Purchasing administrator vs senior administrator

The differences between purchasing administrators and senior administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a purchasing administrator, becoming a senior administrator takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior administrator has an average salary of $103,102, 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 senior administrator are customer service, SR, and troubleshoot.

Purchasing administrator vs senior administrator overview

	Purchasing Administrator	Senior Administrator
Yearly salary	$40,133	$103,102
Hourly rate	$19.29	$49.57
Growth rate	-8%	5%
Number of jobs	63,681	58,887
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	48	43
Years of experience	6	2

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 senior administrator do?

A senior administrator is responsible for managing the overall administrative duties in an organization, including coordinating with higher management to identify process and operations improvement and other business opportunities to grow revenues and increase profitability. Senior administrators monitor and delegate tasks to the administrative staff, resolve discrepancies on record-keeping, respond to the customers' inquiries and concerns, ensure the adequacy of inventory, and train new staff. They also inspect and update the database regularly for business information and customer details, as well as handling complaints or directing them to the appropriate personnel and department.

Purchasing administrator vs senior administrator salary

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

	Purchasing Administrator	Senior Administrator
Average salary	$40,133	$103,102
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $53,000	Between $73,000 And $145,000
Highest paying City	Sacramento, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	Rivian	The Walt Disney Company
Best paying industry	Health Care	-

Differences between purchasing administrator and senior administrator education

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

	Purchasing Administrator	Senior Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Stanford University

Purchasing administrator vs senior administrator demographics

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

	Purchasing Administrator	Senior Administrator
Average age	48	43
Gender ratio	Male, 24.0% Female, 76.0%	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%
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, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 10.2% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	7%	9%

Differences between purchasing administrator and senior 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.

Senior administrator example responsibilities.

Organize and manage all meeting logistics for various conferences and events across the U.S.
Lead and/or participate in adding departments to the DMS, client/server upgrades, DR testing, and end user testing.
Have configured the SharePoint environment and continuously managing both intranet and internet sites used by end users, consumers and stakeholders.
Manage calendar and arrange travel; coordinate meetings and events; create PowerPoint presentations; prepare correspondence and approve expense reports.
Provide remote user support via Citrix remote desktop and Cisco VPN.
Create, maintain and provide issue resolution of complex Linux and Unix scripts.

Purchasing administrator vs senior administrator skills

Common purchasing administrator skills

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

Common senior administrator skills

Customer Service, 10%
SR, 10%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Linux, 5%
Data Entry, 4%
HR, 3%

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Purchasing Administrator
Purchasing Administrator vs Senior Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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