Sr Purchasing Agent & Inventory Controller

Are you an excellent communicator and negotiator? Do you enjoy analyzing trends and developing strategies? Are you skilled at building and maintaining trusted partnerships? If so, we’d like you to join our dedicated team as a Senior Purchasing Agent and Inventory Controller.     About the Role:     You will:  Be responsible for procuring merchandise for resale and for inventory management. Enthusiastically negotiate with vendors to obtain the best pricing, delivery, and terms of purchase ensuring optimal order fill rates and customer satisfaction. Develop and implement long-term strategies for inventory control and purchasing that align with profit center business objectives. Identify and evaluate trends and best practices in inventory management to enhance purchasing strategies. Help create and enforce inventory and purchasing policies and procedures to ensure efficiency, consistency, and compliance.  Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with key suppliers and vendors. Conduct negotiations and manage contracts with suppliers to secure the best possible terms and pricing. Analyze product on hand and projected product sales. Mentor teammates on inventory and purchasing procedures, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and high performance. Develop and implement contingency plans to ensure business continuity with inventory needs. Provide insights and recommendations based on data analysis to support decision making.  Create, process, and expedite vendor Purchase Orders to maintain desired product mix, optimum shelf quantities and satisfy projected product sales. Monitor vendor shipments and receipt of merchandise to ensure that they are within acceptable parameters established by the Profit Center Manager. Meet or exceed the Profit Center targets for fill rates/service levels, in stock rates, annual inventory turns, and slow-moving/devalued/overstock inventory levels. Perform cycle counts, research, and resolve all inventory discrepancies. Perform required file maintenance to products, buy lines, price and buy matrices; communicate with Product File Administrator as necessary. Monitor customer returned goods and vendor merchandise returns to ensure timely processing and credit accuracy. Successfully complete required safety and compliance training programs as assigned. Perform other reasonably related duties as assigned by immediate supervisor and other management as required.   About You: 4 years of purchasing and inventory control experience, wholesale distribution experience preferred Knowledge of products sold in the Profit Center preferred Valid driver's license   Our ideal candidate will also:  Effectively use Microsoft Office software (Outlook, Word, Excel) to communicate via email, to maintain vendor contact files and appointment calendars, and to analyze vendor purchases and sales data. Be able to analyze sales and procurement data and understand market trends to make the best purchasing decisions. Possess excellent verbal communication and negotiation skills. Be able to build and maintain influential relationships with vendors, customers and co-workers. Be energetic, self-motivated and able to work independently. Be able to learn and operate the computer related systems used to create, process and expedite purchase orders, to control inventory, and to produce reports for analysis. Read, write, speak, and understand English. Be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.