Purchasing Coordinator

KIPP Team and Family (KIPP New Jersey & KIPP Miami); Newark (NJ); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Laptop

Medical, dental, vision

403b retirement plan (matching)

Transportation benefits

Generous Time-Off

Parental leave

Life insurance

Disability options

Job summary

KIPP Team & Family is seeking a Purchasing Coordinator to join our purchasing team. You will work with school operations, budget managers, and vendors to ensure timely access to goods and services while maintaining compliance with procurement policies and public-school rules.

The role emphasizes P.O. management, vendor partnerships, cross-team collaboration, and accurate record-keeping, with a focus on supporting teachers and staff in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• At least three years of experience in purchasing, procurement, or similar operations or financial functions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word) and Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Forms); Coupa experience is valued.
• Strong organizational and communication skills; customer-service mindset.
• Adaptable and proactive problem-solver in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience with Zoom, Slack and helpdesk platforms like Zendesk.

Responsibilities

• Purchase Order Management: ensure accurate and timely processing of purchase orders per SLAs.
• Compliance Enforcement: uphold policies and public-school procurement regulations.
• Communication & Collaboration: build relationships with school/department teams and vendors.
• Order Tracking: provide updates on status and delivery of goods/services.
• Financial Coordination: coordinate with Accounts Payable for purchasing-to-payment workflows.
• Data Maintenance: review aged encumbrance reports and vendor lists for compliance.
• Problem-Solving: resolve issues proactively under deadlines.

Skills

Purchasing experience

Procurement

Vendor management

Communication

Organization

Adaptability

Attention to detail

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Google Sheets

Coupa

Zoom

Slack

Zendesk

Job description

Job Description

We are seeking a Purchasing Coordinator to join the KIPP TEAM & Family purchasing team. In this pivotal role, you will collaborate with directors of school operations, budget managers, other operations teammates and vendors to ensure that teachers and staff can access essential goods and services efficiently and promptly. This includes maintaining compliance with procurement policies and public-school regulations. The Purchasing Team plays a crucial role in the operational excellence of our schools, empowering instructional and support staff to focus on their primary mission: guiding students toward academic achievement and lifelong success.

Key Responsibilities

As a Purchasing Coordinator, you will take on a range of critical responsibilities, including:

• Purchase Order Management: Ensure the accurate and timely processing of purchase orders in alignment with our service-level agreements.
• Compliance Enforcement: Uphold organizational policies and ensure adherence to public school procurement regulations.
• Communication & Collaboration: Foster strong working relationships with school and department operations teams and build productive vendor partnerships.
• Order Tracking: Provide clear and consistent updates regarding the status and delivery of goods and services.
• Financial Coordination: Collaborate with the Accounts Payable team to ensure seamless purchasing-to-payment workflows and assist the accounting team in maintaining accurate and compliant purchasing records.
• Data Maintenance: Regularly review and manage aged encumbrance reports to ensure the procure-to-pay workflow SLA and the approved vendor list to ensure data accuracy and compliance.
• Problem-Solving: Identify and resolve issues proactively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Qualifications

We’re looking for an enthusiastic, detail-oriented professional with a passion for operational excellence. The ideal candidate will possess:

• Experience: At least three years of experience in purchasing, procurement, or similar operations or financial functions.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word) and Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Forms). Experience with purchasing/procurement platforms such as Coupa is highly valued.
• Organizational Skills: Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational capabilities.
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a customer service mindset.
• Adaptability: A proactive problem-solver who thrives under deadlines and can manage multiple projects simultaneously in a quickly growing organization.
• Technology Proficiency: Experience with Zoom, Slack and helpdesk platforms like Zendesk.
• Mission Alignment: A team-oriented individual who is driven by KIPP’s mission to prepare students for success in college and life.

Additional Information

Location

This is a hybrid role. At this time, we typically work from the office 2 days per week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) and work remotely 3 days per week. Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of the three cities within which we work: Newark, NJ, Camden, NJ, or Miami, FL. Candidate who can work from our Newark office will be given preference for this role.

Compensation & Benefits

KIPP Team & Family offers a market-competitive salary range of $65,000-$75,000. Salary ranges at KIPP are set based upon the role level and function using benchmarks in the education and non-profit sector and allow for growth within the role. Individual compensation within this range will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: relevant professional experience and qualifications; education, skills and training; and market conditions.

In addition to a competitive salary, we a generous benefits package including, but not limited to, the following:

• Robust benefits that include medical, dental, and vision
• Optional participation in the KIPP NJ 403b retirement plan, including matching contributions
• An organization-issued laptop
• Transportation benefits for TEAMmates commuting into Newark from the New York City area
• Generous Time-Off policy
• Up to 12 weeks 100% parental leave for primary caregivers
• Employer paid life insurance
• Extensive optional ancillary benefits including, short term and long term disability and accident and hospital indemnity

Our organization is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender, age, religion, national origin, citizen status, marital status, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Our organization will make a reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the organization. No questions on this application are asked for any unlawful purpose.

#LI-NJ

Compensation

$65,000-$65,000 per year