Purchasing Manager

About MN Custom Homes   Founded in 2011 by two Bellevue locals, we have grown to become the preeminent Eastside luxury home builder today. Since Day 1 we have been driven by innovation and obsessed with setting our homes apart through their overall design and functionality. We truly get a thrill doing what we love most: building thoughtful homes that inspire community. Learn more about us and see our work at: https://mncustom.com    Why MN?   We pride ourselves on our empowered team environment and dedication to taking care of our people. We believe in setting you up to succeed with clear career progression, learning opportunities, and ownership of your role from the get-go. Accountability is huge for us, and we place a lot of trust in our employees to do the right thing. We believe that a supportive and inclusive culture yields happy people, and happy people are the most successful at what they do.     About This Role    The Purchasing Manager is responsible for overseeing the procurement process, including sourcing, negotiating, and managing supplier relationships. This role involves identifying improvements that will save the organization money, meet or exceed project schedules, and build efficiencies.On a Given Day, Your Work Might Include 

• Manages assigned trades in all aspects of purchasing, performance, and contract compliance.
• Oversees vendor relationships from onboarding through offboarding, including reference checks for new vendors.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for vendor inquiries related to plans, scopes, and specifications.
• Tracks recurring vendor questions/issues and present solutions in quarterly leadership meetings.
• Conducts bi-weekly meetings with SPMs to align Production and Purchasing on process improvements.
• Reviews, approves, updates, declines, and negotiates change orders within assigned trade categories.
• Oversees and supports PCs in managing the change order process, ensuring consistency and accuracy.
• Identifies patterns in change orders and develop action plans to mitigate unnecessary costs.
• Approves budget adjustments and variance notes entered by PCs.
• Generates and approves variance notes submitted by PMs and PCs to ensure clarity and accuracy.
• Partners with Legal on all contract and safety-related issues, including vendor red-line contract requests.
• Manages the bulk award process, including vendor selection, bid evaluation, and award approvals.
• Reviews and finalizes bulk award contracts with vendors, ensuring clear communication on expectations.
• Develops and maintains Standard Works based on policy changes, subject to Purchasing Director/Senior Purchasing Manager approval.
• Owns and maintains the Scope of Work log, ensuring proper tracking and enforcement of updates.
• Partners with PMs to review and update scopes of work annually, ensuring consistency and vendor accountability.
• Manages the number of days allocated to complete a task, coordinating with PMs and vendors to address inefficiencies.
• Works with assigned trades on schedule slips, identifying root causes and patterns for process improvements.
• Reviews bids and makes award recommendations, ensuring alignment with cost, quality, and scheduling objectives.
• Evaluates bulk bidding results, conducts plan take-offs if discrepancies arise, and generates award recommendations.
• Compiles and tracks bulk bidding data, maintaining the bulk bidding tracking sheet.
• Creates vendor feedback reports for Purchasing Managers to support performance evaluations.
• Provides day-to-day purchasing support for new expansion regions as they launch.
• Trains the Purchasing team and vendors on best practices for working remotely across regions.
• Hosts vendor meetings for bulk award trades and facilitate the first round of bulk award contracting.
• Develops a “cheat sheet” for bulk-awarded vendors outlining the new SalesForce bidding process.
• Facilitates ongoing training for Purchasing, vendors, and department partners.
• Manages housebook evaluations, ensuring they are completed and presented in monthly review meetings.
• Hosts housebook meetings, providing high-level summaries and variance explanations for leadership.
• Prepares and presents action plans to the Purchasing Director/Sr. Manager of Purchasing on process improvements based on cost trends.
• Other duties as assigned.

 What You’ll Need to Succeed   

• High School degree or equivalent.
• 4-7 Years of experience that includes the following:
• 3+ years of construction experience;
• 1+ year of new-home construction experience;
• 3+ years of purchasing experience in a construction environment;
• 1+ year of experience in a production home builder environment;
• 3+ years of vendor relationship management;
• 3+ years of experience reviewing bids, invoices, and/or change orders;
• 2+ years of experience creating budgets and analyzing hard costs;
• Ability to read and interpret blueprints, including structural details;
• Advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUP, pivot tables, data analysis); and
• Experience reviewing and understanding scopes of work for construction trade.
• Ability to read and interpret home construction plans.
• Advanced Excel skills, including VLOOKUP, pivot tables, and data analysis.
• Strong negotiation and contract management skills.
• Ability to review and understand invoices and change orders.
• Strong organizational, communication (written and verbal),
• Strong prioritization skills.
• Ability to build and cultivate vendor and internal relationships.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Ability to create and manage budgets.
• Proficiency in conducting plan take-offs to validate bid accuracy.
• Ability to oversee and execute the bid process from initiation to contract finalization.
• Experience in managing bulk award processes, including vendor selection and approval tracking.
• Ability to facilitate vendor meetings and communicate award decisions.
• Strong presentation skills for senior leadership meetings.
• Knowledge of budget adjustments, variance tracking, and cost evaluations.
• Familiarity with legal contracts and safety compliance.

Physical Requirements

• This position requires frequent use of a computer, including keyboard functions and visual acuity of 20 inches or fewer daily.
• Standing and/or walking for extended periods of time
• Be able to lift up to 20 pounds on occasion with or without accommodation.

Travel & Vehicle Requirements

• May be required to visit job sites on occasion and/or travel for conferences, etc.

Employee Benefits  

• 100% covered employee premiums for medical and dental self-coverage
• 100% employer-paid life insurance
• 100% employer-paid long term disability insurance
• Paid medical and family leave
• Critical illness insurance
• 401(K) with generous company match, no vesting schedule, and access to professional financial advisors
• 20 days of PTO & 9 holidays
• New iPhone for your personal and business use
• Free onsite parking
• Company paid events
• Complimentary snacks & beverages

Hours & Compensation   This is a full-time position paying $82,573 – $115,602. The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary range for this position. Individual placement within a salary range will vary based upon factors including but not limited to candidate experience, knowledge, individual, skills, and organizational performance.    Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At MN Custom Homes we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.   MN Custom Homes is an equal opportunity employer Apply