Senior Program Purchasing Lead in Toronto

Safran is an international high-technology group operating in the fields of aerospace, space, and defense. Its mission is to contribute sustainably to a safer world, where air transport becomes ever more environmentally friendly, comfortable, and accessible. Present on every continent, the Group employs 110,000 people and generated €31.3 billion in revenue in 2025.

Safran Landing Systems is the world leader in landing gear, wheels & brakes, and associated systems for civil and military aircraft and helicopters. We master the entire lifecycle of our products, from design and manufacturing through to maintenance.

Act as the senior Purchasing focal point within the Integrated Program Team (IPT) for a program or program family covering Build-to-Print (BTP), Build-to-Specification (BTS), systems, equipment, services, and related recurring.

• Provide cross-functional leadership, coordination, and guidance to Program Purchasing team members, establishing priorities, allocating activities, resolving conflicts, and ensuring consistent execution across the full program scope.
• Ensure Program, Production, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Purchasing strategies and priorities are fully aligned, clearly communicated, and respected by all relevant stakeholders.
• Represent Program Purchasing in key program governance meetings, executive reviews, escalations, supplier reviews providing clear recommendations and decision-ready information.
• Coordinate closely with Purchasing Site Leaders, Commodity Managers, Commodity Buyers, and Industrialization Leads, and other functions to ensure timely completion of Purchasing deliverables.
• Establish and maintain effective Program Purchasing governance, routines, and ways of working, including regular progress reviews, action tracking, prioritization, and escalation paths.
• Prepare, maintain, and drive Program Purchasing documentation and management tools, including the Program Purchasing Plan, Purchasing Roadmap, integrated activity plan, dashboards, cost models, risk registers, and program overviews.
• Lead the Purchasing contribution to bids, estimates, and program financial reviews.
• Ensure recurring cost (RC) and non-recurring cost (NRC) targets, budgets, assumptions, supplier quotations, contractual coverage, and cost evolution are accurate, current, and aligned with the Program and Commodity Purchasing teams.
• Coordinate Purchasing activities through major program milestones, from bid and supplier selection through development, industrialization, certification, production ramp-up, and in-service support.
• Ensure customer, technical, contractual, quality, cybersecurity, export control, and logistical requirements are understood and flowed down to Purchasing teams and suppliers as applicable.
• Drive procurement schedule performance, including RFQ launch and quotation receipt, supplier selection, contractualization, purchase-order placement, industrialization, capacity validation, and delivery readiness.
• Anticipate and secure critical and long lead requirements, including raw materials, forgings, billets, bars, tooling, and supplier capacity, while considering market conditions, lead times, cost exposure, and production ramp-up needs.
• Identify, assess, and proactively manage Program Purchasing risks and opportunities in accordance with Safran requirements.
• Lead mitigation plans, remove cross-functional bottlenecks, and escalate critical issues with proposed recovery actions.
• Monitor key emerging and high-priority topics, ensuring the appropriate functions understand the impacts and dedicate the required resources to achieve program objectives.
• Support Make or Buy decisions, supplier strategy, sourcing and negotiation activities, and the development of contractual frameworks for BTP and BTS scopes.
• Ensure effective management of design and configuration changes, including timely flow down to Commodity Purchasing, suppliers, and industrialization teams and alignment through the applicable change control process.
• Coordinate Development and Industrialization Leads to ensure supplier development and industrialization activities meet APQP, DVI/PPAP, AS9100, Safran Group, and program requirements.
• For BTS products, provide senior oversight of supplier development activities and ensure Strategic Purchasing and project leads achieve all required milestones through certification and production readiness.
• Maintain accurate Program Purchasing performance indicators and provide concise, consistent reporting to Program and executive stakeholders covering cost, schedule, contractualization, industrialization, capacity, risks, and key decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement and standardization of Program Purchasing processes, tools, dashboards, and reporting.
• Share best practices, support process maturity objectives, and ensure compliance without unapproved deviations.
• Coach and support Program Purchasing team members, promote knowledge sharing.

Candidate skills & requirements:

• University or College degree/diploma, preferably in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field.
• Typically, 7 or more years of progressive experience in Purchasing, Supply Chain, Program Management, Engineering, or a related discipline, preferably in aerospace or another highly regulated industry.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex development or industrial programs and coordinating cross-functional or transversal teams without direct authority.
• Solid understanding of product development, industrialization, manufacturing processes, supplier capacity, and program milestone management.
• Working knowledge of APQP, DVI/PPAP, AS9100, risk management, change control, export control, and applicable customer or regulatory requirements.
• Knowledge of strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, contract management, cost analysis, recurring and non-recurring cost control, and purchasing.
• Strong analytical, financial, and project management skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear priorities, recommendations, and executive-level summaries.
• Proven ability to anticipate risks, lead recovery plans, make sound recommendations, and influence decisions across multiple functions and organizational levels.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to lead senior level meetings and supplier discussions.
• Strongly organized, rigorous, proactive, and results-oriented, with demonstrated tenacity and relationship-building capability.
• Ability to coach and guide team members, promote collaboration, and drive consistent ways of working.
• Fluent in English, French is an asset.

Salary: $90,500 to $113,000

Safran Landing Systems (SafranLS) is committed to creating an inclusive, diverse and equitable team and encourages all applicants to apply. If you love a challenge and want to work in an exciting, high-tech environment, we want to hear from you.

SafranLS offers accommodations for people with disabilities in all parts of the hiring process and will work with applicants to meet accommodation needs that are made known to SafranLS in advance.