Purchasing administrator vs project administrator

The differences between purchasing administrators and project administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project administrator has an average salary of $52,862, which is higher than the $40,133 average annual salary of a purchasing administrator.

The top three skills for a purchasing administrator include purchase orders, invoice and data entry. The most important skills for a project administrator are project management, purchase orders, and customer service.

Purchasing administrator vs project administrator overview

	Purchasing Administrator	Project Administrator
Yearly salary	$40,133	$52,862
Hourly rate	$19.29	$25.41
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	63,681	141,253
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	48	47
Years of experience	6	-

What does a purchasing administrator do?

A purchasing administrator is primarily in charge of overseeing a company's purchasing procedures. As a purchasing administrator, it is their duty to monitor the company's inventory of supplies, gather and analyze purchase requests, and process purchase orders, resolving issues should there be any. They must also negotiate with vendors and suppliers, building positive relationships with them. Furthermore, as a purchasing administrator, it is essential to maintain records of all transactions, producing progress reports regularly for a smooth and efficient workflow.

What does a project administrator do?

A project administrator is an individual who assists the project manager in the preparation, reporting, and analysis of projects. Project administrators are given tasks with administrative responsibilities such as managing the budget for supply orders, coordinating meetings with contractors, and doing site visits. They are involved with hiring staff members for a project and creating employee guidelines based on talents, skills, and abilities. Project administrators are also responsible for providing reports on the project's progress to the top management.

Purchasing administrator vs project administrator salary

Purchasing administrators and project administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Purchasing Administrator	Project Administrator
Average salary	$40,133	$52,862
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $53,000	Between $33,000 And $83,000
Highest paying City	Sacramento, CA	Baltimore, MD
Highest paying state	Washington	Maryland
Best paying company	Rivian	Urban Institute
Best paying industry	Health Care	Construction

Differences between purchasing administrator and project administrator education

There are a few differences between a purchasing administrator and a project administrator in terms of educational background:

	Purchasing Administrator	Project Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Purchasing administrator vs project administrator demographics

Here are the differences between purchasing administrators' and project administrators' demographics:

	Purchasing Administrator	Project Administrator
Average age	48	47
Gender ratio	Male, 24.0% Female, 76.0%	Male, 25.0% Female, 75.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 7.8% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	10%

Differences between purchasing administrator and project administrator duties and responsibilities

Purchasing administrator example responsibilities.

Manage the RFP preparation and analysis, cost negotiations, and vendor performance management.
Manage logistics and materials receive for appropriate quantities, timeliness and accuracy to complete project project.
Resolve RMA s on all engineering material.
Schedule product delivery against customer needs and MRP.
Administer the ISO 9001 and vendor performance evaluation process.
Maintain and update supplier master information in the ERP system.

Project administrator example responsibilities.

Lead organization in achieving ISO 9000 certification, which lead to future certification under both ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
Manage and execute the SharePoint business integration implementation project and become the corporate governance portal administrator.
Manage quality assurance checks for FDA and internal audits which result in no documentation/information error and successful completion of the audits.
Create and execute SQL to query DB2 databases.
Compose, prepare, proofread, edit and publish department correspondence.
Coordinate in creation and execution of QA and testing processes, test strategies and plans.

Purchasing administrator vs project administrator skills

Common purchasing administrator skills

Purchase Orders, 33%
Invoice, 10%
Data Entry, 10%
ERP, 4%
Office Equipment, 2%
Credit Card, 2%

Common project administrator skills

Project Management, 12%
Purchase Orders, 8%
Customer Service, 7%
PowerPoint, 6%
Data Entry, 5%
Assist Project, 4%

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Purchasing Administrator
Purchasing Administrator vs Project Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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