Purchasing Specialist

North Shore Steel is a trusted, industry-leading metals service center with more than 65 years of experience supporting customers across the Gulf Coast and nationwide. With locations in Houston and Beaumont, we provide a full range of structural steel products and value-added processing services, including cutting, machining, forming, rolling, and fabrication, helping customers across construction, energy, industrial, and OEM sectors move faster and build with confidence. Our legacy is rooted in reliability, craftsmanship, and long-term relationships.

At North Shore Steel, our Core Values guide how we work and lead: Be Safe Always, Provide Great Service, Do the Right Thing, Take the Initiative, and Maximize Your Potential. If these values resonate with you and you're looking for a place where you can contribute, grow, and be part of a team that supports one another, we invite you to join our team.

Purchasing Specialist

North Shore Steel is seeking a driven and commercially minded Purchasing Specialist to join our team. This role plays an important part in ensuring our operations have the right materials, at the right time, at the right cost, while helping the business navigate a dynamic steel and supply market.

The Purchasing Specialist will support the sourcing and procurement of both direct steel materials and indirect MRO supplies, working closely with suppliers and internal operations to balance material availability, inventory investment, cost, and service.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys combining market intelligence, supplier relationships, negotiation, analytics, and operational decision-making. The successful candidate will develop a strong understanding of steel commodities, including plate, sheet, hot rolled coil (HRC), and structural products, and use that knowledge to support purchasing decisions that directly impact operational performance and company profitability.

What You'll Do

• Manage purchasing activities for assigned steel commodities and MRO categories, from identifying requirements and sourcing suppliers through negotiation and purchase execution.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with steel mills, service centers, distributors, and MRO suppliers to support competitive pricing, quality, availability, and service.
• Monitor steel market conditions, including plate, sheet, HRC, scrap, freight, mill lead times, and import activity, and translate market movement into actionable purchasing insights.
• Partner with sales, production, maintenance, warehouse, logistics, and operations teams to anticipate material requirements and maintain appropriate inventory levels.
• Analyze purchasing history, inventory position, supplier performance, business demand, and market trends to support sourcing and inventory decisions.
• Identify opportunities to reduce cost, improve supplier terms, optimize inventory, and strengthen procurement processes.
• Support supplier negotiations involving pricing, rebates, freight, payment terms, lead times, availability, and service expectations.
• Evaluate supplier performance and help resolve delivery delays, shortages, quality concerns, invoice discrepancies, and other supply-related issues.
• Maintain accurate purchasing, pricing, supplier, contract, and inventory information within company ERP systems.
• Collaborate with Quality, Finance, Receiving, Logistics, Production, and other Purchasing team members to ensure procurement activities support broader company objectives.
• Support inventory reconciliation and optimization initiatives while maintaining appropriate material availability for the business.
• Ensure purchasing activities and documentation comply with company policies and applicable industry and regulatory requirements.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who is analytical, curious, organized, and commercially aware. You should be comfortable working with data while also building relationships and communicating across multiple areas of the business.

Qualifications

• 0-3 years of experience in purchasing, procurement, inventory management, supply chain, steel distribution, manufacturing, or a related field.
• Associate's or bachelor's degree preferred.
• Exposure to steel, metals, manufacturing, industrial distribution, or commodity purchasing is strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to evaluate pricing, inventory, market information, and supplier performance.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to develop effective supplier and internal business relationships.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced operational environment.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of projects and follow initiatives through completion.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel; experience working within an ERP or purchasing system is preferred.
• Interest in developing deeper knowledge of steel commodities, sourcing strategy, supplier negotiations, and inventory management.

Why This Role Matters

Purchasing at North Shore Steel goes beyond issuing purchase orders. The team helps determine what we buy, when we buy it, who we buy it from, and how those decisions affect inventory, operations, customer service, and profitability.

For someone looking to build a career in strategic purchasing within the steel industry, this position provides meaningful exposure to commodity markets, supplier negotiations, inventory strategy, operational decision-making, and the commercial side of the business.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to sit for extended periods while working at a computer and performing job duties.
• Ability to perform repetitive hand and arm movements for typing, phone use, and operating standard office equipment.
• Ability to independently move through office and warehouse environments, including walking on concrete floors and around operational areas.
• Ability to stand and walk between work areas, meeting spaces, and production environments as required.
• Ability to lift and carry office materials up to 25 lbs.
• Ability to maintain sufficient visual and auditory acuity to read screens, review documents, observe surroundings, and respond to verbal instructions and safety alerts.

Pre-Employment Requirements:

All candidates who receive a conditional offer of employment must complete the company's pre-employment screening process. This includes:

• Criminal background check: reviewed in accordance with job duties, the nature and gravity of any convictions, and the time elapsed since the offense or sentence completion.
• Pre-hire drug screening: candidates must pass a drug screen to be eligible for hire.

Participation in each step of the pre-employment process is required. Candidates who choose not to participate or who do not meet the screening criteria will not be eligible for employment.

Benefits:

At North Shore Steel, we invest in the well-being of our team. Full-time employees receive a robust benefits package that includes multiple Major Medical plan options, Dental, Vision, Voluntary Life, Short-Term Disability, Flexible Spending Accounts, and HSA options for qualifying plans.

We also provide Long-Term Disability, Basic Life, and AD&D coverage at no cost to you. You'll also enjoy a generous holiday schedule, a competitive PTO program, and a Safe Harbor 401(k) with company contributions to support your long-term financial goals.

We are an equal opportunity employer and maintain a safe, secure, and drug-free workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.