Purchasing Specialist

Job description

Job Title: Purchasing Specialist Location: Venice, CA OVERVIEW At Coco, we're dedicated to perfecting the last-mile delivery experience. We strongly believe the delivery service industry in its current state is massively under-serving merchants, and we are committed to creating a frictionless, reliable, consistent, and sustainable delivery experience for merchants and their customers in cities everywhere. Our fleet of last-mile delivery robots operates seven days a week across multiple cities worldwide — and keeping those robots on the street takes a steady, well-managed flow of parts. From batteries and motors to lids, wheels, sensors, and fasteners, every repair depends on having the right component in the right place at the right time. ROLE SUMMARY As a Purchasing Specialist, you'll own the day-to-day procurement of the components, spare parts, and consumables that keep Coco's robot fleet running. You'll manage purchase orders from request to receipt, build productive relationships with domestic and international suppliers, and partner closely with our repair technicians, fleet quality, and engineering teams to make sure parts availability never becomes the reason a robot sits idle. You'll also help us buy smarter — tracking pricing and lead times, consolidating orders, qualifying alternate suppliers, and flagging opportunities to reduce cost without sacrificing quality or uptime. This is a hands-on role for someone who loves turning chaos into process. You'll be the go-to person for "do we have it, when will it arrive, and what did it cost?" You'll work alongside the team in person, Monday through Friday, at our Venice, CA office — close to the repair floor, the parts, and the technicians and engineers who need them. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Create, issue, and track purchase orders for maintenance and repair components across our robot fleet - Manage open order books with suppliers: confirm pricing and lead times, expedite critical shortages, and resolve discrepancies in quantity, quality, or invoicing - Monitor spare parts inventory levels across our markets and trigger replenishment before shortages impact repair throughput - Source and qualify new and alternate suppliers for components, working with engineering to validate fit, form, and function - Negotiate pricing, payment terms, and order quantities with vendors to reduce per-unit costs and improve cash efficiency - Coordinate inbound logistics for domestic and international shipments, including freight, customs documentation, and receiving - Maintain clean, accurate procurement records — part numbers, approved suppliers, price history, and lead times — so the data tells the story - Partner with repair technicians, fleet quality, and hardware engineering to forecast demand from failure trends and upcoming fleet changes WHAT YOU'LL NEED - 2–4 years of experience in purchasing, procurement, supply chain, or inventory management — ideally for hardware, electronics, automotive, or another physical product - Working knowledge of the purchase order lifecycle: requisition, PO issuance, order confirmation, receiving, and invoice reconciliation - Strong organizational skills and attention to detail — you keep many orders moving at once without dropping any - Comfort with spreadsheets and data: you can build a tracker, analyze price history, and spot a trend in lead times - Clear, proactive communication with both internal teams and external vendors - A bias toward action and ownership — when a part is at risk, you chase it down NICE TO HAVE - Experience purchasing electromechanical components (PCBAs, batteries, motors, sensors, cables, injection-molded plastics) - Experience working with overseas suppliers and contract manufacturers, including international freight and customs - Familiarity with ERP, MRP, or inventory management systems - Exposure to MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) purchasing or fleet-based operations - Experience supporting hardware engineering teams through product changes (ECOs, component transitions, end-of-life parts) - Chinese language fluency WHY COCO - Work on a product you can literally see rolling down the sidewalk — from our office in Venice, CA, five days a week alongside the team - High-energy, collaborative startup environment with real ownership from day one - Competitive salary and startup equity - Health, dental, and vision benefits - The chance to build procurement processes from the ground up as we scale to new cities Compensation: $75,000–$95,000 annually, depending on experience, plus equity. Coco is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.