Purchasing Managers
Business, Management and AdministrationO*NET 11-3061.00United States
Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of buyers, purchasing officers, and related workers involved in purchasing materials, products, and services. Includes wholesale or retail trade merchandising managers and procurement managers.
- Median annual earnings
- $145,949
- Projected change
- +6.6%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 88.95K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
52.6% of the workforce
Growing to 94.86K by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What purchasing managers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
- Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
- Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.
- Review purchase order claims and contracts for conformance to company policy.
- Review, evaluate, and approve specifications for issuing and awarding bids.
- Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in buying, selling, and distributing materials, equipment, machinery, and supplies.
- Interview and hire staff, and oversee staff training.
- Administer online purchasing systems.
- Develop cost reduction strategies and savings plans.
- Prepare and process requisitions and purchase orders for supplies and equipment.
- Control purchasing department budgets.
- Resolve vendor or contractor grievances and claims against suppliers.
- Analyze market and delivery systems to assess present and future material availability.
- Participate in the development of specifications for equipment, products, or substitute materials.
- Represent companies in negotiating contracts and formulating policies with suppliers.
- Maintain records of goods ordered and received.
- Prepare reports regarding market conditions and merchandise costs.
- Arrange for disposal of surplus materials.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $90,397
- 25th percentile
- $113,513
- 50th percentile
- $145,949
- 75th percentile
- $180,385
- 90th percentile
- $223,932
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $145,949 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+6.6%faster than average
202588,949 jobs
2035 projected94,861 jobs
5,912 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 52.6%
- Certificate
- 15.8%
- Associate degree
- 10.5%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 10.5%
- High school diploma or less
- 5.3%
- Some college
- 5.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Procurement Managers4,562 postings
- 02Category Managers4,102 postings
- 03Purchasing Managers3,110 postings
- 04Strategic Sourcing Managers2,363 postings
- 05Directors of Procurement1,805 postings
- 06Sourcing Managers1,649 postings
- 07Procurement Category Managers857 postings
- 08Supply Chain Procurement Managers644 postings
- 09Directors of Strategic Sourcing631 postings
- 10Procurement Sourcing Managers601 postings
- 11Directors of Purchasing553 postings
- 12Indirect Procurement Managers508 postings
- 13Commodity Managers489 postings
- 14Global Category Managers478 postings
- 15Procurement Project Managers458 postings
- 16Purchasing Supervisors417 postings
- 17Global Sourcing Managers375 postings
- 18Global Procurement Managers354 postings
- 19Sourcing Category Managers345 postings
- 20Directors of Sourcing344 postings
Top employers
- 01Amazon740 postings
- 02GE Aerospace682 postings
- 03Accenture531 postings
- 04KPMG418 postings
- 05Cardinal Health394 postings
- 06Robert Half375 postings
- 07Lumen Technologies363 postings
- 08PricewaterhouseCoopers347 postings
- 09Datavant213 postings
- 10Aston Carter207 postings
- 11JLL203 postings
- 12Cushman & Wakefield200 postings
- 13RTX187 postings
- 14Insight Global183 postings
- 15Lee Hecht Harrison181 postings
- 16Acosta Group177 postings
- 17Cai161 postings
- 18Wolters Kluwer160 postings
- 19Nutanix157 postings
- 20GE Vernova155 postings
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