Career Explorer Management
Grows with AI
Purchasing managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of buyers, purchasing officers, and related workers involved in purchasing materials, products, and services. Includes wholesale or retail trade merchandising managers and procurement managers.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 35% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +4.0% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on creative vision and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $148,080
- Job growth to 2035
- +4.0%
- Openings a year
- 6,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 88,300
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Implement procedures or processes
- Prepare documentation for contracts, applications, or permits
- Develop technical specifications for products or operations
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets
- Interview people to obtain information
- Analyze data to improve operations
What the work looks like
- Develop and implement purchasing and contract management instructions, policies, and procedures.
- Locate vendors of materials, equipment or supplies, and interview them to determine product availability and terms of sales.
- Prepare bid awards requiring board approval.
- Direct and coordinate activities of personnel engaged in buying, selling, and distributing materials, equipment, machinery, and supplies.
- Review purchase order claims and contracts for conformance to company policy.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Fundraising managersGrows with AI, Index 48, +5.4%
- Sales managersGrows with AI, Index 50, +4.5%
- FundraisersGrows with AI, Index 53, +5.5%
- Medical and health services managersGrows with AI, Index 76, +24.2%
Also known as: Materials Manager, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Director, Purchasing Manager, Category Purchasing Manager, Commodity Manager, Materials Director, Procurement Director.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.