Purchasing Manager

United Electric Supply•New Castle, DE

About The Position

The Purchasing Manager leads day-to-day purchasing and inventory management across United Electric Supply. The role translates business priorities into effective buying decisions, balanced inventory levels, reliable supplier performance, and consistent support for branches and customers. The manager leads and develops the purchasing team and collaborates with sales, operations, logistics, product specialists, and finance to improve service, working capital, and profitability. The role owns daily purchasing execution and team workload management within approved policies, supplier strategies, inventory parameters, and financial authority. It makes routine supplier, replenishment, and inventory decisions, while bringing high-value, high-risk, long-term, or enterprise-wide commitments forward with analysis and a recommendation. Successful performance can prepare the incumbent for broader purchasing leadership, including enterprise strategy, long-term supplier partnerships, major contract negotiations, annual purchasing plans, companywide inventory policy, executive-level reporting, and cross-functional initiatives. The position requires adherence to United Electric’s health, safety, and environmental policies, reinforcement of safe work practices, and prompt reporting of witnessed safety or health incidents. Duties may change as business needs evolve. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals to perform the essential functions. United Electric Supply is an equal employment opportunity employer.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience in purchasing, inventory management, supply chain, distribution, or a related discipline.
Prior experience leading, coaching, or coordinating the work of others.
Strong negotiation, supplier-management, analytical, and decision-making skills.
Ability to interpret demand, inventory, pricing, rebate, lead-time, and supplier-performance data and convert findings into action.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications and business systems used for purchasing, inventory, reporting, and analysis.
Clear written and verbal communication, sound judgment, urgency, organization, and a collaborative approach.
Commitment to following company health, safety, and environmental policies and reporting witnessed safety or health incidents.

Nice To Haves

Electrical distribution experience.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the purchasing team; set priorities, monitor workload, reinforce accountability, and build bench strength through cross-training and development planning.
Execute purchasing and inventory strategies established with senior leadership, translating company goals into daily buying priorities, replenishment decisions, and measurable team objectives.
Maintain balanced inventory levels that support customer demand while reducing excess, slow-moving, and obsolete inventory.
Review demand, usage, open orders, lead times, backorders, stock-outs, transfer opportunities, and branch requirements to improve product availability and inventory productivity.
Manage supplier performance related to delivery, quality, service, reliability, lead times, and responsiveness; resolve routine issues and escalate material risks with recommended actions.
Build productive vendor relationships and negotiate pricing, freight, payment terms, minimums, order quantities, delivery commitments, and other operating terms within approved authority.
Monitor market conditions, manufacturer actions, product availability, pricing trends, and supply-chain disruptions; communicate impacts and recommend purchasing actions.
Recommend major or forward purchases based on anticipated price changes, unusual availability, customer commitments, and inventory risk; support the financial and operational analysis required for approval.
Partner with sales, branch leadership, product specialists, warehouse teams, logistics, operations, and finance to resolve shortages, backorders, excess inventory, delivery issues, and customer service concerns.
Support all branch locations with purchasing, inventory control, product availability, and replenishment decisions.
Monitor vendor rebate and incentive programs, track purchasing compliance, identify risks to attainment, and communicate opportunities to responsible stakeholders.
Support company-endorsed product lines, with primary focus on AD manufacturers, and align purchasing behavior with approved supplier strategies.
Develop and maintain purchasing procedures, approval controls, reporting disciplines, and consistent work standards; recommend improvements and ensure approved changes are implemented.
Identify opportunities to streamline purchasing workflows, improve system use, reduce manual work, and strengthen purchasing data accuracy and timeliness.
Produce and review weekly and monthly purchasing and inventory reports, explain significant variances, and follow through on corrective actions.
Establish practical team performance measures, including service levels, backorders, inventory health, supplier performance, purchase-price outcomes, and process compliance.
Participate in cross-functional projects, quality initiatives, and steering committees as assigned.
Adhere to health, safety, and environmental policies; reinforce safe work practices, address conditions or behaviors that could put people at risk, and promptly report witnessed safety or health incidents.
Perform other duties as assigned.