Littell Steel

Purchasing Manager – Structural Steel 

Littell Steel Company | New Brighton, PA | On-Site

About the Role

Littell Steel Company is seeking an experienced Purchasing Manager to lead procurement and material management for our structural steel fabrication operations.

This position is responsible for purchasing structural steel and other materials, managing supplier relationships, maintaining inventory accuracy, and ensuring material is available when our projects and production teams need it.

We are looking for someone who understands steel, purchasing, and material management and can combine strong industry knowledge with modern purchasing and inventory systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Purchase structural steel plate, beams, angles, channels, bars, tubing, and other materials from steel mills, service centers, and warehouses.
• Review project requirements, material takeoffs, estimates, and bills of material to determine purchasing needs.
• Determine the best sourcing strategy based on price, availability, lead time, specifications, and mill quantities.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with mills, service centers, industrial suppliers, and specialty vendors.
• Monitor steel pricing, availability, lead times, and market conditions.
• Manage structural steel inventory and identify opportunities to use existing stock before purchasing new material.
• Maintain accurate purchasing and inventory information within Tekla PowerFab/FabSuite.
• Create and manage purchase orders and resolve material, pricing, receiving, and invoice discrepancies.
• Coordinate closely with Project Management, Estimating, Quality, Production, Receiving, and Accounting.
• Ensure purchased material meets applicable specifications, testing, certification, and traceability requirements.
• Purchase shop supplies, maintenance materials, tooling, consumables, and outside services as needed.
• Help improve and modernize purchasing, inventory, and supplier-management processes.

Qualifications

• Experience in purchasing, procurement, materials management, steel distribution, manufacturing, or fabrication.
• Strong knowledge of structural steel products, grades, dimensions, and sourcing.
• Experience working with steel mills, service centers, warehouses, or industrial suppliers.
• Ability to read and interpret drawings, material takeoffs, bills of material, and technical specifications.
• Strong negotiation, supplier-management, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with ERP, purchasing, inventory, or manufacturing software.

Preferred:

• Structural steel or heavy fabrication experience.
• Experience purchasing plate and structural shapes.
• Familiarity with ASTM A709, A572, A992, weathering steel, fracture-critical material, CVN testing, MTRs, and material traceability.
• Experience with Tekla PowerFab/FabSuite.
• Experience in bridge, infrastructure, or AISC-certified fabrication.

About Littell Steel

Littell Steel is a family-owned structural steel fabricator in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. For approximately 80 years, we have fabricated complex structural steel for bridges, buildings, infrastructure, and other demanding applications.

We are investing in the next generation of Littell Steel — strengthening our team, modernizing our systems, and building on the craftsmanship and reputation that have sustained the company for decades.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of an important function within a financially strong, established manufacturing company and help shape how purchasing and material management operate for the future.

Littell Steel is an AISC-certified structural steel fabricator serving the bridge and commercial
construction industries. For more than 80 years, we have built a reputation for quality
craftsmanship, complex fabrication, and delivering critical infrastructure projects throughout the
region.