Purchasing Supervisor

Commonwealth of VA Careers; Virginia (MN); On-site; USD 80,000 - 87,000; Full time

Job summary

The Purchasing Supervisor at Virginia Community Colleges System (VCCS) Shared Services Center leads high-volume procurement for 23 colleges, ensuring policy compliance and best-value sourcing.

Under the supervision of the Contracts & Purchasing Manager, you mentor Lead Buyers and Buyer Specialists, drive process improvements, and maintain confidentiality while delivering timely purchases.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of governmental procurement principles and ability to follow policy/SOPs.
• Familiarity with VPPA and APSPM procurement policies.
• Experience applying procurement policy and procedures in a public sector setting.
• Strong MS Excel data-analysis skills and use of MS Office suite.
• Experience leading a procurement team and enforcing compliance.

Responsibilities

• Acts as a primary liaison between SSC buyers and college stakeholders to resolve disputes and ensure policy consistency.
• Cultivates a safe work environment, drives operational excellence, and mentors Lead Buyers and Buyer Specialists.
• Performs supervisory activities for ~11 staff (2 Lead Buyers, 9 Buyers).
• Ensures purchases are accurate, timely, and compliant with policies and laws; solicits/contracts as needed.
• Manages daily, high-volume procurement activities and analyzes market data for best value decisions.
• Organizes the team to optimize speed and accuracy; implements procurement best practices.
• Assists in streamlining operations and resolving procurement issues with leadership.

Skills

Energetic and resourceful

Continuous improvement mindset

Data analysis in Excel

Job description

Title: Purchasing Supervisor

Agency: VCCS-Shared Services Center

Location: Botetourt - 023

FLSA: Exempt

Hiring Range: $80,000 - $87,000

Full Time or Part Time: Full Time

Additional Detail

Job Description:

Innovation allows an organization to make the most of every dollar spent. At Virginia’s Community Colleges System (VCCS), our compelling mission, our ambitious strategic plan and our fiscal realities challenge us to ensure that community college resources are maximized for the priority of student success and credential completion.

Nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains, the VCCS Shared Services Center is centrally located to all 23 colleges in the VCCS, 43 miles from Blacksburg, VA, and a four‑hour drive from Washington, D.C. A vital part of the ever‑growing Roanoke Valley, Daleville is a haven for tourists and residents alike. Within an hour’s drive are the breathtaking Smith Mountain Lake, world‑famous Appalachian Trail, and many other outdoor activities, including golfing, biking, and hiking. The thriving Historic City Market in downtown Roanoke and the Daleville Town Center and Performance Pavilion also host farmers markets, community and cultural events, and festivals throughout the year.

The VCCS Shared Services Center is an innovation strategy to advance the priority of student success, reduce the administrative burden on individual colleges, consolidate transaction‑based functions, create economies of scale, and improve backroom process efficiency. This work allows the VCCS to better focus resources on the students – helping them start their educational journeys, persist, and succeed.

Under the supervision of the Shared Services Contracts & Purchasing Manager, the Purchasing Supervisor serves as a strategic leader and advocate for the purchasing team, managing the acquisition of high-volume goods and services for the 23 VCCS colleges, the System Office, and the Shared Services Center.

• Acts as a primary liaison between SSC buyers and external college stakeholders to resolve complex disputes and ensure policy consistency.
• Responsible for cultivating a safe work environment, driving operational excellence through implementation of quality control frameworks, and mentoring a diverse staff of Lead Buyers and Buyer Specialists.
• Performs managerial/supervisory activities including monitoring, reviewing, and evaluating performance of subordinate staff of approximately 11 with about 2 Lead Buyers and 9 Buyer Specialists.
• Ensures that purchases are performed accurately and timely and in accordance with applicable VCCS and state policies and applicable laws. Solicits and issues contracts for goods and services as needed by the SSC customers utilizing a variety of procurement methods.
• Manages all the daily, transactional high-volume purchases.
• Analyzes market data to make appropriate best value, compliant sourcing decisions.
• Organizes and designs the team in order to ensure speed and accuracy are achieved.
• Employs best business practices to continuously improve performance, compliance, efficiency, and effectiveness of procurement team.
• Assists the Contracts & Purchasing Manager and the Procurement Operations Manager streamline and resolve operations‑related procurement issues.

Minimum Qualifications:

Knowledge of:

• Governmental procurement principles and ability to follow procurement policy and standard operating procedures
• Servant leadership principles and practices that support empathy, active listening, stewardship, and the creation of inclusive environments
• Employment mediation techniques and neutral facilitation
• eVA (state procurement system)
• Commonwealth of Virginia (VPPA, APSPM, etc.) & VCCS procurement policies

Skills:

• Energetic, resourceful, and self‑directed
• Willingness to stay on the forefront of procurement best practices
• Expertise in MS Office products and demonstrated expertise to perform data analysis using Excel

Ability to:

• Learn and apply purchasing, procurement, and sourcing principles and practices
• Lead a team to continually seek higher levels of efficiency and compliance
• Manage sensitive personnel information with total confidentiality and neutrality
• Analyze market data to make appropriate sourcing decisions
• Effectively lead or supervise staff and to develop staff knowledge, skills, and abilities
• Exercise sound judgment, take initiative, handle multiple competing priorities, solve problems, and attend to detail while maintaining a big‑picture perspective
• Think creatively, objectively, and to work to continuously improve business processes and to transfer those skills to others
• Provide exceptional customer service to internal and external customers in a professional manner and to transfer those attributes to others
• Build working relationships to solve problems and achieve common goals
• Work effectively with a wide range of constituencies
• Express thoughts clearly verbally, in writing, and through presentations
• Develop, execute, measure and continuously improve procurement effectiveness
• Travel within Virginia and within the United States as needed – less than10%

Minimum Qualifications:

• Experience in leading, supervising and positively motivating a team
• Experience resolving stakeholder issues and facilitating conflict resolution
• Experience leading the implementation and execution of continuous improvement opportunities
• Current Virginia Contracting Officer (VCO) certification or ability to obtain Virginia Contracting Associate (VCA) within one year of hire and VCO within two year(s) of hire; see https://vip.dgs.virginia.gov/ for more information on VCA and VCO certification process

Additional Considerations:

• Proven experience in analyzing procurement data to develop and implement process improvements
• Purchasing experience (Private or Public Sector)
• Experience using MS Office products and/or Adobe Acrobat Pro