibilities as business needs require.
• Expected to prepare and present sourcing recommendations, supplier performance insights, savings updates, service issue summaries, market trends, and risk mitigation actions to procurement and business stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business Administration, Finance, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, transportation, logistics, carrier management, or a related supply chain function preferred.
• Experience supporting logistics procurement portfolios with meaningful annual spend, multiple carrier/supplier relationships, high-volume transportation or warehousing activity, and measurable financial, service, or operational impact is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with independent judgment in managing sourcing activities, supplier discussions, negotiation support, cross-functional alignment, and procurement recommendations with limited direction.
• Experience in freight buying, contract logistics, warehousing procurement, contract review, supplier terms and conditions, or transportation category management strongly preferred; consumer products, manufacturing, food and beverage, or high-volume distribution experience is a plus.
• Working knowledge of transportation contracts, supplier terms and conditions, insurance requirements, rate structures, indemnity and liability considerations, service commitments, and supplier qualification processes is preferred.
• Experience with ERP, e-sourcing, transportation management systems, or spend analytics platforms is highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of strategic sourcing, carrier procurement, supplier negotiations, contract review, contract administration, terms and conditions review, and total cost of ownership analysis across logistics spend categories.
• Ability to analyze transportation rates, lane economics, accessorial charges, warehouse pricing models, and supplier performance metrics to support data-driven decisions.
• Experience with RFI/RFP/RFQ events, bid analysis, supplier scorecards, savings tracking, and cross-functional project management.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and negotiation skills with the ability to influence internal teams and external suppliers.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and familiarity with procurement, analytics, and transportation systems; experience with dashboards and reporting tools is preferred.
• Understanding of transportation compliance, supplier risk management, service level governance, and continuous improvement methodologies.

Physical Requirements/Work Environment

• Ability to sit and/or stand for extended periods and work on a computer for prolonged periods of time.
• Occasional lifting may be required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
• Ability to work in a professional corporate office environment.
• Ability to travel as needed for supplier visits, site reviews, bid events, and cross-functional meetings, up to 20%.
• Valid driver’s license is not required unless travel responsibilities or local site access needs make it necessary.

Must meet all applicable legal and company requirements

Location

Chicago, Illinois

Additional Locations

Job Type

Full time

Job Area

Supply Chain

The salary range for this role is:

$82,400.00 - $123,600.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting.  Our compensation is based on cost of labor. For remote locations or positions open to multiple locations, the pay range may reflect several US geographic markets, including the lowest geographic market minimum to the highest geographic market maximum. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, the prevailing minimum wage for the location, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs.  At Constellation Brands, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the high end of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate. We offer comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, 401(k), and any other benefits to eligible employees.

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, or any other form of compensation that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Equal Opportunity

Constellation Brands is committed to a continuing program of equal employment opportunity. All persons have equal employment opportunities with Constellation Brands, regardless of their sex, race, color, age, religion, creed, sexual orientation, national origin or citizenship, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristics), marital status, gender (including gender identity or gender expression), familial status, military or veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related conditions (or any other group or category within the framework of the applicable discrimination laws and regulations).