UC Santa Barbara · 21 hours ago
Purchasing Assistant
Santa Barbara, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
New Grad, Entry Level
$29.35/hr - $32.18/hrThe University of California, Santa Barbara is seeking a Purchasing Assistant to support the purchasing needs of the Chemical Engineering department. The role involves executing purchasing transactions, maintaining equipment inventory, and processing reimbursements while ensuring compliance with departmental and grant funding requirements.
Higher Education
Responsibilities
Responsible for executing all purchasing transactions for departmental and extramural accounts
Uses a computerized system, tracks purchase orders on a daily basis
Maintains and organizes files of purchase orders, reviews purchase orders for appropriate processing actions and ensuring expenditure auditability and appropriateness
This includes posting all purchase orders and processing invoices
Identifies inconsistencies in data and is responsible for resolving related fiscal problems which requires interaction with vendors, faculty, students and other UCSB administrative departments
Oversees the procurement of technical, scientific and general purpose equipment, supplies and restricted items and services
Evaluates equipment and fabrication criteria, initiates the fabrication process with equipment management and tracks fabrication completion in financial database
Advises PI's of sole source and bidding policies, ensures that supporting forms are included on equipment purchases for audit compliance
Recommends purchasing sources and provides vendor cost and shipping information
Obtains exchange rates of foreign purchases for Chemical Engineering faculty and researchers
Maintains close communication with vendors and UCSB buyers to track and expedite all orders
Handles all inquiries, researches, and resolves problems pertaining to purchases, invoices, shipments, etc
Responsible for checking packing slips against orders to ensure items have been received and accepted prior to submitting invoices for payment
Verifies invoices are correct and have been properly coded by Accounting
Regular review of liens of procurement in financial database ensuring liens are up to date and invoices are processed in a timely manner
Oversees recharge review for appropriateness to departmental and extramural funds, verifying user is authorized to charge to the fund, charges are allowable on the project being charged
Verify ambiguous charges with the faculty member
Send correction to the user facility within the time allowed to make changes in the funding or for unallowable charges
Responsible for preparing the recharges and associated backup for saving into departments electronic record keeping system, ensure audit compliance in maintaining these records
Responsible for posting all recharges into financial database system, in a timely manner to ensure account balances are accurate for these activities
Responsible for maintaining up to date records for Gas Inventory of cylinder rentals for department laboratories
Regularly coordinate with lab personnel and lab manager to obtain up to date list of cylinders in the lab
Maintain a detailed spreadsheet of cylinders, serial number, empty tanks to be returned
On an annual basis, has the responsibility for renewing annual vendor blankets for gases, as well as other department vendor blankets, issuing the blanket orders based on previous costs, and in time for the annual renewal of the VB's to align with FY
On an annual basis, is responsible for the completion of the physical inventory
Continually maintains and updates its equipment records
Upon receipt of inventory equipment, provide Equipment Management with the necessary equipment information
Responsible for ensuring that inventorial equipment is tracked
Works with Equipment management in the event of any property transfer
Maintain the electronic record keeping of the department equipment inventory using the campus based systems and forms
Work with central services for any disposal of surplus inventory property
As the department FlexCard holder, makes purchases online, where required by vendor
Prepares and submits backup receipts for the charges to the department FlexCard
Responsible for processing departmental reimbursements, and memberships
Other duties as assigned by the department Extramural Funds Manager and the department Management Services Officer, as deemed necessary
Qualification
Required
High school diploma or equivalent experience
Excellent interpersonal and organization skills
Able to prioritize workload
Able to exercise independent judgment
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to work independently under pressure of deadlines, while handling multiple interruptions
Perform detailed and accurate work while meeting critical deadlines
Preferred
Bachelor's Degree in any field
Possess creative problem solving skills, diplomacy, and an attitude supportive of students, staff and faculty
Customer service orientation
Knowledge of administrative procedures and processes
Proficient in Word, Excel, and Google Docs
Benefits
Full Benefits
Excellent retirement and health
Company
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Barbara is consistently recognized for excellence across broad fields of study.
Founded in 1891
5001-10000 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Dominique Mihaljevic
Co-Founder & President of Association of Multi-Ethnic Persons
Tama Takahashi
Co-founder
Recent News
2025-05-08
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