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The differences between demand planners and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a demand planner and a senior purchasing agent. Additionally, a demand planner has an average salary of $82,287, which is higher than the $73,386 average annual salary of a senior purchasing agent.
The top three skills for a demand planner include supply chain, customer service and logistics. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.
| Demand Planner | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Yearly salary | $82,287 | $73,386 |
| Hourly rate | $39.56 | $35.28 |
| Growth rate | 28% | -6% |
| Number of jobs | 27,351 | 43,833 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 41 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A demand planner specializes in conducting research and analysis to develop forecast models that will help determine a supply chain's demands. They are also responsible for monitoring the inventory of products, maintaining knowledge and awareness on the latest trends, producing progress reports and presentations, establishing demand plans, and detecting any changes in the forecast, reporting them to management right away. Furthermore, as a demand planner, it is essential to coordinate with everyone in the team, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.
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.
Demand planners and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Demand Planner | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average salary | $82,287 | $73,386 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $109,000 | Between $52,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | New York |
| Best paying company | Meta | Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Energy |
There are a few differences between a demand planner and a senior purchasing agent in terms of educational background:
| Demand Planner | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between demand planners' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:
| Demand Planner | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average age | 41 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.5% Female, 43.5% | Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 11.1% White, 53.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 9% | 7% |