Head of Purchasing

When you're leading a Purchasing function, what are the important things to you? Aside from the challenge that goes with leading purchasing across the UK and US, is it having a boss that sits on the board and speaks your language having had a successful career in Purchasing themselves? Is it being able to define the culture of your team, working with ambitious people, shaping and moulding the stars of the future? Maybe it's about knowing there are longer term opportunities for you, not necessarily just in Purchasing? How about your peers, is it about knowing there is a reason many of them have been with this business for 10+ years and that they are engaging, approachable and as equally committed to the continued growth of the business as you are? Maybe it's all of these? If so, you're in luck, as Eden Blake have been exclusively retained to find a new Head of Purchasing & Supply for a privately owned, global top 5 manufacture in their sector that offers all this and more.

What's on offer?

• Base salary of circa £90,000
• Car or car allowance of £11,928
• 10% Annual Bonus
• Family Private Healthcare
• Contributory Pension (5% Employer Contribution)
• 25 Days Annual Leave + Statutory Public Holidays
• 5x salary Life Assurance
• Hybrid working - 2 days a week from home

What will you be doing?

You'll be taking on responsibility for all purchasing & supply related activity, including procurement, expediting and supplier performance management, leading a team of 19 (6 direct reports) overseeing a spend of circa £250m across direct, indirect and after-market parts. You and your team will be purchasing parts, materials and services for both production and NPI projects, working with a global supplier base, predominantly situated across the EU but spanning as far as India and the US. You'll be ensuring supply to both UK and US operations, ensuring product availability and delivering excellent value for money. This business manufactures to order, producing around 1000 products a year, each being highly customisable, meaning you'll need to not only have long term strategic agreements in place but also be able to react and secure strong agreements with quick turn around in a short space of time, this job will be anything but boring Key focus areas for the first 12 months include optimising and stabilising supplier delivery performance, supporting strong NPI activity and building the culture in the team to one of a supportive, focused, motivated high performing function. Whilst the focus of this role is on the UK and US operations, there will also be an opportunity to look at some group wide procurement activity for major suppliers to realise even greater benefits.

Who will you be doing it for?

You'll be joining a successful, profitable, cash rich business that offers significant long term career stability and progression opportunities. There are countless examples across the business of employees that have been with them for over 10 years and can evidence progressive career development. The current MD comes from a purchasing background and so you'll be reporting into a Board director that understands the frustrations and challenges that can occur in this particular role, they speak your language and can act as a solid sounding board when needed. As an organisation, they currently employ circa 1000 staff in the UK and are expanding their operations in the US as well. They turnover £350m and benefit from being part of a larger, €1b turnover privately owned Group that have a significant history in this particular market, and offer major long term investment security to ensure the business is taking every opportunity to grow and continually better itself. You'll be working out of great modern offices that offer a first class working environment. We've visited countless offices and manufacturing sites over the years and can honestly say, this one ranks right up there with the best of them in terms of the feeling we got when we met - the manufacturing facility is well laid out and well run, everyone in the office seemed to be happy and the part of the Senior Leadership Team we met were all very engaging, down to earth with a great sense of humour, as well as being very committed to making this a long term, successful hire.

What do you need to bring to the table?

To be successful in this role it's expected that you'll be able to demonstrate the majority of the following skills and experience:

• Proven experience of leading a purchasing/procurement function in a fast moving manufacturing environment. Any exposure to automotive, yellow goods, or large complex products with a high degree of customisation would be advantageous.
• Excellent people management and leadership skills - you'll be able to demonstrate where you've been able to motivate/inspire/coach teams to deliver outstanding results whilst enabling their personal development and growth. You'll be the kind of person that encourages, promotes and truly believes in creating an inclusive, informed and collaborative team culture.
• High degree of commercial acumen and a proven track record of delivering savings and ensuring continuity of supply.
• International sourcing experience.
• Familiar with ERP systems and experience of leveraging technology to improve processes.
• The ability, and willingness, to operate both strategically and operationally - this is a business where the leadership team is expected to be both visible and involved, no ivory towers here
• Previous experience, and formal qualifications, in Six Sigma, Lean, Continuous Improvement would be advantageous, although isn't essential.
• Willing and able to travel internationally when required (currently expected to be infrequent)

If the above sounds like the next step in your already successful career, and you’d like to learn more, apply today with a copy of your CV, LinkedIn profile or whatever you have for immediate consideration – every application is reviewed by a person, and everyone will get a response, it’s the least you deserve.