Are you looking to further your career in procurement? Good – you’ve got your eyes on a growth career. Recent surveys found that nearly half of organisations were looking to expand their procurement team last year.
But in what direction should you develop your procurement career? Where are the top jobs in procurement?
There is more than one way to answer this question. Perhaps you’re looking for where the most jobs are, so you can have secure low risk employment. You might be looking for the jobs that pay the best or you’re focused on getting ahead in “on-trend” areas of procurement.
In developing your career, you might like to take a short term or a long-term perspective. Here we’re going to take a short term look at what’s happening in the procurement job market by looking at jobs advertised in the last 30 days on Seek. Now we know that this isn’t the full story because it misses out on labour market movements such as internal promotions but it’s a good indicator of what you’ll find in the open market.
Of the over 8,000 procurement jobs advertised on Seek in the last 30 days (at the time of writing), around 38% of jobs were in the over $100,000 income range and 1.6% were over $250,000.
| Income | Percentage |
| $50K | 7.4 |
| $100K | 54.5 |
| $150K | 32.4 |
| $200K | 4.1 |
| $250K | 1.3 |
| >$250K | 0.3 |
The top three industry categories with jobs requiring procurement skills and experience accounted for around half the jobs advertised. These were in:
- Manufacturing, transport & logistics
- Construction
- Government and defence
Each of these had over 1,000 jobs advertised.
But when we look at the number of top paying jobs advertised, the story changes a little. For jobs with an income range above $250,000 per annum the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and construction have similar numbers of high paying jobs even though ICT has less than half as many jobs overall as construction. Around half the high-income range jobs were in these industries.
By contrast manufacturing which has nearly three times as many jobs as ICT overall has only around a third the number of high paying positions advertised.
The top paying ICT job titles requiring procurement skills included solution architect, contract manager, program/project management, senior business analyst, systems administration.
In construction top paying job titles typically included commercial manager, contracts manager, project manager and construction manager.
In the manufacturing, transport, and logistics industry job titles typically included procurement, logistics or supply chain manager/director.
So if you’re aspiring to get to one of these top paying jobs how do you get there?
Let’s take contact manager for example. Here are some procurement jobs that can potentially lead to promotions as a contact manager:
- Contract administrator
- Procurement Assistant Coordinator
- Buyer
- Procurement Analyst
- Category Manager
- Procurement Project Coordinator
There is strong demand for buyers and people to manage supplier relationships across in number of industries and especially in construction purchasing. There is also demand for contract administrators, especially in construction. Category managers are in demand in manufacturing, transport, logistics and retail.
| Job Advertised | Number |
| Buyer | 2,683 |
| Supplier Relationship | 1,847 |
| Construction Estimator | 1,329 |
| Contract Administrator | 1,304 |
| Category Manager | 1,688 |
| Construction Purchasing | 1,152 |
| Procurement Project | 1,076 |
| Contract Specialist | 723 |
| Procurement Analyst | 272 |
| Procurement Co-ordinator | 97 |
| Procurement Assistant | 19 |
If you’re looking to develop into a project manager role then a procurement analyst, category specialist or project co-ordinator role is where you might head. Government and Manufacturing, transport and logistics is where we see the most roles advertised.
You might come to a commercial management role from a number of procurement positions but including business development alongside your procurement skills may be of advantage.
So here is our pick for the hottest procurement job in 2023 based on this analysis.
- ICT Procurement
This is where you can get the top dollars but competition for jobs is going to be hot compared to other industries and you’ll need some strong industry knowledge along the way.
There is high demand for positions related to contract management across many industries and also potential to reach high income roles.
- Construction
The construction industry in Australia offers many procurement jobs and an opportunity to advance to high paid positions.
- Manufacturing, transport, and logistics
This industry category offers many procurement related jobs although the potential to advance to higher paid positions seems lower than ITC and constructions.
- Project Management
Project management is seen in the top paying roles in most of the main industry categories but if you’re looking to come at this from an analyst perspective government and manufacturing might be the go.
A range of procurement roles can provide a solid foundation and relevant skills for future career advancement. It’s important to actively seek opportunities to expand your responsibilities, take on additional projects, and demonstrate your ability to build relationships and manage effectively. Networking, continuous learning, and pursuing relevant certifications can also contribute to your professional growth in procurement.
Comprara provides procurement services for companies and individuals. Individuals can develop their career through their own education via our Academy of Procurement. Comprara provides consulting, skills assessment, and training to enable company and government teams to advance their capabilities. Please contact us for further information.
