Purchasing & Inventory Manager

Purchasing & Inventory Manager

ABOUT NES

Nobody thinks about loading docks and rollup doors until one fails - then a distribution center goes down, a shipment sits, and a crew stands idle. NES exists because the businesses that keep Southern California's economy moving deserve a service partner they can actually count on. We're the region's premier dock and door service company: loading dock equipment, rollup doors, and industrial access systems for warehouses, distribution centers, and commercial facilities across Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire.

THE ROLE

Core Purpose

Help design and build the purchasing, inventory, and materials systems, then run them. You own how parts, equipment, rentals, and subcontracted work get sourced, bought, received, stocked, staged, priced, and reconciled, from the estimate that triggers a purchase to the bill that closes it. When this works, crews never wait on parts, jobs cost what we quoted, and every dollar spent has a PO, a receipt, a bill, and a job behind it.

What You'll Do

Your first 90 days are a build. A Parts Coordinator already handles daily transactions and a Parts Driver moves material, so you aren't absorbing a queue. You're turning a good-enough process into a real system: tightening our inventory and purchasing modules, standing up the purchase-order-to-bill workflow into our accounting system, putting three-way matching and credit card controls in place with accounting, setting min/max levels off real usage data, and writing the SOPs behind it. After that you run it and improve it. You'll personally handle the complex buys (capital equipment, multi-vendor sourcing, rentals, subcontracted scope) and step into the daily queue when volume spikes or the coordinator is out. And nobody will hand you a plan: you'll sit in strategy sessions with our COO, Service Manager, and advisors, bring a real point of view on where the company should go, then go build your part of it. We're not looking for someone who asks where they're needed.

Purchasing Systems, Process & Controls (25%)

    Own the inventory and purchasing modules and every subcategory within them - configuration, permissions, workflows, user training.

    Build and run the purchasing-to-bill workflow tying POs to bill creation, with our Controller and accounting team.

    Own three-way matching across PO, receiving record, and vendor invoice/bill; reconcile to accounting reports and clear exceptions weekly. Enforce credit card controls; every card purchase, down to a technician's hardware-store run, carries a PO, a receipt, and a bill before it reaches accounting.

    Write and maintain SOPs for every purchasing and inventory process, and train the team on them.

Procurement Oversight & Direct Execution (25%)

    Own the Coordinator's work product - set the standard, review quality, catch exceptions, coach. Accuracy of what leaves this function is yours.

    Personally handle complex procurement: capital equipment, multi-vendor sourcing, long-lead items, rentals, subcontracted scope.

    Read estimates, scopes of work, and equipment specs; extract full material and capital equipment takeoffs; catch missing or ambiguous line items early.

    Step into the transaction queue during spikes and coordinator absences - creating POs, sourcing vendors, confirming orders, tracking shipments, receiving, staging, updating stakeholders. Attach every PO to the correct job in our field management software.

Inventory Control, Demand Planning & Price Book (20%)

    Run material usage reports, identify high-use parts that belong in stock, and forecast what to buy, how often, and in what volume. Set min/max levels and reorder points, improving turns while balancing pricing advantage against cash tied up in slow-moving stock.

    Own inventory adjustments, transfers, and the cycle count program; investigate variances; hold system accuracy at or above 98%.

    Direct warehouse organization, receiving, allocation to shop or truck, and job staging.

    Maintain our price book in real time - materials, equipment, services, labor line items, labor packages. Vendor price changes, the book changes; new part, new listing.

Vendor Sourcing, Negotiation & Cost Management (15%)

    Source new vendors and alternate suppliers to improve pricing, lead time, and availability on what we buy most.

    Negotiate pricing, payment terms, freight, volume tiers, and return policies; renegotiate on a defined cycle, not by exception. Manage rental and subcontractor relationships, rates, and terms alongside material suppliers.

    Maintain vendor scorecards on fill rate, on-time delivery, pricing accuracy, and responsiveness; consolidate spend where it earns better terms.

    Bring cost-reduction opportunities forward with numbers attached; secure leadership approval before changing vendors or pricing.

Fleet, Uniforms & PPE (10%)

    Manage the fleet - preventive maintenance, repairs, service records, registration, inspection, and compliance, plus company tools and assets. A fleet management company and software do the heavy lifting; you oversee it.

    Manage the uniform provider - sizing, replacement, billing accuracy

    Own the PPE program: stocking, distribution, and replacement.

Leadership, Reporting & Continuous Improvement (5%)

    Develop the Parts & Purchasing Coordinator - raise capability, expand scope, build the bench as efficiency frees capacity.

    Report monthly on spend, inventory accuracy, turns, stockouts, match exceptions, and realized cost savings against targets.

    Carry your metrics into the NES meeting rhythm - daily huddles, weekly team meetings, monthly leadership reviews, quarterly planning, and annual strategy meetings.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required Qualifications

    8+ years in purchasing, procurement, or materials management in field service, commercial construction, industrial distribution, HVAC/plumbing/electrical contracting, material handling, or equipment service

    Direct involvement in a system implementation or migration -- in the room and in the data when a company stood up or replaced its purchasing or inventory platform - and a record of building or materially improving the process afterward, not just operating one someone else designed

    Hands-on purchasing at volume - you've personally created and managed hundreds or thousands of POs a month, not just approved others'. You can clear a busy Monday's queue yourself

    Able to read estimates, scopes of work, and equipment specs and turn them into accurate material and capital equipment takeoffs

    Hands-on inventory ownership in a field service platform or ERP - ServiceTitan strongly preferred; including receiving, adjustments, transfers, cycle counts

    Proven three-way matching (PO, receiving record, vendor invoice) and comfort working directly with accounting on reconciliation and month-end close

    Track record negotiating vendor pricing, payment terms, and lead times, with measurable results

    Intermediate to advanced Excel or Google Sheets - pivot tables, lookups, basic forecasting - for real usage and spend analysis

    Valid California driver's license and clean driving record

    On-site in Irvine; able to lift 50 pounds and work in a warehouse environment

Preferred Qualifications

    Some management experience - 1-3 years leading a purchasing, procurement, or materials function, or managing or mentoring a purchasing or warehouse coordinator, including through an indirect or matrixed line

    ServiceTitan price book administration, including labor line items and packages

    Working knowledge of loading dock equipment, commercial overhead and rollup doors, or industrial access systems and their parts

    Experience integrating a field service platform with an accounting system

    Fleet management experience

    Equipment rental and subcontractor procurement experience

    APICS/ASCM CPIM or CSCP, or ISM CPSM certification

Essential Attributes

We hire for how people operate. If these describe how you already work, keep reading:

    Customer-Centric Excellence. Doing right by the customer has cost you time, effort, or an awkward conversation. You did it anyway, unasked.

    Complete Ownership. When something goes wrong on your watch, your first move is to fix it, not explain why it wasn't your fault.

    Principled Collaboration. You've pushed back clearly and professionally, then executed the decision without passive resistance.

    Empowered Trust. You'd rather surface a problem early than look smooth while it quietly gets worse.

    Relentless Learning. You've deliberately gotten better at something in the last 6 months.

    Documented by Default. A purchase isn't finished when the part shows up - it's finished when the PO, receipt, bill, and job all agree. You close loose ends without being chased.

    Hands in the Work. You've never said "that's not my job." You'll design the system in the morning and pull POs in the afternoon.

    Self-Starting Operator. Nobody assigns you your week. You've walked into an underbuilt process, decided what needed to happen, and made it happen - without waiting for a mandate or a perfect plan.

WHAT WE OFFER

Pay

    Base salary range: $100,000 - $125,000 annually, depending on experience

Benefits

    Medical, Dental, Vision (NES contributes to every employee's medical and dental/vision)

    $50K life insurance (company provided)

    $50K AD&D (company provided)

    401(k) retirement plan

Time Off

    Vacation: 2 weeks to start, more as you advance

    Sick leave: 1 week

    8 paid holidays

NES is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic.