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SENIOR BUYER
Oxfordshire | Permanent, Full-Time
THE OPPORTUNITY
This is a business at a genuine inflection point. Backed by significant new investment from a US aerospace and defence private equity firm, they're pushing hard into A&D alongside an already strong project base spanning motorsport, medical and energy. The order book is growing, the defence pipeline is building fast, and the procurement function needs to grow with it.
This isn't a role for someone who wants to sit behind a screen processing orders. They need a Senior Buyer who will take real ownership, of suppliers, of performance, of outcomes. Someone who can walk into a supplier conversation, challenge a late delivery without apology, and drive the kind of consistent weekly cadence that stops small problems becoming big ones.
If that sounds like how you work, read on.
THE ROLE
You'll be the operational lead in the purchasing function, taking end-to-end ownership of a mixed portfolio of commodities and suppliers across composites, metallics and subcontract services. The team has solid transactional foundations, what's needed now is someone to bring sharper supplier-facing discipline and the kind of proactive thinking that gets ahead of issues before they land on someone else's desk.
Day-to-day you'll be:
- Leading purchasing activity across your assigned supplier and commodity portfolio from start to finish
- Managing supplier performance across quality, cost, delivery and responsiveness, including the difficult conversations when things slip
- Running open order book reviews and maintaining a regular supplier cadence so nothing drifts
- Executing MRP activity and keeping material availability aligned to production and customer commitments
- Negotiating pricing and commercial terms rather than accepting historic positions at face value
- Supporting NPI and engineering teams with procurement requirements as new products come through
- Keeping SAP data accurate, pricing, lead times, supplier information, purchasing parameters
- Feeding lessons learnt back into the team and contributing to continuous improvement across the function
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WHAT YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH
- SAP (ERP/MRP environment)
- Mixed commodity portfolio, composites and metallics, with composites increasingly prominent as defence work grows
- Cross-functional stakeholders across Planning, Production, Engineering, Quality and Finance
- A supply base that needs active management, not passive monitoring
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
Experience and background:
- Solid purchasing or procurement experience in a manufacturing or engineering environment
- A track record of owning supplier relationships end to end, not just raising POs but genuinely managing performance
- Experience in aerospace, defence or another regulated manufacturing sector is a strong advantage and increasingly important given where this business is heading
- Familiarity with MRP/ERP systems, SAP experience is desirable
- Exposure to composites, metallics or subcontract services is useful but not essential
- CIPS qualification or progress towards it is welcome, though not a dealbreaker
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What matters more than any single credential is how you work. They want someone who:
- Takes ownership without being asked
- Spots issues early and acts before they escalate
- Challenges suppliers confidently and constructively
- Thinks logically, stays calm under pressure and doesn't lose the thread when things get busy
- Asks for help before problems grow, not after
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
In the first 30 days, you've got your head around the supplier base, the live portfolio and the internal stakeholders. You know where the pain points are.
By 90 days, you're running your own supplier set with growing independence, holding firmer conversations and following through without needing to be chased.
At 6 months, you're driving material flow, reducing avoidable escalations and demonstrating stronger negotiation discipline on repeat buys.
At 12 months, you own your portfolio end to end. Supplier KPIs are moving in the right direction and the team around you has genuinely improved, not just grown.
INTERESTED?
If this sounds like the kind of role you've been waiting for, we'd love to hear from you. Even if you're not actively looking but this has caught your attention, get in touch. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.
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