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Job description

The Purchasing Administrator provides day-to-day administrative support to the procurement function, ensuring purchase orders are raised accurately and promptly and that supplier pricing queries are resolved efficiently. The role is a key point of contact between internal requisitioners, budget holders and the supplier base, and keeps the information held in the purchasing system accurate and up to date.

Responsibilities

• Raise, process and issue purchase orders on behalf of the procurement department, ensuring each is accurate, correctly coded and properly authorised.
• Convert approved requisitions into purchase orders, issue them to suppliers and confirm acknowledgement and expected delivery dates.
• Track outstanding orders, chase acknowledgements and expedite deliveries where required to avoid delays.
• Match purchase orders to delivery notes and invoices, and investigate and resolve discrepancies in quantity, price or specification.
• Maintain accurate records of all orders raised so the purchasing system reflects the current status of each.
• Act as a first point of contact for supplier pricing queries, responding promptly and escalating to the Procurement Manager where appropriate.
• Request, gather and compare supplier quotations to support buying decisions and value-for-money checks.
• Maintain agreed price lists and flag discrepancies between quoted, ordered and invoiced prices.
• Liaise with suppliers to resolve pricing disputes, missing credits and invoice queries, working alongside the accounts payable team.
• Support the procurement team in preparing information for supplier reviews and price negotiations.
• Set up and maintain supplier records, ensuring contact, payment and pricing details are complete and accurate.
• Keep the purchasing system and supporting documentation tidy, current and audit-ready.
• Provide general administrative support to the procurement function, including filing, correspondence and basic reporting.
• Liaise with internal requisitioners and budget holders to clarify requirements and keep them updated on order progress.
• Follow procurement policies, authorisation limits and approval procedures at all times.
• Contribute ideas to make purchasing processes more efficient.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Strong organisational skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Confident communicator, comfortable dealing with suppliers and colleagues by phone and email.
• Good numeracy able to check prices, quantities and totals with confidence.
• Competent in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Outlook.
• Able to manage a busy, varied workload, prioritise effectively and work to deadlines.
• A proactive, problem-solving approach and willingness to own queries through to resolution.

Desirable Skills

• Previous experience in a purchasing, procurement or administrative support role.
• Experience using a purchasing system or ERP / accounting package (e.g. Sage).
• Exposure to accounts payable, invoice matching or supplier reconciliation.
• GCSEs (or equivalent) including English and Maths.