# Purchasing Managers

> Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of buyers, purchasing officers, and related workers involved in purchasing materials, products, and services. Includes wholesale or retail trade merchandising managers and procurement managers.

- **SOC code:** 11-3061.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3061-00
- **Also known as:** Materials Manager, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Director, Purchasing Manager, Category Purchasing Manager, Commodity Manager, Materials Director, Procurement Director
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
- Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
- Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.
- Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in buying, selling, and distributing materials, equipment, machinery, and supplies.
- Review purchase order claims and contracts for conformance to company policy.
- Review, evaluate, and approve specifications for issuing and awarding bids.
- Administer online purchasing systems.
- Prepare and process requisitions and purchase orders for supplies and equipment.
- Control purchasing department budgets.
- Interview and hire staff, and oversee staff training.
- Develop cost reduction strategies and savings plans.
- Resolve vendor or contractor grievances and claims against suppliers.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Administration and Management _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Management of Personnel Resources _(transferable_skill)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Writing _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Negotiation _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- SAP software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Project _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft SharePoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Visio _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Oracle Database _(hot technology)_
- Oracle PeopleSoft _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 71st percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 97th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 85th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 32nd percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 19th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.1% growth (About average); 6.4k annual openings; 83.5k → 86.1k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $139,510; 81,240 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 50% automation, 38% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Administer online purchasing systems. _(1.3% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales. _(1.2% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Prepare reports regarding market conditions and merchandise costs. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Prepare and process requisitions and purchase orders for supplies and equipment. _(0.3% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me administer online purchasing systems.
- Help me locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
- Help me prepare reports regarding market conditions and merchandise costs.
- Help me prepare and process requisitions and purchase orders for supplies and equipment.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-3061-00_