Technical buyer vs senior purchasing agent

The differences between technical buyers and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a technical buyer and a senior purchasing agent. Additionally, a senior purchasing agent has an average salary of $73,386, which is higher than the $60,382 average annual salary of a technical buyer.

The top three skills for a technical buyer include purchase orders, supplier performance and strategic sourcing. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.

Technical buyer vs senior purchasing agent overview

	Technical Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Yearly salary	$60,382	$73,386
Hourly rate	$29.03	$35.28
Growth rate	-	-6%
Number of jobs	79,686	43,833
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	6	6

What does a technical buyer do?

Technical Buyers are tasked with managing several materials, products, or services to promote the business. They must be in touch with the stakeholder because he/she is tasked with the high screening and contracting with the suppliers.

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.

Technical buyer vs senior purchasing agent salary

Technical buyers and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Technical Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average salary	$60,382	$73,386
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $81,000	Between $52,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	Germantown, MD	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Maryland	New York
Best paying company	CME Group	Levi Strauss & Co.
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Energy

Differences between technical buyer and senior purchasing agent education

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

	Technical Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Technical buyer vs senior purchasing agent demographics

Here are the differences between technical buyers' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:

	Technical Buyer	Senior Purchasing Agent
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5%	Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 7.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	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	7%	7%

Differences between technical buyer and senior purchasing agent duties and responsibilities

Technical buyer example responsibilities.

Manage assign plastics, metals and electronic commodities, to ensure quality, quantity and delivery standards are attain.
Support cross-region store openings and manage various procurement programs including hardware and POS systems.
Manage activities of purchasing, production planning and scheduling, inventory management, warehousing and logistics.
Develop RFP's and RFI's to leverage buying power with vendors.
Source suppliers and material, create RFQ's, and drive cost savings initiatives.
Utilize the Lawson ERP system for procurement.

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.

Technical buyer vs senior purchasing agent skills

Common technical buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 14%
Supplier Performance, 10%
Strategic Sourcing, 5%
Vendor Relationships, 5%
POS, 4%
ERP, 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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Technical Buyer vs Senior Purchasing Agent

Updated January 8, 2025

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