Purchasing Agent

About L&S Mechanical

Headquartered in Richardson, Texas, L&S Mechanical (“L&S”) is a leading tri-trade provider of turnkey plumbing, HVAC, and electrical installation services in the Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia residential housing markets. Founded in 1985, L&S serves large production homebuilders in Dallas / Fort Worth, South Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin through its six production warehouses. Previously owned by management, L&S was acquired by The Sterling Group, a leading middle market private equity firm, in September 2021. L&S is the largest plumbing installer in Texas and has significant opportunity to grow its HVAC and electric offerings while also expanding into new geographies through acquisition and growing its nascent home services business.

The company is backed by The Sterling Group, a private equity firm established in 1982. The Sterling Group specializes in acquiring controlling interests in companies across the manufacturing, distribution, and industrial services sectors, focusing on enterprises with valuations typically between $100 million and $1 billion. To date, the firm has sponsored 67 platform buyouts, along with numerous add-on acquisitions, contributing to a total transaction value exceeding $22 billion. Currently, The Sterling Group manages over $9.4 billion in assets.

Job Summary

As a Purchasing Agent at L&S, you will be responsible for identifying suppliers, researching goods and services, processing purchase orders, managing supplier relationships, and verifying delivered items. To be successful as a purchasing agent you should be able to critically assess suppliers, products, and services, and help facilitate the best possible deals. Ultimately, an outstanding purchasing agent has a keen sense of business and maintains meticulous transaction records.

General Responsibilities

• Prepare and process purchase orders for materials, supplies and equipment.
• Maintain accurate purchase order data, verifying supplier acknowledgements for date and price discrepancies.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders (warehouse, production, service) to understand their needs.
• Ability to build/maintain strong cross-functional relationships.
• Create and maintain databases of parts.
• Use Excel worksheets to update procurement master data, including price maintenance, vendor assignment, and usage settings.
• Competitively bid and negotiate with suppliers.
• Create financial reports and cost analysis.
• Ensure purchase orders are accurately created in company procurement system.
• Managing supplier relationships, including issue resolution.
• Identify, analyze and implement cost-saving opportunities, ensuring effective tracking and reporting of savings to meet financial goals.
• Collaborate with AP Department to resolve invoice discrepancies.

Qualifications

• Preferred 2 years of direct procurement experience .
• Strong ability to organize, prioritize, and be committed to providing accurate work.
• Robust problem-solving skills and the ability to think big picture.
• Excellent sense of urgency.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Must be proficient in MS Outlook, Excel, Word, vendor portals.
• Willingness to take on new projects with a “can do” attitude.
• Perform the physical demands of the position - working indoors with long periods of time sitting; listening and speaking on the telephone; viewing monitor and workstation.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• FSA with debit card
• Employer-paid Short-Term Disability (STD)
• $20K in life insurance and $20K AD&D insurance
• 401(k) employer match
• Paid Vacation
• PTO
• Paid Holidays
• Annualized reviews for merit increases
• Potential for advancement

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person

Salary : $20,000