Senior Purchasing Specialist (Bilingual English/Mandarin)

Position: Senior Purchasing Specialist (Bilingual English/Mandarin)
Department: Finance & Accounting
Location: Remote (PST Zone) 
Reports To: Assistant Controller and Senior Director, Finance 

 

Position Summary 

The Senior Purchasing Specialist is a subject matter expert responsible for optimizing the Company’s end-to-end purchasing operations.  This role requires exercising significant independent judgment in vendor selection and setup, PO lifecycle management, and cross functional collaboration with Clinical Operations, Finance, Legal, and IT. This role is heavily focused on Purchasing & Procurement (majority of responsibilities), while also providing general ledger support during month-end close.  This is an excellent opportunity for candidates with strong Purchasing experience, who have great attention to detail and hands-on experience with NetSuite.  

 
Responsibilities 

Purchasing & Procurement (~75%) 

• Create, issue, and manage purchase orders in NetSuite based on approved requisitions. 

• Set up new vendors in NetSuite, including collecting required onboarding documentation (W-9, banking information) and coordinating with Accounts Payable to complete setup. 

• Track and manage purchase orders through the approval workflow, follow up with approvers to prevent delays, and escalate stalled approvals as needed. 

• Serve as the primary procurement liaison to internal teams, including R&D, Clinical Operations, Legal, and IT; work closely with the teams to process PO changes, including updates to quantity, pricing, delivery date, or cancellations. 

• Monitor open PO status and expedite orders to meet delivery timelines; proactively communicate risks and solutions to internal stakeholders. 

• Resolve pricing, quantity, and receiving discrepancies by coordinating with vendors and internal stakeholders. 

• Audit, update, and maintain accurate vendor records, item pricing, and lead times within NetSuite; conduct periodic audits to ensure data integrity.  

• Ensure purchasing activities comply with company policy and internal controls; identify compliance gaps and recommend process improvements.  

• Lead other ad hoc purchasing projects and process improvement initiatives. 

 

General Ledger Support (~25%) 

• Support month-end and quarter-end close activities related to purchasing, including journal entries, accruals, and reconciliations. 

• Prepare supporting schedules for procurement-related audit requests, in accordance with US GAAP. 

• Prepare variance analysis related to purchasing spend for management reporting. 

• Drive process improvements to streamline purchasing and related accounting operations. 

 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or a related field, or equivalent experience. 

• 5+ years of hands-on purchasing/procurement experience, ideally in biotech or life sciences. 

• Hands-on experience with NetSuite. 

• Advanced proficiency in Excel