Senior-Level

Senior Timber Buyer

At a sawmill, paper mill, forest-products company, or specialty timber-procurement operation, you handle senior timber-buying work โ€” leading major timber-supply contracts, managing senior supplier relationships, supporting strategic timber-supply decisions, and the senior timber-buying work substantial forest-products operations require.

Career Level
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
VP
Executive
Work Personality
C
R
E
I
S
A
Conventionalorganizing, detail-oriented
Realistichands-on, practical
Based on Holland Code framework
Job markets for Senior Timber Buyers
Employment concentration ยท ~1 areas
Based on employment in related occupations
Mapped SOC categories:
BLS Occupational Employment Statistics
What it's like

What it's like to be a Senior Timber Buyer

Senior timber-buyer work runs across the strategic-supply layer of forest-products operations โ€” leading major timber-supply contracts (multi-year arrangements with timber-management firms, large landowners, or government timber-sale programs), managing senior supplier relationships across the forestry community, supporting strategic decisions about mill-feedstock supply across species, grades, and regions, and mentoring junior timber buyers. The senior buyer works timber-pricing references at depth, the operation's procurement framework, and the cross-functional partnerships with mill operations, forestry consultants, and timber-industry-relationships. Volume-secured outcomes, supply-strategy results, and senior-relationship outcomes drive the operating measures.

What distinguishes senior timber-buying is the strategic-supply dimension combined with industry-relationship work โ€” senior buyers shape feedstock strategy across years and decades, with significant timber-procurement decisions affecting mill economics over substantial periods. Variance is wide: at integrated forest-products companies (Weyerhaeuser, Georgia-Pacific, Domtar, Resolute) the role works within structured procurement organizations; at smaller mills or specialty operations it tilts more entrepreneurial with broader senior responsibility.

This role fits people who are deeply forestry-fluent, commercially sophisticated, and comfortable with the rural-and-industry-relationship work senior timber procurement involves. SAF senior credentials, forest-products industry experience, and ongoing CE anchor seniority. The trade-off is the substantial rural field-time senior timber buying involves and the timber-market volatility senior procurement decisions navigate across business cycles.

IndependenceModerate
SupportModerate
Working ConditionsModerate
RelationshipsLower
RecognitionLower
AchievementLower
O*NET Work Values survey
โœฆ Editorial โ€” written by Truest from industry research and career patterns
Career Paths

Where this role sits in the broader career landscape โ€” and where it can take you.

$239K$179K$119K$60K$0KLower paying387 metro areas, sorted by salary level
All experience levels1
This level's estimated range
INDUSTRIES PAYING ABOVE AVERAGE
1 BLS OEWS May 2024 covers all Senior Timber Buyers (SOC 13-1023.00, 45-4023.00), not just this title ยท BEA RPP 2023
* Top salaries exceed this figure. BLS caps reported wages at ~$240K to protect individual privacy in high-earning roles.
Also appears in: Agriculture
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โœฆ Editorial โ€” career progression and interview guidance based on industry patterns
The Broader Landscape

Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape โ€” helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.

$35Kโ€“$63K
Salary Range
10th โ€“ 90th percentile
3K
U.S. Employment
-0.7%
10yr Growth
600
Annual Openings

How this category is changing

$74K$71K$68K$65K$62K201920202021202220232024$62K$74K
BLS OEWS May 2024 ยท BLS Employment Projections 2024โ€“2034

Skills & Requirements

NegotiationReading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeakingComplex Problem SolvingWritingCritical ThinkingJudgment and Decision MakingActive LearningPersuasion
O*NET OnLine ยท Bureau of Labor Statistics
13-1023.0045-4023.00

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Federal data: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (May 2024) ยท BLS Employment Projections ยท O*NET OnLine
Truest editorial: Fit check, role profile, things that vary, advancement analysis, lateral moves, interview questions.