Strategic & Operational Buyer

Position: Strategic & Operational Buyer
I am recruiting on behalf of my client for a Strategic & Operational Buyer to join a well-established engineering and manufacturing organisation.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced procurement professional who can balance both strategic sourcing and day-to-day purchasing activities while ensuring continuity of supply, strong supplier performance, and long-term commercial value across the business.

The Strategic & Operational Buyer will play a key role in developing sourcing strategies, managing supplier relationships, and ensuring materials and components are available to support production requirements. The successful Strategic & Operational Buyer will work closely with engineering, production, quality, and logistics teams to maintain efficient procurement processes while delivering measurable cost savings and operational improvements.

This Strategic & Operational Buyer position would suit someone with strong commercial awareness, negotiation skills, and a background in manufacturing or engineering environments who is comfortable managing both strategic procurement initiatives and operational purchasing responsibilities.

In this Strategic & Operational Buyer role you will be responsible for:

• Developing and implementing sourcing strategies for key procurement categories to optimise cost, quality, and delivery

• Conducting supplier benchmarking, market analysis, and category spend reviews

• Leading value engineering and continuous improvement initiatives with suppliers and internal stakeholders

• Creating, issuing, and managing purchase orders in line with approved requisitions

• Tracking order status daily and resolving delivery delays, discrepancies, and invoice queries

• Coordinating closely with engineering, production, quality, and logistics teams to ensure material availability

• Building and maintaining strong supplier relationships across strategic and operational suppliers

• Conducting supplier performance reviews and implementing improvement plans where required

• Driving supplier development activities including quality improvements and lead-time reductions

• Identifying supply chain risks and developing mitigation strategies to ensure continuity of supply

• Supporting supplier approvals, audits, and corrective actions alongside quality teams

• Delivering cost savings through negotiation, tendering, and commercial improvements

• Monitoring stock levels and supporting effective inventory management and replenishment planning

• Supporting contract drafting, negotiation, and long-term supplier agreements

• Maintaining accurate procurement records and preparing reports on spend, savings, and supplier performance

To be successful as a Strategic & Operational Buyer, my client is looking for someone with the following skills and experience:

• Strong negotiation skills and commercial awareness

• Excellent organisational, communication, and stakeholder management abilities

• Experience working within both strategic and operational procurement functions

• Ability to read and interpret technical drawings

• Strong analytical skills with a high level of attention to detail

• Proficiency with ERP systems and Microsoft Office

• Experience managing supplier relationships and negotiating agreements

• Background within manufacturing, engineering, or technical environments preferred

This Strategic & Operational Buyer role offers the opportunity to become a key part of the procurement function within a fast-paced manufacturing environment, where the Strategic & Operational Buyer will have real influence over supplier performance, supply chain stability, and cost optimisation across the organisation.
If you are an experienced Strategic & Operational Buyer looking to take the next step in your procurement career, I would be very interested in speaking with you.
Ian Broadhurst
(phone number removed)
(url removed)