The Purchasing Operations Specialist is responsible for all assigned duties including, but not limited to, maintaining and updating current expected ship dates, receipt corrections/adjustments, managing requirements documents, and large order processing and follow-up for all assigned vendors.

They provide credible and useful information to enable multiple cross-functional teams impacted by Past Due Purchase Orders, GRIR issues, and Large Orders to deliver a better service promise.

The Purchasing Operations Specialist is the key contact for vendors and their assigned Category Purchasing Manager (CPM), Supplier Performance Analyst (SPA), DC inbound teams, Accounts Payable, and Product Manager (PM).

The Purchasing Operations Specialist will work on all assigned vendor issues, including past due line follow-up, DC receipts, and proactively address potential past due POs to help vendors resolve short-term (transactional) issues in a timely manner.

Purchasing Operations – Key Responsibilities

• Manage Purchase Orders, inbound receipts, requirements documents, and large orders as assigned.

• Perform PO Maintenance (SAP): maintain updates to PO lines for assigned vendors and those distributed to other team members.

• Identify problematic PO lines that have exceeded the requested ship date and determine the appropriate course of action.

• Ensure back-up coverage is properly coordinated during vacation periods.

Communications

• Contact suppliers to determine the causes of delays, update information by revising data in SAP for visibility to other users, and maintain records of all communications within the PO.
• Report any long-term or systemic issues identified to the appropriate teams.
• Update discontinued and pricing database spreadsheets with newly identified SKUs for communication to Supplier Performance Analysts (SPAs) and Product Manager (PM) teams.

Inbound Productivity (DC)

• Partner with Distribution Center (DC) and Accounts Payable (AP) teams to resolve inbound receipt issues quickly and provide actionable insights that support long-term solutions.
• Maintain tracking of assigned team throughput, workload, and performance of each vendor or DC by Expeditor.

Requirements Management

• Review and approve requirements that do not meet specified criteria.

BSR (Large Order Team)

• Collaborate with Customer Service to add value in large order processing, helping avoid availability issues and reduce handling and shipping costs by enabling direct-to-customer shipments when possible.
• Identify process improvement opportunities and promote best practice behaviors within Customer Service teams.