Purchasing Coordinator

About KIPP TEAM & Family

KIPP TEAM & Family is our network office that includes support teams - such as Leadership Development, Recruitment, Advocacy, Facilities, Finance, HR and more - dedicated to empowering our schools and ensuring the success of KIPP students throughout New Jersey and Miami. Our schools are part of the nationally recognized “Knowledge Is Power Program” network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to preparing students for success in college and in life. The first KIPP New Jersey school opened in Newark in 2002 and since then our school network has expanded to educate 8,135 students in grades K-12. By 2025, KIPP New Jersey will provide a world-class education to over 10,300 students across fifteen schools in Newark and five in Camden. 

In 2018, we grew our KIPP community in response to a need for high-quality school options for students in Greater Miami’s Urban Core communities. That led to the creation of KIPP Miami, which currently educates more than 1,000 students in four schools, with plans to reach 5,800 students by 2025. By offering highly effective educators with strong bonds to families, more time in school learning, services that support a variety of student needs, and a culture focused on achievement, our students in New Jersey and Miami are on the path to and through college, career, and choice-filled lives.

Job Description

We are seeking a Purchasing Coordinator to join the KIPP TEAM & Family purchasing team. In this pivotal role, you will collaborate with directors of school operations, budget managers, other operations teammates and vendors to ensure that teachers and staff can access essential goods and services efficiently and promptly. This includes maintaining compliance with procurement policies and public-school regulations. The Purchasing Team plays a crucial role in the operational excellence of our schools, empowering instructional and support staff to focus on their primary mission: guiding students toward academic achievement and lifelong success.

Key Responsibilities

As a Purchasing Coordinator, you will take on a range of critical responsibilities, including:

• Purchase Order Management: Ensure the accurate and timely processing of purchase orders in alignment with our service-level agreements.
• Compliance Enforcement:  Uphold organizational policies and ensure adherence to public school procurement regulations.
• Communication & Collaboration: Foster strong working relationships with school and department operations teams and build productive vendor partnerships.
• Order Tracking:  Provide clear and consistent updates regarding the status and delivery of goods and services.
• Financial Coordination:  Collaborate with the Accounts Payable team to ensure seamless purchasing-to-payment workflows and assist the accounting team in maintaining accurate and compliant purchasing records.
• Data Maintenance: Regularly review and manage aged encumbrance reports to ensure the procure-to-pay workflow SLA and the approved vendor list to ensure data accuracy and compliance.
• Problem-Solving:  Identify and resolve issues proactively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Qualifications

We’re looking for an enthusiastic, detail-oriented professional with a passion for operational excellence. The ideal candidate will possess:

• Experience: At least three years of experience in purchasing, procurement, or similar operations or financial functions.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word) and Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Forms). Experience with purchasing/procurement platforms such as Coupa is highly valued.
• Organizational Skills: Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational capabilities.
• Communication:  Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a customer service mindset.
• Adaptability:  A proactive problem-solver who thrives under deadlines and can manage multiple projects simultaneously in a quickly growing organization.
• Technology Proficiency:  Experience with Zoom, Slack and helpdesk platforms like Zendesk.
• Mission Alignment: A team-oriented individual who is driven by KIPP’s mission to prepare students for success in college and life.

Additional Information

Location

This is a hybrid role. At this time, we typically work from the office 2 days per week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) and work remotely 3 days per week. Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of the three cities within which we work: Newark, NJ, Camden, NJ, or Miami, FL. Candidate who can work from our Newark office will be given preference for this role.

Compensation & Benefits

KIPP Team & Family offers a market-competitive salary range of $65,000-$75,000. Salary ranges at KIPP are set based upon the role level and function using benchmarks in the education and non-profit sector and allow for growth within the role. Individual compensation within this range will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: relevant professional experience and

qualifications

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package including, but not limited to, the following:

• Robust benefits that include medical, dental, and vision 
• Optional participation in the KIPP NJ 403b retirement plan, including matching contributions
• An organization-issued laptop
• Transportation benefits for TEAMmates commuting into Newark from the New York City area
• Generous Time-Off policy
• Up to 12 weeks 100% parental leave for primary caregivers
• Employer paid life insurance
• Extensive optional ancillary benefits including, short term and long term disability and accident and hospital indemnity

Our organization is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender, age, religion, national origin, citizen status, marital status, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Our organization will make a reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the organization. No questions on this application are asked for any unlawful purpose.

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