Purchasing Managers

Low Risk
Low High

Alternative careers

Related career paths that build on similar skills and experience

Management Analysts
19% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Higher growth More jobs
2.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers process review, purchasing metrics, supplier workflows, cost analysis, recommendations, and procedure documentation.

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
24% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth More jobs
View career
Why it fits

Uses vendor movement, storage needs, carrier coordination, budgets, compliance, and operations oversight.

Supply Chain Managers
21% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth More jobs
Similar risk View career
Why it fits

Uses procurement strategy, supplier performance, inventory flow, forecasts, cost control, and service-level tradeoffs.

Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products
29% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth More jobs
View career
Why it fits

Directly reuses supplier sourcing, quotes, negotiations, specifications, purchase orders, and delivery follow-up.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
6.3/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

21% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coaching and developing others

Very important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Very important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

Communicating with people outside the organization

Very important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
Jobs that also use this strength

Negotiation

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together to reconcile differences, trade off priorities, and reach agreements—work that depends on trust, persuasion, and reading the situation.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 4 more strengths

Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
Jobs that also use this strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 152 votes

44% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 21% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Purchasing Managers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Purchasing Managers was $139,510 ($67 per hour).

The median annual wage for Purchasing Managers was 181.8% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Purchasing Managers' job openings is expected to rise 3.1% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 81,240 people employed as 'Purchasing Managers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.05% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Purchasing Managers'.

People also viewed

Lawyers Accountants and Auditors Computer Programmers Graphic Designers Procurement Clerks

What people are saying (3)

Laércio Almeida
16 Apr 2020 17:30
Little chance of Purchasing occupation being replaced by robot or A.I. - But it is extremely necessary to keep updated in relation to new technologies, A.I., algorithms, analytical support, electronic reverse auction tools, e-contract automatization, etc ...
GERARDO D'AGOSTINO (Moderate)
13 Dec 2019 04:13
With the Robots, AI, and the standardization will be do the automated purchasing system.
Sibele Miyagi (Low)
21 Nov 2019 15:49
Because the occupation is very strategic
Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

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.

O*NET-SOC code: 11-3061.00