Job Summary Required Qualifications and Skills
We are seeking an experienced Purchasing Manager for a direct hire opportunity with an established food and beverage manufacturing company in Kent, WA. This management-level role is ideal for a strategic procurement professional who understands food products, commodities, supplier negotiations, cost control, and the operational demands of a manufacturing environment.
The Purchasing Manager will lead purchasing strategy, vendor negotiations, cost analysis, and procurement process improvement while ensuring materials, ingredients, packaging, equipment, and services are available to support production. This is a high-impact leadership position with visibility to senior leadership and the opportunity to directly influence profitability, supplier performance, and operational efficiency.
This opportunity offers a stable and collaborative environment where purchasing is viewed as a key business function. The right candidate will enjoy working with supportive leadership, partnering across operations and finance, and contributing to meaningful business decisions. This is a strong fit for someone who is proactive, analytical, confident in negotiation, and motivated by the opportunity to improve purchasing performance and create measurable value.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and execute purchasing strategies that support production needs, cost objectives, supplier performance, and long-term business goals.
- Oversee procurement of food ingredients, raw materials, commodities, packaging, equipment, parts, and related goods and services.
- Lead vendor negotiations for pricing, contracts, payment terms, volume commitments, service levels, and supplier agreements.
- Monitor commodity markets, pricing trends, supply conditions, and potential disruptions to guide sourcing and purchasing decisions.
- Analyze purchasing data, cost trends, forecasts, and supplier performance to identify savings opportunities and process improvements.
- Supervise one direct report while partnering with manufacturing, operations, finance, and senior leadership on purchasing priorities.
Compensation and Benefits
- Salary range: $95,000 to $120,000 per year.
- Job type: Direct hire.
- Location: Kent, WA.
- Lead strategic procurement for food ingredients, raw materials, commodities, packaging, equipment, and manufacturing-related services.
- Manage supplier negotiations, contracts, pricing, terms, vendor accountability, and sourcing alternatives.
- Develop purchasing reports, cost analyses, forecasts, and performance metrics using ERP tools, NetSuite, Excel, and purchasing data.
- Partner with operations, finance, manufacturing, and leadership to support production schedules and cost-control initiatives.
- Purchasing or procurement experience involving perishable commodities is required.
- Experience in a manufacturing, production, food processing, or commodity-driven environment is strongly desired.
- Strong understanding of commodity markets, pricing fluctuations, sourcing strategies, and supplier negotiations.
- Demonstrated ability to negotiate supplier pricing, contracts, terms, service agreements, and volume commitments.
- Proven ability to identify cost savings, challenge pricing, evaluate alternatives, and improve procurement value.
- Experience sourcing a broad range of products, materials, equipment, parts, and services.
- Advanced Excel skills for purchasing reports, cost comparisons, forecasting, and spend analysis.
- Experience using ERP or purchasing management systems, with the ability to work effectively in a NetSuite environment.
- Strong analytical, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to work independently, prioritize effectively, and take ownership of purchasing results.
- Confidence to present recommendations to senior leadership and support decisions with sound business analysis.
- Ability to work collaboratively with strong personalities and differing viewpoints while maintaining professionalism.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct hands-on experience with NetSuite purchasing, inventory, and reporting functions.
- Experience negotiating both raw material purchases and capital equipment purchases.
- Previous supervisory or team leadership experience.
- Experience implementing purchasing improvements, supplier consolidation, or cost-reduction programs.
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
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