Project Buyer

Lely, founded in 1948, is committed to creating a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in agriculture. Driven by the challenges farmers face and the needs of cows, we develop high-quality robots and data systems that improve animal welfare, flexibility, and productivity on dairy farms. Our mission is to support sustainable food production.

For more than 30 years, we have been a global leader in the sales and service of automated systems for successive generations of dairy farmers. Every day, we inspire our colleagues to provide customers with innovative solutions and to be a reliable partner for long-term advice and support. With our state-of-the-art Lely Campus in Maassluis and a worldwide network of dedicated Lely Centers offering tailored sales and service, Lely operates in more than fifty countries.

Are you ready to play a key role in driving innovation at one of the most forward-thinking companies in the agricultural sector? As our Project Buyer, you’ll take ownership of procurement activities within New Product Introduction (NPI) and Continuous Development (CD) projects & other special projects (e.g. benchmarking, process improvement projects)—transforming concepts and designs into real solutions that improve the lives of farmers worldwide.

You will be working in a multidisciplinary team with colleagues from amongst others PD and integrated supply chain. You are the linking pin to our suppliers within this team. From the very first sketch to ramp-up for serial production, your role ensures that the right suppliers, materials according to specifications and budget, and timelines are in place to bring cutting-edge innovations and improvements to life.

Your main responsibilities include:

• Leading and coordinating procurement efforts within NPI and CD projects, from concept to serial production.
• Developing and maintaining project sourcing plans, aligning with Engineering, and Integrated Supply Chain stakeholders.
• Acting as the primary procurement liaison in multidisciplinary project teams. Translating technical, SCM and Operations needs (e.g. supply risk mitigation, lifecycle management, sustainability) into sourcing strategies, selection and contracting of suppliers.
• Advising key stakeholders regarding procurement consequences of proposed changes.
• Engaging suppliers early to ensure feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and timely industrialization.
• Manage risks at supplier and item level. Including assessment, mitigation planning and execution.
• Leading benchmark projects in cooperation with your procurement colleagues.
• Other procurement related projects such as process improvements.
• Drive initiatives to evaluate and improve our (procurement) way of working in projects.

You thrive in a project-based environment, bringing structure, overview, coordination and decisiveness to the table. You know how to balance innovation, cost, and quality while managing complex internal stakeholders and suppliers. Your ability to align technical, business and procurement goals makes you a trusted partner across disciplines.

You bring the following:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in procurement, preferably in a high-tech or manufacturing setting.
• Hands-on experience with project-based work such as NPI, CD and other procurement projects.
• Knowledge of early supplier involvement, industrialization processes, and cost and lifecycle modeling.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, and technical communication skills.
• A Teamplayer that performs well under pressure and motivates others to reach the end goal.
• A structured and proactive project approach, with strong organizational, detail and time management capabilities.
• Willingness to travel internationally (approx. 10-20%).

Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You contribute to making the agricultural sector future-proof - and we make sure that you get all the space, resources and support you need to do so.

• An international working environment with opportunities for own initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• A salary within the scale of € 5.000 - € 7.000 gross per month, in which we like to see opportunities for growth from your starting salary towards the future
• Good growth opportunities: you are in control of your development and can choose from various training courses through our Lely Academy - from personal development to job-specific training.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk straight from our farm, as well as a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site (between 06:00 and 20:00).
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Successes need to be celebrated: from anniversaries to Christmas parties - at Lely we know how to do it!

Recruitment & selection agency, consultancy, and/or secondment agency?
We appreciate the interest, but we are looking for all our candidates directly. We understand that you, as an intermediary, want to present candidates for our great positions and thus contribute to our ambitions, but this is not how we have set up our recruitment. This means that all unsolicited profiles offered on Lely vacancies will be treated as direct applications.