China Sourcing & Procurement Assistant | 1688 & Alibaba

We are hiring a full-time Sourcing & Procurement Assistant to join our growing procurement business.

We help businesses source a wide variety of products, equipment, furniture, packaging and other goods from China.

Our clients regularly send us photos, specifications, quantities or product lists, and our job is to find suitable suppliers, compare options and prepare the information needed to provide them with a quotation.

We are looking for someone who is smart, resourceful, organized and very comfortable with online research.

Experience with 1688 is highly preferred.

What You Will Do

• Receive new sourcing requests from our team
• Understand the requested product, specifications and quantity
• Search for products and suppliers, especially on 1688 and Alibaba
• Use image search when only a product photo is available
• Find and compare multiple potential suppliers
• Compare unit prices, MOQ, specifications, materials, customization options and lead times
• Contact suppliers and request additional information when necessary
• Collect quotations, photos, videos, catalogs and specifications
• Organize all sourcing information clearly in Google Sheets / Excel
• Follow up on pending supplier quotations
• Keep every sourcing request updated in our internal tracking system
• Prepare sourcing files for our quotation and pricing team
• Coordinate with our team in China when deeper sourcing, negotiation, samples or supplier verification is required

Who We Are Looking For

You should be:

• Very good at online research
• Comfortable working with numbers and spreadsheets
• Extremely organized and detail-oriented
• Able to manage multiple sourcing requests simultaneously
• Able to work independently without needing constant instructions
• Good at comparing products and identifying important differences
• Comfortable communicating with suppliers
• Fluent or highly proficient in written English
• Reliable and available for full-time work

Strong Advantage

We will prioritize applicants who have experience with:

• ----------
• Alibaba
• Chinese suppliers
• Product sourcing or procurement
• Supplier negotiation
• Import/export businesses
• E-commerce sourcing
• Google Sheets / Excel

You do NOT need to speak Chinese, but previous experience navigating Chinese sourcing platforms is a major advantage.

Important

This is not a simple Virtual Assistant or data-entry position.

We want someone who enjoys finding products, investigating suppliers, comparing offers and solving sourcing problems.

You may receive requests for completely different products from one day to another, so you must be comfortable researching products you have never seen before.

Salary & Growth

Starting salary: $500 USD/month

Working Hours

Required schedule: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM Philippine Time, Monday to Friday
(4:00 AM – 1:00 PM Cameroon Time)

This schedule is important because the position requires daily coordination with both our China-based sourcing team and our management team in Africa.

Please apply only if you are comfortable working this schedule consistently.

Full-time position.

There will be opportunities for increased responsibility, performance bonuses and salary growth for someone who performs well and becomes an important part of our procurement operations.

How to Apply

Please answer ALL of the following questions:

1. Have you used 1688 before? Tell us exactly what you used it for.

2. Have you sourced products from China before? Give us an example.

3. Which sourcing platforms have you used?

4. If we send you only a photo of a product and tell you we need 500 units, how would you find suitable suppliers?

5. What information would you compare before recommending one supplier over another?

6. Tell us about your experience with Excel or Google Sheets.

7. If available, please provide examples or screenshots of previous sourcing/procurement work.

8. Are you currently working for another company?

9. Are you available for a full-time position?

Candidates who pass the initial selection may be invited to complete a short sourcing test before final selection.