The Purchasing Manager - IT & Indirect Services is responsible for independently managing procurement activities for IT hardware, software, professional services, and other indirect spend categories from Manila. This is a senior individual contributor role requiring strong ownership, stakeholder management, supplier relationship management, and process accountability. While the position does not have direct people management responsibilities, it is expected to provide guidance, subject matter expertise, and leadership across procurement processes.
The role partners closely with IT Finance, IT Vendor Management, Corporate Procurement, Accounts Payable, business requestors, and external suppliers to ensure sourcing and purchasing activities are executed accurately, compliantly, and efficiently.
Key Responsibilities
- Independently manage purchasing activities for IT hardware, computers, peripherals, software, IT professional services, and other indirect services in accordance with corporate procurement policies and standards.
- Create, review, and manage purchase requisitions and purchase orders in SAP, ensuring accurate supplier, pricing, tax, delivery, and accounting information.
- Serve as the primary Manila-based procurement point of contact for IT and indirect services requestors, vendor managers, finance partners, Accounts Payable, receiving teams, and suppliers.
- Proactively resolve purchasing issues, including open orders, blocked or parked invoices, pricing or quantity discrepancies, returns, substitutions, delivery delays, and supplier performance concerns.
- Support RFQs, bid evaluations, supplier quotations, pricing agreements, renewals, contract administration activities, and negotiation preparation for IT and indirect services categories.
- Maintain productive supplier relationships and manage communications regarding order status, claims, over-shipments, under-shipments, invoice discrepancies, product discontinuations, and service delivery issues.
- Partner with IT Finance and vendor management stakeholders to validate purchasing requirements, budgets, approvals, contract coverage, and supplier compliance before purchase execution.
- Prepare and analyze purchasing reports, spend analytics, open PO reports, KPI dashboards, savings trackers, and issue logs for management review.
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve purchasing processes, reduce manual effort, increase efficiency, strengthen compliance, and standardize documentation.
- Maintain purchasing documentation, sourcing records, audit support files, purchase order records, and other compliance-related materials.
- Provide guidance and coaching to analysts and junior team members on SAP procurement processes, documentation standards, and issue resolution practices.
- Escalate procurement risks, supplier issues, compliance concerns, and service interruptions to appropriate leadership in a timely and fact-based manner.
- Perform other procurement, reporting, and stakeholder support duties as assigned.
Scope and Decision Authority
- Own assigned purchasing transactions and supplier follow-up activities with minimal day-to-day supervision.
- Lead small projects, purchasing improvement initiatives, reporting routines, or process optimization efforts within assigned categories.
- Provide recommendations to Procurement leadership, IT Finance, and Vendor Management teams regarding supplier issues, sourcing options, purchasing risks, and process improvements.
- Escalate matters requiring policy exceptions, final commercial approvals, contract execution, strategic supplier decisions, or people management actions.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Information Systems, Finance, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Minimum of 4-6 years of experience in procurement, purchasing, sourcing, supply chain, vendor management, or shared services operations.
- Demonstrated experience supporting indirect procurement and/or IT purchasing categories.
- Hands-on SAP procurement experience, including purchase requisitions, purchase orders, vendor maintenance, invoice issue resolution, pricing management, and open order tracking. SAP S/4HANA experience is preferred.
- Working knowledge of IT procurement categories such as hardware, peripherals, software licensing, telecommunications, IT services, and professional services.
- Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, reporting, data validation, spend analysis, and KPI tracking.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
- Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and coordinate activities across multiple time zones.
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain accurate purchasing documentation, approvals, and audit records.
- Ability to support North America and global stakeholders through schedule flexibility or shift overlap when required.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting IT Commercial, IT Finance, Vendor Management, or Corporate Procurement functions within a multinational organization.
- Experience managing RFQs, supplier quotations, bid comparisons, renewals, contract administration, and cost-saving initiatives.
- Knowledge of Coupa procurement platform.
- Experience with Power BI, Power Query, or other reporting and automation tools.
- Experience resolving blocked invoices, parked invoices, pricing mismatches, receiving discrepancies, and open PO cleanup activities in SAP.
- Professional certifications such as CPSM, CSCP, CSPP, PMP, or equivalent.
- Experience mentoring junior analysts, creating standard operating procedures, or supporting process transitions in a shared services environment.
Key Competencies
- Procurement ownership and accountability
- Stakeholder management across functions, regions, and time zones
- Supplier relationship management
- SAP and Coupa purchasing expertise
- IT and indirect procurement knowledge
- Analytical thinking and reporting skills
- Process discipline and compliance orientation
- Audit readiness and documentation control
- Continuous improvement mindset
- Professional communication and customer focus
- Informal leadership, coaching, and collaboration
Performance Measures
- Purchase order accuracy, cycle time, and on-time completion.
- Reduction in blocked invoices, parked invoices, aged purchase orders, and purchasing discrepancies.
- Stakeholder satisfaction and responsiveness to IT, Finance, Accounts Payable, and Vendor Management partners.
- Supplier follow-up effectiveness and resolution of delivery, pricing, and service issues.
- Accuracy and timeliness of purchasing reports, KPI dashboards, and audit documentation.
- Contributions to process improvements, standardization efforts, and procurement compliance initiatives.
