Senior Purchasing Specialist

Connecticut Water•San Jose, CA

9d•$141,953 - $173,498

About The Position

San Jose Water Company is seeking a Senior Purchasing Specialist to provide advanced operational and analytical support to the Strategic Sourcing Manager. The role supports execution of sourcing strategies and policies across multiple categories, with emphasis on process coordination, supplier communication, data analysis, contract administration, and compliance with procurement policies and procedures. It also supports ongoing category management for assigned categories, including categories previously competitively sourced, under the direction of the Strategic Sourcing Manager.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and/or at least 5 years of relevant professional experience in procurement, purchasing, or a related field.
Experience working with ERP systems and procurement software, such as SAP or Oracle.
Intermediate Excel skills, including VLOOKUP, IF statements, Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts, Data Validation, Conditional Formatting, and basic dashboard creation.
Working knowledge of procurement principles, bidding processes, and inventory management.
Familiarity with accounts payable processes, invoice matching, and receiving.
Strong stakeholder and vendor engagement skills.
Excellent communication, organization, analytical, and problem-solving abilities.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting audits, compliance activities, or regulated business environments.
Experience supporting category management activities, including spend analysis, supplier performance, contract utilization, savings tracking, and renewal or rebid planning.

Responsibilities

Prepare and distribute RFI, RFQ, and RFP documentation, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and alignment with sourcing strategy.
Coordinate RFx timelines, supplier communications, bid submissions, and question-and-answer processes.
Consolidate supplier responses and prepare comparative bid analyses, cost breakdowns, and recommendation-ready summaries.
Provide analytical and execution support for strategic sourcing programs; manage timelines, deliverables, and stakeholder communication.
Track key contract terms, expirations, and compliance requirements.
Manage assigned categories and supplier relationships as directed by the Strategic Sourcing Manager.
Monitor category spend, demand trends, contract utilization, supplier performance, compliance, and realized savings or other negotiated benefits.
Maintain category profiles and supporting plans documenting stakeholders, business requirements, supplier and contract information, renewal dates, risks, and improvement opportunities.
Coordinate post-award category activities, including implementation, stakeholder communication, issue resolution, demand consolidation, contract renewals or extensions, and preparation for future competitive solicitations.
Identify and analyze opportunities for cost savings, standardization, specification rationalization, supplier consolidation, risk reduction, and process improvement; develop recommendations for review by the Strategic Sourcing Manager.
Serve as the primary contact for day-to-day supplier inquiries, onboarding tasks, and documentation requests.
Support KPI development and vendor scorecards.
Ensure appropriate team members receive and act on business requests, including new vendor and purchase order submissions.
Collaborate with Finance, Accounting, Legal, Risk, Accounts Payable, and Operations to resolve procurement-related issues and ensure compliance with internal controls.
Identify, participate in, and implement procurement process improvements.
Drive adoption of procurement tools, including ERP, e-sourcing platforms, and P2P systems.
Develop reports and dashboards to improve visibility and decision-making.
Maintain accurate records and reporting to support spend visibility and compliance.
Perform other duties or special projects as assigned.