Commodity Purchaser — Prairies & Treated Programs

Level: Intermediate–Senior Individual Contributor

Reporting Line: Reports to the Sr. Director of Commodities

Scope: Commodity lumber, panel, and treated purchasing for multiple branches across the group’s banners plus ownership of the group’s treated lumber programs, coordinated with the group-wide buying program.

 

LOCATION & WORK MODEL

Base: Calgary, AB preferred (Remote considered)

Work Model: Onsite / Hybrid; this role lives close to the yards it buys for

Travel: Regular travel to prairie branches; periodic supplier/mill visits and attendance at group purchasing meetings and offsites (Calgary)

 

MUST-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS

1. 3–5+ years buying or trading commodity wood products (dimensional SPF, studs, OSB/plywood, treated) in a Canadian LBM, wholesale, or mill-direct environment
2. Working knowledge of commodity market dynamics and pricing references (Random Lengths / RISI / Madison’s) and the ability to translate them into buy/hold/cover decisions
3. Established or demonstrable supplier relationships with Western Canadian mills and distributors
4. Strong numeracy: per-MBF/MSF conversions, landed cost math, freight economics (rail vs. truck into MB/SK), margin and replacement-cost analysis
5. Comfortable operating in an ERP-driven purchasing workflow (suggested orders, PO entry, receiving reconciliation)
6. Treated lumber experience: ACQ smooth / ground-contact / PWF programs, seasonal ramp planning, and managing supplier mix across treaters and distributors
7. Negotiation skills with a track record of securing volume programs, block buys, or forward positions
8. Disciplined documentation habits — confirmations reconciled to POs, positions tracked, no handshake-only deals

 

NICE-TO-HAVES

• Direct BisTrack experience (suggested-order batches, PO workflows, stock-by-length)
• Experience administering or negotiating vendor rebate programs
• Truckload / railcar load-building experience (optimizing to mill load plans and weight limits)
• Comfort working alongside AI-assisted purchasing tools and structured digital workflows — the group is actively automating suggested orders, PO entry, and product cross-referencing, and this role works inside those systems rather than around them

 

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

OWN THE TREATED PROGRAMS

• Oversee the group’s treated lumber programs end-to-end
• Annual program negotiation with treaters and distributors (West Fraser, Taiga, CanWel, Mayfair, Gilfor and regional suppliers)
• Seasonal inventory ramp and wind-down
• Supplier escalation paths for immediate needs vs. planned truckloads
• Treated replenishment cadence across branches

OWN PRAIRIE REPLENISHMENT

• Run and vet suggested-order batches for MB/SK branches
• Triage lines (already covered / no signal / in stock / true shortfall)
• Set quantities, assign suppliers, and generate POs
• Balance immediate-need buys against truckload economics

BUILD AND MANAGE FORWARD POSITIONS

• Execute block-buy commitments and bought-ahead positions on dimensional and treated
• Track availability
• Draw down truckloads against programs
• Allocate positions to branches as needs firm up

TRADE THE MARKET

• Monitor print and futures
• Time coverage on SPF, studs, and panels for prairie demand
• Maintain accurate replacement costs
• Feed market intel into group pricing coordination and CEC pricing prep

MANAGE SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS

• Negotiate programs, pricing, and freight with mills and distributors serving MB/SK
• Reconcile confirmations against POs
• Escalate and resolve shortages, substitutions, and claims

PROTECT INVENTORY HEALTH

• Watch turns, aged stock, and below-cost SKUs across prairie branches
• Participate in margin reviews and corrective re-pricing or liquidation

COORDINATE ACROSS BANNERS

• Align prairie buys with group-wide positions and rebate programs so the group buys as one where it pays to, and locally where it doesn’t

 

SUCCESS METRICS

3 MONTHS

• Running prairie suggested-order batches independently with clean triage decisions
• Supplier confirmations reconciled to POs with zero unexplained variances
• Fluent in BisTrack purchasing workflows

6 MONTHS

• Owns the MB/SK supplier book — pricing, freight lanes, and lead times current
• Has taken over day-to-day treated replenishment (immediate-needs and truckload cycles) across branches
• Has executed at least one forward position end-to-end
• Prairie fill rates stable with no stockout-driven branch escalations on core commodity SKUs

12 MONTHS

• Has negotiated or renewed the annual treated programs with key suppliers and timed the seasonal ramp without spring stockouts or fall overhang
• Demonstrable buy-side wins vs. market
• Rebate capture on prairie and treated volume at or above target
• Inventory turns at branch targets with aged stock trending down
• Trusted by branch managers as the single point of contact for prairie commodity supply