Purchasing Manager – Interior Design

Olson Kundig is a Seattle and New York City-based design practice founded on the ideas that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture and people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives. The firm’s work can be found across the globe, with projects as wide-ranging as huts to high rises, homes—often for art collectors—to academic, cultural and civic projects, museums and exhibition design, places of worship, creative production, urban design, and interior design.

Currently, we are seeking an interior design Purchasing Manager to join our team and who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work produced by Olson Kundig.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Conducts kick-off meetings with interior design team members to review project scope and strategize all logistics related to items being purchased.
• Supports design teams by developing and maintaining client furnishing budgets based on schematic plan layouts and the client profile. Provides updates to clients on the status of their projects and all purchased goods.
• Proactively updates firm leaders on purchasing department activities and progress against strategic and financial goals.
• Prepares purchase orders and collaborates with the designers to finalize and approve the same. Regularly tracks and coordinates all orders from acknowledgment to final delivery and install including manufacturing, shipping, receiving and storage.
• Assists the accounting team in the management of client budgets including the reconciliation of accounts at project closeouts and producing final project reports.
• Reviews plans, drawings, product specifications, RFPs, and RFQs to advise on products, custom detailing, and appropriate fabrication techniques.
• Coordinates with project teams to resolve issues related to product availability, product reselections, and changes.
• Implements and maintains the purchasing ecosystem through Studio Designer. Establishes initial processes and trains team members in system usage.
• Sources, develops and maintains key vendor relationships on behalf of the firm and maintains a master interiors vendor database.
• Assists in the review of custom furniture shop drawings to ensure best practices for the use case. Possesses knowledge of commonly used textiles and advises on fabric content, layout, special treatments, seaming, and/or any other requirements needed for proper manufacturing and limit of potential liability.
• Reviews initial client budget, schedule and contracts, and plans shipping, delivery and installation logistics, insurance requirements, and the overall project schedule.
• Drafts and updates all interiors Purchasing Service Agreements with the contracts and legal team.
• Produces internal and external financial reports, processes payment of purchased goods, tracks funds, reconciles account statements and performs basic record keeping.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Leads the interiors purchasing function with responsibility for department profitability and the application of best practices to ensure efficient and effective purchasing processes at the firm.
• Collaborates with interior design team members to purchase, deliver, and install furnishings for our clients. Coordinates with interior designers on all submittals as well as delivery and installation requirements. Trains design and technical team members on all aspects of the purchasing process.

Position Requirements

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Experience leading change to establish systems and communications that streamline the specification and purchasing process while minimizing errors.
• Ability to communicate and coordinate effectively with a wide variety of team members across design, accounting and legal teams.
• Experience managing a small team, including effectively hiring, onboarding and reviewing individuals for high performance.
• Proficient in interiors purchasing software (Studio Designer), QuickBooks and MS Office Suite. Emphasis on Excel and Outlook proficiency as essential skills.
• Established relationships with high end manufacturers, galleries, work rooms, receiving houses, freight, delivery, and installation companies all over the world.
• A minimum of 10 years directly related experience in interiors purchasing including all aspects of the FF&E purchasing process for residential, commercial, and hospitality projects.
• Demonstrated experience establishing, negotiating and managing budgets and schedules in collaboration with interior designers and vendors to ensure purchased goods are received and installed on time and on budget.

Nice to Have –

• Ability to review and advise on custom furniture design.

Personal Attributes –

• Strong analytical, conceptual, organizational and time management skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Highly organized and proficient multi-tasker.
• Creative problem solver with an ability to pivot quickly and effectively.

What can you expect from us?

• Check our culture page to learn about life at Olson Kundig.
• A creative work environment and colleagues who are collaborative, creative, and challenging.
• Opportunity to grow professionally.

In addition to a dynamic and creative culture, Olson Kundig provides a generous benefits package that includes 16 days of paid time off, paid holidays, health plan, 401(k) match, bonuses, profit-sharing plans for qualified positions, a monthly travel subsidy for public transportation, and more.

As a firm, we are committed to pay practices that are fair, competitive, and reflect internal pay equity. At the time of posting this job, the hiring range for this position in Seattle is between $90,000 and $105,000 annually. Final salary decisions are made based upon the extent and relatedness of the candidate’s education and experience and considering internal equity and external market factors.

COVID-19 considerations: Full COVID-19 vaccination required or an approved medical or religious exemption.

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship and must already possess long-term work authorization.