Senior Buyer - Team Leader

We are excited to announce a fantastic opportunity for a Senior Buyer - Team Leader in a permanent position located in Severn Beach, Bristol. As a vital member of the Supply Chain function, you will take charge of the entire procurement cycle. In this role, your expertise in supplier analysis, management, and performance metrics will drive our success

You will also lead and develop a team of buyers, ensuring they excel in both process adherence and performance outcomes, while maintaining our ERP systems to exceptional standards. We are seeking a highly skilled buyer with a proven track record in process improvement, effective supplier management, and strict compliance practices.

Key Responsibilities:

• With the Head of Supply Chain, manage approved suppliers and implement the best commercial solutions for current and future parts and assemblies.
• Directly manage a team of Buyers, setting objectives and managing capacity and performance.
• Working closely with the planning team to meet the production schedule, ensuring material is ordered on time, enabling shortage free kits at the point of build launch meeting the production schedule.
• Understand changes in business needs as well as communicating material availability issues that may impact build schedules and develop solutions that mitigate any potential impact to our ability to deliver to our customers in line with our commitments.
• Support the development of robust supplier management through ensuring Supplier Agreements, Service Level Agreements, Supplier Scorecards and regular Supplier visits and Business Reviews are in place.
• Work with Engineering, Planning and Quality to ensure robust supplier management and support.
• Support the business Standard Diary meetings, such as the Daily Start of Shift meetings, ensuring actions are delegated effectively within the team and closed in a timely manner.
• Support the production of and driving of departmental KPI’s.
• Place orders with the approved suppliers, using the following criteria:
  • Mirror MRP demand while balancing cost break points with inventory targets.
  • Obtain the best lead time, quality and price.
  • Use designated OIPT key suppliers in line with the Approved Vendor List.
• Ensure Open order reports are actioned each week and the MRP system is updated.
• Make proposals for the development of a commodity strategy and improvement opportunities, improving quality, cost, delivery and reducing risk in the supply chain.
• Other tasks expected to be conducted include, but are not restricted to, solving Invoice queries, managing Return to Vendor stock, FAI’s, Cost updates, lead time reviews, Service stocks and spot purchases.

Education/Qualifications:

• Purchasing qualification by experience or education (CIPS level 4).
• Qualification in a technical discipline (i.e. HNC/HND or Degree)

Professional Skills/Abilities: 

• Able to build effective relationships.
• Strong communications skills. Strong Excel and data analysis skills.
• MRP fluent, ideally E1 (JD Edwards), SAP or Oracle.
• Able to manage conflicting priorities and people.
• Clear and concise communicator.
• A record in an engineering/production environment driven by challenging deadlines and managing changes to ensure quality and delivery objectives are achieved.
• Experience with and sound knowledge of end-to-end complex manufacturing supply chains.
• Strong experience with Purchasing processes.
• A good understanding of ERP/MRP and the importance of data compliance.
• Open to fresh ways of working and innovative in suggesting new ideas and possible solutions

Personal Qualities:

• Develops innovative ideas and encourages others to do so.
• Works as part of a team to develop business strategies and translates them into objectives for their own area of the business.
• Manages and maintains performance, setting clear standards and challenging people to achieve results.
• Customer-focused by investigating the needs of internal and external customers.
• Commercially aware, ensuring technical developments and other activities are clearly linked to commercial and financial outcomes.
• Takes accountability for decisions, challenges conventional thinking and takes appropriate risks to achieve goals.
• Anticipates events in the short and medium term and their impact on people and the business, taking action to avoid problems.
• Self-confident, proactive, and tenacious with a high attention to detail.
• Able to make decisions based on information available.

At Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, we provide tools for the engineering of micro- and nano-structures, with customers using our process solutions to research and produce materials and semiconductors vital for everything from medical devices and diagnostics, to electric cars and quantum computers.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive starting salary, structured career development opportunities, and a good work-life balance, Oxford Instruments offers 25 days annual leave, early finish on Fridays, private healthcare, a share incentive plan, a defined contribution Group Personal Pension Plan, and a flexible benefits package that you can tailor to your own requirements.

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All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and would ask you to get in touch if you are concerned about any barriers you feel you may be facing in your application process with us

Note to recruitment agencies: Oxford Instruments operates a Preferred Supplier List, and we do not accept unsolicited agency CVs. Please do not forward candidate details in response to this advert, or to any Oxford Instruments employees or other company locations. Oxford Instruments is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs.