How To Become A Senior Sourcing Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior sourcing specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A senior sourcing specialist is responsible for planning and purchasing material, organized by specific commodities, and supporting new product launches. They also manage commodities assigned to them for quality, delivery, and cost to meet the department and company's goals and objectives. They also develop partnerships with key suppliers that support the overall operational excellence goals.

Senior sourcing specialists build relationships with suppliers to facilitate the sourcing process and negotiate deals and contracts with suppliers to ensure budgetary compliance. Moreover, they also draft contracts that will be reviewed by both the company and suppliers. Lastly, they must understand the company's commodities and have an in-depth knowledge of the industry they are working in. Essential skills include having sourcing experience, a deep understanding of the commodity, and computer skills. As this is a senior post, a master's degree in an industry-related field is required along with at least five years of experience, although more is preferred.

The average hourly salary for the position is $36.37, which amounts to $75,654 annually. The senior post comes with a lot of responsibilities to fulfil, but provides necessary compensation as well.

ScoreSenior Sourcing SpecialistUS Average

Salary

6.2

Avg. Salary $79,213

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate -6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 7.86%

Black or African American 9.11%

Hispanic or Latino 12.48%

Unknown 4.41%

White 65.37%

Gender

female 48.25%

male 51.75%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.9

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.1

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a senior sourcing specialist

Explore senior sourcing specialist education requirements

Most common senior sourcing specialist degrees

Bachelor's

71.4 %

Master's

15.0 %

Associate

10.2 %

Start to develop specific senior sourcing specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Linkedin	11.09%
HR	9.57%
Applicant Tracking Systems	9.03%
Strategic Sourcing	6.76%
CRM	4.92%

Complete relevant senior sourcing specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior sourcing specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior sourcing specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior sourcing specialist resumes.

Research senior sourcing specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage PPV activity and respond with corrective action when need.
Lead an RFP which include 18 suppliers and develop a model to qualify the best.
Manage and track candidates according to OFCCP guidelines for internal/external candidates which result in compliance with the program.
Develop cross functional sourcing teams to accomplish vendor selection for increase competitiveness through the RFP, RFI and RFQ processes.

Get senior sourcing specialist experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a senior sourcing specialist. The most common roles before becoming a senior sourcing specialist include recruiter, purchasing manager team lead and senior buyer.

Prepare your senior sourcing specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior sourcing specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior sourcing specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Sourcing Specialist Resume templates

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Apply for senior sourcing specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior sourcing specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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