Buyer vs senior purchasing agent

The differences between buyers and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become a buyer, becoming a senior purchasing agent takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior purchasing agent has an average salary of $73,386, which is higher than the $54,049 average annual salary of a buyer.

The top three skills for a buyer include purchase orders, customer service and logistics. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.

Buyer vs senior purchasing agent overview

	Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Yearly salary	$54,049	$73,386
Hourly rate	$25.99	$35.28
Growth rate	-	-6%
Number of jobs	23,589	43,833
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	47	48
Years of experience	-	6

What does a buyer do?

A buyer's duties include product sourcing and comparing resources for the best product range that would suit the specific needs of the business. Buyers must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to evaluate items that most likely benefit the customer and improve the sales of daily operations with cost-efficient products. They also conduct extensive research for market and price trends while considering the highest quality standards. Buyers should also possess strong analytical skills to create purchase orders and statistical analysis.

What does a senior purchasing agent do?

Senior Purchasing Agents are experienced employees in the company's purchasing department. They oversee the purchase requisitions of the employees. They validate requests, ensure that the requestors followed company guidelines, check the availability of the items with the chosen supplier, and forward the purchase order to the supplier. Upon fulfillment of the request, Senior Purchasing Agents check the deliveries, ensure that the items are complete and correct, forward the items to the requestor, and process the payment for the supplier. Senior Purchasing agents also prepare reports, spot trends in employee or department purchases, and create recommendations based on observations. They are also expected to form good working relationships with suppliers.

Buyer vs senior purchasing agent salary

Buyers and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average salary	$54,049	$73,386
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $76,000	Between $52,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	Englewood, NJ	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New York
Best paying company	NVIDIA	Levi Strauss & Co.
Best paying industry	Automotive	Energy

Differences between buyer and senior purchasing agent education

There are a few differences between a buyer and a senior purchasing agent in terms of educational background:

	Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	University of Pennsylvania

Buyer vs senior purchasing agent demographics

Here are the differences between buyers' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:

	Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average age	47	48
Gender ratio	Male, 43.9% Female, 56.1%	Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.1% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 6.7% White, 75.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	15%	7%

Differences between buyer and senior purchasing agent duties and responsibilities

Buyer example responsibilities.

Achieve QA initiatives by increasing transparency and communication with multiple departments and suppliers to achieve daily/weekly/monthly production requirements and expedites.
Manage all incoming RMA equipment, processing and directing to correct locations and departments.
Create, analyze and manage recaps pertaining to inventory, trends, OTB, and markdowns.
Manage KanBan spreadsheets to optimize inventory levels and supplier performance.
Manage business relationship with Japanese OEM of wide-format printer engines.
Manage MRB and IQA escalations to facilitate defective material resolutions.

Senior purchasing agent example responsibilities.

Manage patterns for older, obsolete OEM part outsource production to locally foundries.
Interact within an ERP system environment and manage various reporting tools to support operations and control the flow of information.
Manage subcontracts activity including RFQ analysis, major negotiations and construction of complex subcontracting orders and milestones.
Provide management for warehousing, transportation, documentation requirements, cost analysis, third-party logistics, and reverse logistics.
Help create new purchasing procurement program base on customer forecasting and JIT programs (KANBAN).
Update & maintain ERP system part master data including new item creation, discontinuations and site planning changes.

Buyer vs senior purchasing agent skills

Common buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 22%
Customer Service, 11%
Logistics, 5%
Supplier Performance, 4%
MRP, 4%
Commodities, 3%

Common senior purchasing agent skills

Purchase Orders, 8%
Project Management, 6%
Supplier Relationships, 6%
Strategic Sourcing, 5%
Customer Service, 5%
Continuous Improvement, 5%

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Buyer vs Senior Purchasing Agent

Updated January 8, 2025

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