Buyer — Manufacturing Procurement & Supply Chain
The Business
We are supporting a high-growth, deep-tech business building cutting-edge robotic systems that are transforming how global logistics and warehousing operates. This is a business scaling at serious pace, with high expectations, high standards, and a culture where ownership and accountability are everything. If you are looking for a steady, process-driven purchasing environment this is not it. If you want to be part of building something genuinely exciting, read on.
The Role
This is not a raise-a-PO-and-move-on position. The Buyer sits at the heart of manufacturing operations, responsible for ensuring the right materials and components are in the right place at the right time to keep production moving. Working closely with the Sourcing Specialist, planning, production, and warehouse teams, you will play a critical role in maintaining production continuity across a fast-moving, ever-evolving manufacturing environment.
You will need to be as comfortable solving a supply problem on the fly as you are managing a supplier relationship or working through a purchase order backlog. Things change quickly here and that is exactly the point.
What You Will Be Doing
- Create and manage purchase orders for raw materials, components, and outsourced assemblies in line with production schedules, ensuring accuracy and compliance with agreed supplier terms.
- Communicate with suppliers to confirm order acknowledgements, delivery dates, and shipment details, expediting or deferring orders as priorities shift.
- Monitor supplier performance across delivery and responsiveness, escalating issues quickly and driving resolution when things go off track.
- Collaborate daily with planning, production, and warehouse teams to ensure material availability, inventory accuracy, and minimal disruption to production.
- Support the onboarding of new suppliers and contract manufacturers, setting up purchasing processes and transactional frameworks from scratch.
- Track and resolve supply issues including shortages, delays, quality concerns, and invoice discrepancies, proactively and at pace.
- Assist with inventory management, balancing stock levels to minimise excess while avoiding stockouts.
- Support cost control initiatives and identify opportunities for savings and efficiency across the supply base.
- Bring working knowledge of Incoterms, international purchasing, and outsourced assembly environments to a team that operates globally.
What We Are Looking For
- At least 3 years of experience in a purchasing, procurement, or supply chain role within a manufacturing environment, direct materials experience strongly preferred.
- Comfortable buying across mechanical components, fabrications, electronics, outsourced assemblies, or similar direct categories.
- Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple orders, suppliers, and shifting priorities simultaneously without dropping the ball.
- A genuine problem-solving mindset, someone who reacts quickly to supply disruptions and finds practical solutions rather than waiting to be told what to do.
- Confident communicator with solid negotiation skills and commercial awareness.
- Able to operate with autonomy and accountability, no hand-holding required or available.
You Will Thrive Here If You
- Enjoy pace, pressure, and solving real-world supply chain challenges.
- Take pride in ownership and care about outcomes, not just process.
- Want to be part of building something rather than maintaining the status quo.
- Are comfortable with ambiguity and changing priorities and do not need things to be perfect to perform at your best.
Why This Role Is Different
You will not be a cog in a procurement machine. You will be a key part of how products get built and delivered, with direct visibility and real impact on production. For a Buyer who wants more ownership, more pace, and more influence over what they do every day, this is worth a conversation.