Buyer, Business

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a commercially astute Buyer to join a leading supplier of own-label chilled food products.

Reporting to the Head of Commercial and with 2 direct reports, the Buyer is a new position in their structure, responsible for the development of a defined procurement strategy and supplier management system, enabling the business to continue to grow it's offering to retail, wholesale, food service and industrial customers.

• Strategy Development:
  Create and implement a formal procurement strategy, formal SLAs and KPIs are currently not in place.
• Supplier Management:
  Establish formal contracts and build strong supplier partnerships through structured reviews and performance tracking tools to measure quality and OTIF (On-Time In-Full) delivery.
• Collaborative Partnership:
  Manage supplier relationships in a collaborative, professional manner, focusing on long-term improvement plans.
• Cost & Commodity Management:
  Lead cost management activity, analysing spend. Closely track commodity pricing and market data to challenge suppliers effectively and deliver sustainable savings.
• Proactive Sourcing:
  Identifying new product and supplier opportunities to diversify the supply base in response to customer and category growth opportunities.
• Project
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Work closely with Commercial, Operations, and Technical teams to align procurement with business needs
• Compliance:
  Ensure compliance with food safety, sustainability and ethical sourcing standards.

• Proven Procurement Expertise:
  Substantial experience buying food products / food ingredients (essential)
• Strategic Mindset:
  The ability to build a framework for supplier management where none currently exists.
• Negotiation
  
  Skills:
  
  A track record of negotiating contracts that protect quality, value, and continuity of supply.
• Analytical Rigor: A data-driven approach with the ability to interpret commodity trends and category insights.
• Mobility: A willingness to travel within the UK and Europe to visit partners and suppliers.

Application via CV