Procurement Operations Specialist (PACE Buyer)- 211689

Job Title: PACE Buyer — Buyers Desk

Client Location: New York, NY

Starting: 08/17/2026

Pay Comments: W2, Benefits and 401k matching

Minimum Pay (per hour): 28.00

Maximum Pay (per hour): 33.00

Firm, non-negotiable: No

Hours: Full-time

Duration: 1 year assignment

Job Description

Note: This role requires you onsite 3 days a week.

About the Role

The Buyers Desk is a centralized procurement execution function within the company's central procurement program. We handle purchase requests end-to-end — from intake through purchase order creation, vendor coordination, and invoice readiness — so business teams can move quickly without navigating procurement systems.

As a PACE Buyer, you own the execution of purchases across the full Procure-to-Pay lifecycle. While Coupa is the system of record, your role goes beyond PO creation — you work directly with vendors, FP&A, Accounts Payable, Sourcing, and business stakeholders to ensure each purchase is correctly structured, compliant, and set up for smooth invoicing and payment.

You are responsible for data accuracy, compliance, and resolving issues across systems and stakeholders, ensuring that purchases don’t stall due to missing information, incorrect setup, or process gaps.

This role sits at the intersection of systems, stakeholders, and vendors — ensuring procurement execution works in practice, not just in tooling.

What You'll Do

Purchase Execution (Coupa + Vendor Coordination)

• Review incoming purchase requests, triage by priority and complexity, and create accurate Coupa requisitions on behalf of requesters
• Map requests to the correct commodity code to ensure proper GL alignment and prevent downstream finance issues
• Validate cost center and project code assignment before submission to avoid approval delays
• Determine service start and end dates from contracts/SOWs and apply correct prepaid treatment where applicable
• Manage PO amendments, renewals, monthly netting activities, and closures across your portfolio

FP&A Coordination

• Confirm budget availability and project code assignments with FP&A before submitting requisitions
• Partner on month-end accrual reviews — validating prepaid flags, service periods, and PO structure against expected invoices
• Identify and resolve coding issues (cost center, GL, project) before they create downstream rework

Vendor Interactions & Invoice Enablement

• Coordinate directly with vendors on PO setup, payment terms, and invoicing requirements to ensure invoices match and process smoothly
• Support vendor onboarding through the Vendor Assessment Process (VAP) and confirm completion before raising purchase requisition
• Follow up on missing goods receipts, which are required for invoice payment

Requester Support

• Act as the primary point of contact for business requesters from intake through PO issuance
• Proactively follow up on missing information or incomplete requests to meet SLAs
• Provide a seamless experience so requesters don’t need to understand procurement systems to complete a purchase

Compliance

• Assess each request for compliance requirements, including after-the-fact (ATF) purchases, emergency exceptions, and blanket PO scenarios
• Confirm vendor assessment workflow completion at required thresholds
• Apply regional requirements (e.g., tax treatment, entity-specific rules, restricted currencies)
• Escalate repeat non-compliant behaviors and exceptions with clear documentation
• Coordinate with Sourcing where required and support PO setup post-contract execution

What We're Looking For

• 2+ years in procurement operations or procure-to-pay execution, hands-on PO creation and queue management
• Working knowledge of how GL accounts, cost centers, project codes, and payment terms connect
• Experience with Coupa (preferred) or a comparable P2P platform
• Ability to manage a queue of requests at different stages while meeting response SLAs
• Strong cross-functional communication skills across Finance, AP, Legal, and business stakeholders
• High attention to detail across data inputs (commodity codes, entity, currency, coding) before submission
• Experience in a global or multi-entity environment where regional requirements impact PO structure

Nice to Have

• Direct Coupa experience, including PO creation, invoice exception handling, and supplier portal support
• Experience with procurement intake or vendor assessment tools
• Background working with FP&A on accruals, prepaid treatment, or month-end close
• Procurement experience in media, tech, or entertainment (e.g., marketing, content, talent spend)
• Experience in a shared services or centralized procurement model