Senior Costing & Purchasing Specialist

Title: Senior Costing & Purchasing Specialist

Industry: Fashion & Apparel

Location: Philippines (Remote)

Position Status: Full-time, Renewable Contract

Working Hours: Monday – Friday, Permanent WFH

Evlv (short for Evolve) is a US and Canada-based talent acquisition firm headquartered in Montreal, Canada, specializing in finding top talent across various industries, with a primary focus on the tech and consumer goods sectors.

About the Role

We are a North American apparel distribution company representing and distributing multiple fashion and apparel brands across Canada and the United States.

We are looking for an experienced, highly organized and analytical Senior Costing & Purchasing Specialist to take ownership of the day-to-day costing, purchasing, inventory planning, product data management, and brand/vendor coordination for our distributed brands.

This is a high-ownership individual contributor position reporting directly to the COO. There are no direct reports.

The successful candidate must be extremely comfortable working with Excel, large data files, ERP systems, purchasing analysis, and detailed product information, while also being an excellent communicator who can maintain constant follow-up with our brands and vendors.

Key Responsibilities

Costing & Pricing

• Obtain FOB pricing and costing information from multiple international brands and vendors.
• Calculate accuratelanded costs for both Canada and the United States, taking into consideration freight, duty, exchange rates, and other applicable costs.
• Maintain and update costing files as information changes.
• Work with management and Sales teams to establish appropriate wholesale and suggested retail pricing for each market.
• Ensure costing and pricing information is accurate before products are created in the ERP system.

Product Data & ERP Management

• Collect complete product information from brands, including style numbers, descriptions, colors, sizes, UPCs, pricing, and other required attributes.
• Prepare and manipulate Excel files for bulk product creation and updates in the company's ERP system.
• Validate product information and identify missing or inconsistent data before upload.
• Maintain accurate product, costing and purchasing information within the ERP.
• Coordinate with brands to obtain missing product information when necessary.

Purchasing & Inventory Planning

• Monitor sales orders, available inventory, and incoming inventory to determine purchasing requirements.
• Determine quantities required to cover confirmed customer orders as well as planned/speculative inventory.
• Analyze historical sales and available data to improve purchasing accuracy.
• Analyze and determine appropriate size ratios and size-level purchasing quantities.
• Prepare and issue purchase orders accurately and on time.
• Submit purchase orders through email, vendor portals, or brand-specific purchasing templates.
• Review and reconcile purchase order confirmations against orders placed.
• Identify discrepancies, shortages, quantity changes, cancellations, or delivery changes and communicate them internally.

Brand & Vendor Coordination

A major part of this position is continuous communication and follow-up with our brands and vendors.

The successful candidate will act as a key day-to-day operational contact with our brand partners and will be responsible for:

• Requesting and following up on FOB costing information.
• Obtaining complete and accurate product data.
• Following up on outstanding purchase orders and confirmations.
• Tracking the status of purchased merchandise.
• Obtaining updated availability and expected delivery information.
• Following up on late or incomplete orders.
• Resolving discrepancies between purchase orders and vendor confirmations.
• Maintaining clear and organized communication regarding outstanding issues and required actions.
• Proactively following up rather than waiting for information to be provided.

This position requires someone comfortablechasing information, following up persistently and professionally, and keeping multiple brands and open issues organized simultaneously.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in purchasing, buying, costing, inventory planning, merchandising operations, supply chain, or a related role.
• Experience in apparel, fashion, footwear, consumer products or wholesale distribution strongly preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Strong ability to manipulate and analyze large data files.
• Comfortable using formulas, lookups, PivotTables, and other Excel functions used for purchasing and inventory analysis.
• Experience working with an ERP system and importing/uploading data.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Strong organizational and follow-up skills.
• Ability to manage multiple brands, purchase orders, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong professional email communication skills.
• Comfortable communicating directly with international brands, vendors, and North American colleagues.
• Ability to work independently in a remote environment with minimal supervision.

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who combines analytical ability with strong execution and communication skills.

The ideal candidate is:

• Extremely comfortable with numbers and Excel.
• Detail-oriented and highly organized.
• Proactive rather than reactive.
• Persistent with vendor follow-up.
• Comfortable taking ownership of outstanding issues until they are resolved.
• Able to identify discrepancies rather than simply process information.
• Capable of analyzing sales and inventory data and translating it into purchasing decisions.
• Comfortable working independently and communicating directly with senior management.
• Able to prioritize effectively in a fast-moving wholesale environment.

This is not simply a purchase order entry or administrative purchasing position. We are looking for someone who can understand the complete flow from FOB costing → landed costing → product setup → sales/inventory analysis → purchasing → vendor confirmation → delivery follow-up.