Senior Buyer
Compensation: $80,000–$120,000 per year, based on experience
Schedule: Full-time
Work Arrangement: Primarily office-based; hybrid arrangement may be considered for the right candidate
About the Opportunity
A well-established, multi-location wholesale distributor with operations on both the East and West Coasts is seeking an experienced Senior Buyer to join its purchasing team.
Our company manages an extensive portfolio of more than 25,000 SKUs across multiple consumer product categories, including novelty merchandise, liquids and creams, and lingerie/apparel.
This is a highly visible position that will work directly with senior leadership and have significant responsibility for vendor relationships, product assortment, inventory performance, purchasing strategy, and profitability.
The ideal candidate is an experienced buyer who understands that successful purchasing is about more than placing orders. We are looking for someone who can analyze sales and inventory data, negotiate aggressively but professionally with vendors, identify opportunities, manage inventory risk, and make informed decisions about what products we should—and should not—be carrying.
This position reports directly to the VP and CEO.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage purchasing and inventory strategy across a large and diverse product assortment.
- Oversee assigned product categories and vendor relationships from product introduction through the full product lifecycle.
- Negotiate vendor pricing, payment terms, minimum order quantities, freight arrangements, promotional support, discounts, exclusivity opportunities, dating, returns, and other purchasing terms.
- Build and maintain strong long-term relationships with domestic and international vendors.
- Evaluate new products, vendors, brands, and market opportunities.
- Analyze historical sales, current demand, inventory levels, lead times, seasonality, and market trends to determine purchasing requirements.
- Develop forecasts and replenishment strategies designed to maintain appropriate inventory levels.
- Proactively manage stock-outs, overstocks, slow-moving merchandise, discontinued products, and aging inventory.
- Monitor inventory turns and identify opportunities to improve inventory productivity.
- Review sales performance at the SKU, vendor, category, and location level.
- Identify underperforming SKUs and recommend markdowns, discontinuations, vendor negotiations, or other corrective actions.
- Work to improve gross margins through better purchasing, vendor negotiations, freight considerations, product mix, and inventory management.
- Determine appropriate order quantities based on sales velocity, inventory position, lead times, vendor requirements, and anticipated demand.
- Manage purchase orders and ensure products are ordered accurately and received according to expected timelines.
- Work closely with sales, operations, warehouse, finance, and management teams to ensure purchasing decisions support overall company objectives.
- Partner with the sales organization to understand customer demand, emerging product opportunities, and changing market conditions.
- Maintain accurate product, vendor, cost, and purchasing information within company systems.
- Monitor vendor performance, including pricing, fill rates, lead times, product quality, and reliability.
- Identify opportunities to consolidate purchasing, negotiate volume discounts, improve terms, and reduce costs.
- Assist senior management with purchasing reports, inventory analysis, forecasting, and strategic initiatives.
- Continuously evaluate the company's assortment to ensure we are carrying the right products at the right inventory levels and margins.
Qualifications
- Approximately 5–10+ years of buying, purchasing, merchandising, category management, or related experience preferred, although we are open to candidates with different experience levels who can demonstrate strong purchasing capabilities.
- Experience working within a wholesale distribution, retail, e-commerce, consumer products, or other inventory-intensive business is strongly preferred.
- Experience managing a large number of SKUs and multiple vendors is highly desirable.
- Strong understanding of inventory management, demand planning, replenishment, forecasting, and purchasing principles.
- Proven ability to negotiate pricing and commercial terms with vendors.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to make purchasing decisions using sales and inventory data.
- Understanding of inventory turns, gross margin, aging inventory, sell-through, lead times, and product lifecycle management.
- Strong Excel and general data-analysis skills.
- Experience with ERP and inventory management systems strongly preferred.
- Experience with Salesforce is a plus.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple vendors, categories, priorities, and deadlines simultaneously.
- Excellent communication and relationship-management skills.
- Comfortable working directly with senior executives and taking ownership of purchasing decisions.
- Ability to balance data-driven analysis with strong commercial judgment.
- Proactive mindset with the ability to identify problems and opportunities before they become obvious.
- Bachelor's degree preferred but not required for candidates with strong relevant experience.
What We're Looking For
We are looking for someone who thinks like an owner of their categories, not simply an order processor.
A successful Senior Buyer will understand the financial impact of every purchasing decision and will actively look for ways to:
- Improve margins.
- Increase inventory turns.
- Reduce excess and aging inventory.
- Prevent unnecessary stock-outs.
- Negotiate better vendor terms.
- Identify successful new products.
- Eliminate underperforming products.
- Improve forecasting and purchasing accuracy.
- Build stronger strategic vendor relationships.
You should be comfortable challenging existing assumptions, negotiating with vendors, analyzing large amounts of product data, and making recommendations directly to senior management.
Compensation
The anticipated base salary range for this position is $85,000–$120,000 annually, depending on experience, qualifications, and demonstrated purchasing expertise.
Work Arrangement
We believe this position benefits from working closely with our purchasing, operations, sales, and management teams and therefore prefer a candidate who is comfortable working from one of our company offices.
However, we recognize that the right candidate may not be located near one of our facilities, and we are open to discussing a hybrid work arrangement for an exceptional candidate.
Confidential Search
This is a confidential search being conducted on behalf of an established multi-location wholesale distribution company.
Additional information regarding the company, its product portfolio, and the position will be provided to qualified candidates during the interview process.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $85,000–$120,000 per year
Pay: $85,000.00 - $120,281.59 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Los Angeles, CA 90041
