Office Coordinator

Office Coordinator (Orders, Purchasing & AR) — Firefighter-Owned Company (Lexington, KY)

About Us

The Public Safety Store is a firefighter-owned, family-operated distributor of public safety uniforms and equipment. Since 2004, we've shipped hundreds of thousands of orders to police, fire, EMS, and military customers across the country and around the world. Our Lexington headquarters includes a retail showroom and an in-house embroidery, heat press, and sewing operation. We're a small team, and we're growing!

About This Role

We're looking for a sharp, friendly person to own a key seat in our day-to-day operations — the person who keeps orders moving cleanly, inventory healthy, and our office and AR running on a daily rhythm. The work itself isn't complicated. The speed, warmth, and quality of how you do it absolutely is.

We need someone who:

• Genuinely likes people. This is the one thing we can't teach. Our showroom gets walk-ins. Our vendors call. Our customers are first responders who deserve real attention. You'll listen, make decisions on the spot, negotiate when it matters, and build the kind of relationships that bring people back. This is not a headphones-on-all-day role.
• Wants to get better. You don't wait to be told to improve a process. You see something wasting time and you fix it. You read the screen instead of asking what it says. You think about why we do things the way we do, and you suggest better.
• Uses AI in their work. ChatGPT or Claude shouldn't be new to you. We expect you to lean on these tools daily — drafting emails, cleaning vendor data, summarizing messy threads, removing repetitive busywork. If you can build a small workflow or AI-powered spreadsheet that saves the team 30 minutes a day, you'll be celebrated. If you're not there yet but you're curious and quick, we'll grow you.This is a full-time, in-person role at our Lexington office.

What You'll Do

• Order Operations
• Import and gatekeep orders from our shopping carts and our HQ uniform allotment platform (qUniform)
• Manually enter orders that come in by phone or email
• Review every order for accuracy: product, payment, customer info, fraud signals
• Authorize and process returns and exchanges

Purchasing

• Place purchase orders with our vendors to keep inventory healthy
• Use sales history to make smart reorder calls — not just "the shelf is low" but "we sold 20 of these last month, let's bring in 25"
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, and substitutions when it matters
• Pitch in on competitive bid paperwork alongside our bid lead when needed

Office & Accounts Receivable

• Process incoming AR daily and log payments to accounts
• Prepare and post daily bank deposits
• Light bookkeeping prep for our outside CPA
• General office administration

People

• Build working relationships with our vendors — keep them honest on price and delivery
• Help walk-in showroom customers when our customer service and consultant teams are tied up
• Coordinate daily with our internal team — production, embroidery, sewing, warehouse — to keep work flowing
• Handle customer questions around billing and AR

Systems You'll Learn

You don't need to know any of these on day one — we'll train you. You do need to be the kind of person who picks up software quickly and isn't intimidated by switching between tools.

What We Need From You

Required:

• Comfortable on the phone and face-to-face — clear, warm, decisive. This is the one trait we cannot teach.
• A track record of improving something at a past job — not just "doing the job"
• Strong attention to detail; we will test you on this
• Comfortable with Microsoft Excel; (margin, markup, discount %)
• Familiar with AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, or similar) and willing to use them daily — be ready to give specific examples
• High school diploma; associate's or higher preferred

Preferred:

• 1+ year in order processing, purchasing, customer service, or retail/showroom sales
• Experience with any ERP, order management, or accounting system
• Background or interest in the fire / police / EMS world
• Vendor negotiation experience
• Light bookkeeping or AR experience

Compensation

• $38,000 – $50,000+ / year
• Performance-based raises at 90 days and 6 months
• 40 hours paid vacation after 6 months of employment
• Flexible scheduling for family events and appointments — life happens
• Family-oriented team environment

A note from the owner:

"I need someone who understands our mission and can think on their own. I can't give you a script for every decision — small business doesn't work that way. If you need constant confirmation that you're doing the right thing, this isn't a fit. If you can take ownership, work as part of a team, and figure things out, we want to meet you."

— Sean Lawson, President, The Public Safety Store, LLC

Benefits:

• Employee assistance program
• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Tuition reimbursement

Work Location: In person