Purchase analyst vs senior purchasing agent

The differences between purchase analysts and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a purchase analyst, 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 $64,581 average annual salary of a purchase analyst.

The top three skills for a purchase analyst include purchase orders, supplier performance and continuous improvement. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.

Purchase analyst vs senior purchasing agent overview

	Purchase Analyst	Senior Purchasing Agent
Yearly salary	$64,581	$73,386
Hourly rate	$31.05	$35.28
Growth rate	11%	-6%
Number of jobs	88,542	43,833
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 70%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	44	48
Years of experience	4	6

What does a purchase analyst do?

A purchase analyst is responsible for looking at the market outlook and determining what and when to buy when ordering supplies. They are responsible for making an investment in a product or technology, and contracting with vendors. You have varied duties and responsibilities that include researching product prices and comparisons, determining price history and cost-effectiveness, and providing leadership for logistics, resource management decisions, and sourcing. You will also be responsible for purchasing equipment from suppliers and working closely with leadership to develop sourcing strategies.

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.

Purchase analyst vs senior purchasing agent salary

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

	Purchase Analyst	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average salary	$64,581	$73,386
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $98,000	Between $52,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	Milford, MA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New York
Best paying company	MPS Horticulture	Levi Strauss & Co.
Best paying industry	Retail	Energy

Differences between purchase analyst and senior purchasing agent education

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

	Purchase Analyst	Senior Purchasing Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 70%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	University of Pennsylvania

Purchase analyst vs senior purchasing agent demographics

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

	Purchase Analyst	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average age	44	48
Gender ratio	Male, 45.8% Female, 54.2%	Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 10.6% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	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	12%	7%

Differences between purchase analyst and senior purchasing agent duties and responsibilities

Purchase analyst example responsibilities.

Transport purchases and contract and manage carriers (freight forwarders in order to arrange and manage the transportation of purchases.
Write RFI and RFP documents and manage the process for each.
Compile and manage the RFP excel database containing incumbent supplier pricing and alternative supplier pricing.
Manage purchasing data within proprietary applications and ERP systems with accuracy.
Manage and determine obsolete and/or slow moving inventory for all above mention commodities.
Manage factory activities for key commodities encompassing resource management in materials and production.

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.

Purchase analyst vs senior purchasing agent skills

Common purchase analyst skills

Purchase Orders, 13%
Supplier Performance, 11%
Continuous Improvement, 5%
ERP, 5%
Cost Analysis, 5%
Logistics, 4%

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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Purchase Analyst vs Senior Purchasing Agent

Updated January 8, 2025

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