How To Become A Senior Purchasing Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior purchasing manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Priya Nagaraj

The senior buying manager offers assistance by generating buying orders and sending them to the suppliers. To obtain proper delivery of products and services while maintaining internal controls, operational excellence, and good customer service, the ideal candidate will have the ability to perform appropriate analysis. It is also their responsibility to resolve complex issues.

Employers prefer a person with a bachelor's degree and experience in supply chain or procurement management. It is better to have experience in the healthcare industry and shared service for a minimum of two years. They also require the ability to multi-task and meet tight deadlines for this job.

Senior purchasing managers make an average salary of $118,065 per year or $56.76 per hour. For a full-time position, they may have to work for 40 hours per week.

What general advice would you give to a senior purchasing manager?

Priya Nagaraj

Professor of Economics and Global Business, Website

Students should be able to analyze and interpret data. For instance, demand forecasting and predictive analytics are a large part of this industry today. As the number of regulations across nations increases, it is important to have at least some knowledge of foreign regulations. Cross-cultural knowledge and experience are always a plus in this area for prospective employees. People skills are also important along with knowledge of additional languages.

ScoreSenior Purchasing ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $109,837

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 7.36%

Black or African American 8.94%

Hispanic or Latino 12.07%

Unknown 3.81%

White 67.52%

Gender

female 31.98%

male 68.02%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior purchasing manager

Explore senior purchasing manager education requirements

Most common senior purchasing manager degrees

Bachelor's

69.1 %

Master's

14.2 %

Associate

12.1 %

Start to develop specific senior purchasing manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Supply Chain	21.64%
Purchase Orders	7.66%
Logistics	6.03%
Project Management	4.52%
Chain Management	4.40%

Complete relevant senior purchasing manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior purchasing managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior purchasing manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior purchasing manager resumes.

Research senior purchasing manager duties and responsibilities

Used RFI, RFP, RFQ techniques to identify, select, and engage with suppliers to ensure competitive market advantage.
Prepare contracts utilizing ERP and requisition demand throughout procurement process.
Obtain favorable pricing by tracking and recording various commodities through magazines, internet, and other resource materials.
Monitor shipments and shipping logistics to make sure they are shipped in the most efficient and cost effective manner.

Get senior purchasing manager experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior purchasing manager. The most common roles before becoming a senior purchasing manager include purchasing manager, buyer team lead and senior buyer.

Prepare your senior purchasing manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior purchasing manager resume.

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