Purchasing Associate

Responsibilities:

• Design and establish the initial end-to-end PO processes (creation, approval, tracking, and invoice matching) and maintain a centralized supplier database.
• Identify, vet, and onboard multi-category suppliers (retail and FnB-compliant vendors). Conduct performance reviews and handle difficult conversations regarding quality or pricing.
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, order minimums, and volume discounts. Monitor spend by category to identify cost-optimization and supplier consolidation opportunities.
• Provide lead time visibility and supplier capacity data to the Inventory Merchandising team. Proactively escalate urgent orders and coordinate expedited shipping when needed.
• Ensure food and beverage suppliers meet food safety certifications and regulatory requirements. Maintain organized records of certificates, ingredient specs, and audit results.

Requirements:

• 2–4 years of hands-on experience in procurement, supplier management, or supply chain operations.
• Proven ability to build operational processes, checklists, and systems from scratch (not just operating within an existing corporate framework).
• Direct experience managing multiple suppliers across different product types and compliance needs simultaneously.
• Familiarity with food safety, regulatory compliance, or FnB documentation is a major plus.
• High analytical grit (comfortable with spreadsheets), strong attention to detail, and the ability to navigate ambiguity in a startup environment.