Buyer in Seattle Area, Washington at BuyWander

Buyer (Full-Time)

Department: Merchandising

Reports To: VP of Merchandising

Location: Seattle Area, Washington

Job Summary

At BuyWander, the Buyer owns our vendor relationships and the terms we buy on. This is not conventional procurement. You are not specifying products or placing replenishment orders. You are evaluating truckloads of mixed, returned inventory from a manifest, often with a short window to decide, and negotiating what we pay for goods we have not seen. Get the terms right and a load clears at a healthy margin. Get them wrong and we spend three weeks processing inventory that never had a chance.

Your job is to secure the best possible landed cost and manifest quality from the sources we keep, develop new supply relationships that give us first look at good loads, and hold vendors accountable when what arrives does not match what was sold. You will work inside the buying envelope set by Merchandise Planning and have real latitude to move quickly within it. For context on the stakes: a point and a half of cost as a percentage of retail is worth roughly a million dollars a year at our current volume. That is the game.

BuyWander's Values

• Happy: We bring positive energy to our work and support each other.
• Humble: We stay grounded, open to learning, and focused on the team over ego.
• High Performing: We set a high bar and hold ourselves accountable to results.
• (H)loyal: We show up for each other and the company, with loyalty that goes beyond the ordinary.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Negotiation & Buying

• Negotiate landed cost, cost as a percentage of retail, freight allowances, payment terms, and return rights with inventory sources.
• Evaluate offered loads on manifest quality, product mix, category composition, and expected recovery, and walk away from loads that do not clear our economics.
• Execute purchases within the open-to-buy budget and target mix set by Merchandise Planning, moving fast on good inventory when the window is short.
• Renegotiate terms with existing sources as their performance data warrants, using our scorecards as leverage.

Vendor Development

• Source, vet, and cultivate relationships with retailers, distributors, 3PLs, and liquidators to expand and diversify our supply base.
• Serve as the primary face of BuyWander to our vendor network, building the kind of relationships that earn us first look and priority access on quality loads.
• Reduce concentration risk by developing new qualified sources ahead of need.

Vendor Performance & Accountability

• Partner with Merchandise Planning on the monthly source scorecard and own the vendor conversations that follow, whether that means renegotiating, improving, or exiting.
• Resolve supplier issues including manifest discrepancies, quality shortfalls, and items that do not match what was sold, and pursue vendor claims where warranted.
• Maintain vendor agreements and ensure terms stay aligned with our margin targets as we scale.

Cross-functional Partnership

• Work daily with Merchandise Planning, translating buy plans and market capacity into executed purchases.
• Coordinate with Transportation on freight terms, allowances, and inbound scheduling.
• Partner with the Pricing Analyst on manifest data quality and load-level performance.

You Will

• Negotiate cost, terms, and freight allowances with inventory sources and hold vendors accountable when loads do not deliver what was sold.
• Evaluate truckload manifests under time pressure and make buy recommendations grounded in margin and recovery data.
• Own the vendor conversations that follow the monthly source scorecard, including renegotiations and exits.
• Build and maintain relationships across retailers, liquidators, distributors, and 3PLs that earn BuyWander first look on quality loads.
• Develop new qualified sources to reduce dependence on any single supplier.
• Execute all purchases within the open-to-buy budget set by Merchandise Planning, with exceptions deliberate and documented.

What You'll Bring

Required

• 5 or more years in buying, procurement, sourcing, or vendor management with direct ownership of negotiated outcomes.
• A demonstrated track record of improving cost or terms, with specific numbers behind it.
• Sound commercial judgment under time pressure and incomplete information, including comfort deciding on a load from a manifest rather than an inspection.
• Relationship-building skills that open doors and earn priority access, paired with the willingness to hold a vendor accountable or walk away.
• Strong analytical fluency including the ability to work from margin and recovery data, not instinct alone, and comfort in spreadsheets and an internally built platform (Chuck).
• A bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, finance, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred

• Experience in liquidation, off-price, resale, salvage, or reverse logistics.
• An existing network among retailers, liquidators, or 3PLs.

What Defines a BuyWander Buyer

Our Buyer is a relationship builder with a commercial edge. They move fast, negotiate hard, and know when to walk away. They are energized by the complexity of a business where no two loads are the same and the margin lives in the details. They also bring:

• A track record of getting better terms, not just maintaining them.
• The ability to read a manifest and a vendor at the same time.
• Comfort operating with urgency when good inventory will not wait.
• A network they have built over time and know how to activate.
• A genuine interest in what BuyWander is building and a desire to be part of shaping it.

Physical Requirements

• This is primarily a desk-based analytical role. It includes periodic time on the store floor to observe processing and inventory flow, and occasional travel to our markets.
• Position requires seeing, hearing, use of hands and fingers, sitting, standing, walking, reaching, twisting, turning, kneeling, bending, squatting and stooping in the performance of daily activities.
• Must be able to communicate with others including talking, hearing, and listening and exchanging communication.
• Ability to work at a fast pace in a goal-driven environment.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Schedule & Compensation

• Schedule: Full-time, Monday through Friday
• Salary: $70,000 to $100,000 DOE
• Paid Vacation, Sick & Holidays
• Health, Dental & Vision
• 401(k)

BuyWander is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We make employment decisions based on qualifications, skills, merit, and business needs. We believe a range of skills, perspectives, and experiences strengthens our team and supports better outcomes for our employees and customers.