What does a purchasing program manager do?
Purchasing Program Managers will need a bachelor's degree in this field with certification options in the Institute for Supply Management, American Purchasing Society, Association for Operations Management, or other such organizations. They must also have cultivated skills in understanding supply chains, supplier performance, and logistics. Paying out at around $103K per year on average, they will be called to design, plan, and implement strategies for sourcing and purchasing, work with the suppliers and manufacturers, maintain databases of suppliers, negotiate price lowering, and focus on building and maintaining relationships with the necessary suppliers and vendors.
Purchasing program manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real purchasing program manager resumes:
- Define and manage overall clear to build process (CTB).
- Manage material and subcontract EVMS, budget, inventory, forecasting and procurement contracts.
- Manage all earn value (EVMS) requirements for labor, purchase materials and subcontracts.
- Build and manage the strategic planning, KPI, annual material cost budget, and department budget.
- Manage EAC's, earn value, forecasting, and cash flow; offset variances with risk reduction opportunities.
- Manage order processing and weekly production scheduling for assign commodities.
- Document and audit purchase orders to compliance with DoD DAR/FAR.
- Work on multi-functional team to develop and implement production control ERP database system.
- Maintain bills of material and purchase order files for all company OEM projects.
- Facilitate positive customer as well as supplier relationships within the context of SCM.
- Research and implement new technologies, process plans, procurement strategies and logistics opportunities.
- Negotiate contracts purchase corporate travel, raw materials, MRO supplies and office supplies.
- Develop and maintain material program plan, including material risk mitigation plans with IPT leaders.
- Develop commodity, system and source strategies for office in coordination with procurement team and MRO buyer.
- Create procurement policies and procedures for ISO requirements and perform internal audits to confirm requirements are being meet.
Purchasing program manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Purchasing Program Managers are proficient in Supply Chain, Logistics, and RFQ. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Decisionmaking skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Purchasing Program Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Supply Chain, 19%
Developed and drove continuous improvement initiatives for international (Asian) procurement operations of cargo control systems supply chain sourcing group.
- Logistics, 12%
Maximized profitability by controlling logistics, material labor and administrative costs.
- RFQ, 10%
Generated and reviewed initiated RFQ's against MRP/ERP requirements as well as time phased requirements to support manufacturing schedule needs.
- Supplier Quality, 9%
Measured supplier quality escapes, delivery, reliability and cost.
- On-Time Delivery, 6%
Developed in conjunction with the Quality group, a supplier rating system for quality and on-time delivery.
- Program Management, 6%
Represented purchasing program management during various vehicle launches.
Most purchasing program managers use their skills in "supply chain," "logistics," and "rfq" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential purchasing program manager responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a purchasing program manager to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "when evaluating suppliers, purchasing managers and buyers and purchasing agents must analyze their options and choose a supplier with the best combination of price, quality, delivery, or service." Purchasing program managers often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "maximized knowledge of transportation industry standards to analyze and improve supplier quality and readiness. "
Decisionmaking skills. Many purchasing program manager duties rely on decisionmaking skills. "purchasing managers and buyers and purchasing agents must have the ability to make informed and timely decisions, choosing products that they think will sell.," so a purchasing program manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways purchasing program manager responsibilities rely on decisionmaking skills: "led the make-buy decisionmaking process and supply chain definition for all new components, sub-assemblies and assemblies of new products. "
Math skills. purchasing program managers are also known for math skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to purchasing program manager responsibilities, because "purchasing managers and buyers and purchasing agents must possess math skills." A purchasing program manager resume example shows how math skills is used in the workplace: "used quantitative analysis to improve total cost of ownership including supply chain logistics. "
Negotiating skills. purchasing program manager responsibilities often require "negotiating skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "purchasing managers and buyers and purchasing agents often must negotiate the terms of a contract with a supplier." This resume example shows what purchasing program managers do with negotiating skills on a typical day: "exceeded $3m in cost savings by negotiating and introducing new suppliers. "
The three companies that hire the most purchasing program managers are:
- Magna International3 purchasing program managers jobs
- Safran2 purchasing program managers jobs
- ZF Group2 purchasing program managers jobs
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Compare different purchasing program managers
Purchasing program manager vs. Materials director
A materials director oversees daily operations of a purchasing office and storeroom. They oversee an organizations' policies, supervise staff within the purchasing office, distribute supplies, carry out requisitions, coordinate warehouse activities, and maintain relationships with vendors. They also need to keep detailed records of procurement activities and material quantities.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a purchasing program manager are more likely to require skills like "rfq," "program management," "competitive advantage," and "supplier selection." On the other hand, a job as a materials director requires skills like "materials management," "inventory control," "mrp," and "lean manufacturing." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Materials directors earn the highest salaries when working in the energy industry, with an average yearly salary of $120,396. On the other hand, purchasing program managers are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $96,941.On average, materials directors reach similar levels of education than purchasing program managers. Materials directors are 2.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Purchasing program manager vs. Supply officer
A contract director is primarily in charge of developing and negotiating contracts with clients and partners, ensuring adherence to the company's policies and regulations. Their responsibilities typically revolve around performing extensive research and analysis to foresee potential advantages and disadvantages, coordinating with analysts and other experts, monitoring the progress of operations to ensure contract compliance of both parties, and overseeing the development of proposals within the organization. Furthermore, as a contract director, it is essential to lead and encourage the team to reach goals, all while implementing the mission and vision of the company.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that purchasing program manager responsibilities requires skills like "supply chain," "logistics," "rfq," and "supplier quality." But a supply officer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "logistics support," "food service," "inventory control," and "property accountability."
In general, supply officers achieve similar levels of education than purchasing program managers. They're 2.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Purchasing program manager vs. Contracts director
Senior Procurement Managers oversee the procurement department of the company. They manage the procurement needs of the organization and network with vendors to keep their database of suppliers updated. Senior Procurement Managers secure competitive prices from their suppliers so that they can save up on costs. As such, Senior Procurement Managers also have visibility on the spending of each department in the organization so that they will never go over budget.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a purchasing program manager is likely to be skilled in "supply chain," "supplier quality," "on-time delivery," and "purchase orders," while a typical contracts director is skilled in "contract management," "oversight," "contract terms," and "strong analytical."
Contracts directors earn the best pay in the manufacturing industry, where they command an average salary of $87,719. Purchasing program managers earn the highest pay from the professional industry, with an average salary of $96,941.contracts directors typically earn higher educational levels compared to purchasing program managers. Specifically, they're 6.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Purchasing program manager vs. Senior manager, procurement
Types of purchasing program manager
Updated January 8, 2025
