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The differences between procurement consultants 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 procurement consultant and a senior purchasing agent. Additionally, a procurement consultant has an average salary of $81,254, which is higher than the $73,386 average annual salary of a senior purchasing agent.
The top three skills for a procurement consultant include strategic sourcing, procure-to-pay and HR. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.
| Procurement Consultant | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Yearly salary | $81,254 | $73,386 |
| Hourly rate | $39.06 | $35.28 |
| Growth rate | -6% | -6% |
| Number of jobs | 38,005 | 43,833 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A procurement consultant is an individual who is an expert in purchasing or procurement. Your duties will include researching and analyzing the supply marketplace, developing business requirements, and managing supplier relationships in collaboration with internal stakeholders, and managing and negotiating supply agreements across all commodities and complexity. Additionally, you are expected to participate in market intelligence analysis and assess productivity, costs, and demand patterns by collecting and interpreting data. As a procurement consultant, you are also responsible for managing and negotiating supply agreements.
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.
Procurement consultants and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Procurement Consultant | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average salary | $81,254 | $73,386 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $101,000 | Between $52,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | McKinsey & Company Inc | Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Energy |
There are a few differences between a procurement consultant and a senior purchasing agent in terms of educational background:
| Procurement Consultant | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between procurement consultants' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:
| Procurement Consultant | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average age | 47 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.3% Female, 33.7% | Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 7.5% White, 66.8% 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 | 11% | 7% |