Purchasing & Scheduling Coordinator

Location: Memphis, TN (On-Site)
Compensation: $18.00 - $24.00 per hour, depending on experience
Employment Type: Full-Time, Non-Exempt (hourly, overtime eligible)
Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Travel: Minimal; occasional local travel to jobsites or vendors
Weekends: Rare, as required by project start dates or material deliveries

POSITION SUMMARY

The Purchasing & Scheduling Coordinator owns two functions that determine whether a project runs well: buying the material and planning the labor. Our project managers and sales team decide what a job requires and provide the bill of material. From that point forward it belongs to this role. You source it, order it, track it, and keep everyone informed until it is on site. On the labor side, you gather status and upcoming manpower needs from each project manager every week and convert that input into a rolling two-week schedule showing which crews are assigned to which jobs.

This position is distinguished from a general administrative or dispatch role in two respects. First, it is forward-planning work, not same-day reaction. Material has to arrive before the crew mobilizes, and the crew has to be booked before the week begins. Plenty of people are effective at resolving today's problem and genuinely ineffective at seeing two weeks out. This seat requires the second skill. Second, it is an automation-forward role. We operate on AI tooling day to day, specifically Claude, and expect this position to apply it to the repetitive portion of purchasing and scheduling rather than working through it by hand.

Purchasing & Scheduling Coordinators are organized, persistent professionals who follow every open item to closure, communicate clearly with vendors and project managers, and keep documentation disciplined. This role reports to service leadership and works alongside project management every day.

IMPORTANT: READ BEFORE APPLYING

This position involves:

• Full ownership of purchasing and the labor schedule, with no one else assembling either
• Hard external constraints; vendor lead times and job start dates do not move to accommodate a late order
• Sustained follow-up with vendors and project managers, including people who do not respond the first time
• High attention to detail, where a wrong part number or quantity costs a crew a day in the field
• Active daily use of AI and automation tools, not occasional or optional use
• Continuous process improvement, including replacing manual routines you may be accustomed to
• Working on site five days a week

If you prefer to build purchase orders and schedules by hand because that is the method you have always used, this position will not be a fit. If you are looking for a remote or hybrid arrangement, this is not the right role.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• Someone who has owned a purchasing or scheduling function and can describe how they ran it
• Someone who has never let a job start without material because an order sat unconfirmed
• Someone comfortable calling a distributor about a ship date that has slipped twice
• Someone who automates repetitive work rather than absorbing it
• Someone who notices that a job three weeks out has no crew assigned and raises it now
• Someone who works two weeks ahead instead of two hours ahead
• Someone who wants to grow as the company scales

GROWTH OPPORTUNITY

Strong performers can grow into:

• Senior Purchasing & Scheduling Coordinator
• Purchasing Manager
• Operations Manager, as the company scales past 100 employees

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Automation, AI & Process Improvement

• Use AI tooling daily to reduce manual work, including generating RFQs and purchase orders, comparing vendor quotes, and preparing recurring reporting
• Maintain the vendor, pricing, and reference data behind our internal tools so their output stays accurate
• Review every generated document before it goes to a vendor or into a job file, and report errors so the tools get corrected
• Build self-refreshing purchasing and schedule reporting so leadership and project managers can see the current position of any job without requesting it
• Draft vendor inquiries, expediting follow-ups, and routine correspondence using AI, subject to your review and judgment before release
• Identify and eliminate manual steps on an ongoing basis; any task performed the same way twice monthly is a candidate for automation
• Build reusable AI workflows for repeated tasks, and document every automation and procedure so processes survive absence or transition

Purchasing & Vendor Management

• Take approved bills of material from project managers and sales and source them, issuing RFQs and comparing pricing, lead time, and availability before committing
• Issue and manage purchase orders for all material and tool purchases with correct job costing and coding
• Verify vendor quotes, confirm pricing against approved costs, and flag discrepancies before orders are placed
• Own the day-to-day vendor relationship on anything order-related, including terms, substitutions, and problem resolution
• Keep vendor contacts, pricing, and material cost history current so estimates reflect what things actually cost
• Handle returns, RMAs, damaged freight, and receiving discrepancies through to resolution

Material Tracking & Delivery

• Track every open purchase order from placement to delivery, including confirmations, ship dates, backorders, partial shipments, and substitutions
• Notify project managers early when a lead time threatens a job start date; a late delivery is only a problem if nobody saw it coming
• Coordinate delivery timing to the jobsite or warehouse so material arrives when the crew does, not three weeks early and not two days late
• Monitor tool and equipment inventory and initiate reorders before stock falls below job requirements
• Maintain organized, auditable purchasing files by project

Labor Scheduling

• Build and publish a rolling two-week labor schedule, refreshed every week on a fixed day
• Collect status and upcoming manpower needs from each project manager on a set weekly cadence, and follow up with those who have not responded
• Convert that input into crew assignments by job, day, and headcount
• Account for certifications, licensing, time off, and training when assigning technicians
• Identify conflicts and gaps far enough ahead to resolve them, including overcommitted weeks, jobs with no crew assigned, and technicians with no work booked
• Publish the schedule where technicians and project managers can see it, and reissue promptly when it changes
• Maintain a single source of truth for crew assignments and job locations
• Flag staffing shortfalls or available capacity to leadership early enough for corrective action
• Keep job start dates aligned between the labor schedule and the material orders so the two never drift apart

Coordination with Project Management & Accounting

• Confirm job start dates and manpower requirements with project managers before committing material or crews
• Provide accounting with complete purchase order and cost detail supporting job costing and month-end close
• Identify jobs where material cost is trending above estimate early enough for corrective action

Confidentiality & Professional Conduct

• Protect confidential pricing, vendor, and customer information at all times
• Maintain professionalism with vendors, technicians, project managers, and customers
• Follow policies and procedures and support standardization across the organization

CORE COMPETENCIES

Ownership: Takes full responsibility for material arriving on time and crews being booked
Forward Planning: Works the next two weeks rather than the next two hours
Persistence: Follows up with vendors and project managers without needing to be reminded
Accuracy: Issues purchase orders that are correct the first time
Automation Mindset: Eliminates repetitive work rather than absorbing it
AI Fluency: Uses AI tooling as a normal part of daily work, not as a novelty
Deadline Discipline: Publishes the schedule and places orders on time without prompting
Analytical Judgment: Notices when a quote, quantity, or assignment does not look right and investigates
Documentation Discipline: Maintains clear purchase order records, vendor files, and process documentation
Communication: Communicates clearly with vendors, technicians, project managers, and leadership
Confidentiality: Handles sensitive pricing and customer information appropriately

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Required:

• 2 years in purchasing, buying, expediting, dispatch, scheduling, or comparable coordination experience
• Hands-on experience issuing and tracking purchase orders through delivery
• Strong Excel skills, including sorting, filtering, formulas, and working in a file someone else built
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams)
• Comfort using AI tools in daily work
• Demonstrated ability to manage many open items at once without losing track of any of them
• Ability to work independently without daily supervision and to escalate issues appropriately
• Clear, direct communication and the persistence to follow up until you get an answer
• Discretion with confidential pricing and customer information
• Reliable, consistent attendance and accurate daily time reporting
• Must pass a pre-employment drug screen and meet company fitness-for-duty standards

Preferred:

• Purchasing experience in construction, the trades, field services, manufacturing, or logistics
• Experience scheduling crews, technicians, or field labor in advance rather than day of
• Familiarity with electrical, low-voltage, datacom, or security material and the distributors who sell it, such as Anixter, Wesco, Graybar, or ADI
• Experience with job costing or coding purchases to a project
• Proficiency with Salesforce (CRM, reporting, or operations workflows)
• Familiarity with project management, scheduling, or field service software
• Experience building repeatable AI workflows rather than using AI on an ad hoc basis
• Associate's or bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, construction management, or a related field

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Primarily office-based, seated work with intermittent standing and walking
• Ability to work at a computer for extended periods
• Occasional time in the warehouse verifying deliveries and inventory
• Ability to lift and carry up to 25 lbs occasionally (files, supplies, material samples)

TOOLS, EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY USED

• AI tooling for RFQ and purchase order generation, document processing, and workflow automation
• Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams)
• QuickBooks (accounting system of record for purchase orders and job costing)
• CRM and work order system
• Project management and scheduling software
• Vendor and distributor ordering portals
• Box, Dropbox, and document management systems

REPORTING STRUCTURE

Reports To: Service Leadership
Works Daily With: Project Managers, Sales, Field Technicians
Supervises: None currently; may supervise purchasing or scheduling support staff as the department grows

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

• Material readiness: percentage of jobs with required material on site before the crew mobilizes
• Schedule publication: two-week labor schedule published by the committed day each week, without exception
• Schedule stability: percentage of scheduled assignments that hold without unplanned change
• Purchase order accuracy: percentage of orders placed correctly the first time, without rework or return
• Quote coverage: percentage of bills of material competitively quoted before ordering
• Lead time exceptions: threats to a job start date identified and communicated before they cause a delay
• Open order aging: percentage of open purchase orders with confirmed ship dates
• Material cost variance: actual purchased cost against estimate, by job
• Backorder and discrepancy resolution time
• Automation results: manual hours eliminated and processes automated per quarter

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• $18.00 to $24.00 per hour, depending on experience, with overtime paid in accordance with applicable law
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) with employer match
• Paid holidays and PTO
• Professional development assistance, including company-sponsored training and certifications
• Direct line to leadership with support for the tools and automations you implement
• Career advancement opportunities as the operations function grows

EMPLOYMENT CLASSIFICATION & POLICIES

• Full-Time, Non-Exempt (hourly, overtime eligible)
• Employment is at-will
• Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer
• Reasonable accommodations available per ADA guidelines

Pay: $18.00 - $24.00 per hour

Expected hours: No less than 36.0 per week

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• What is your desired hourly pay rate?

Experience:

• purchasing or buying: 2 years (Required)
• dispatch or scheduling: 2 years (Required)
• Microsoft 365: 2 years (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• Memphis, TN 38112 (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $18 - $24