Category Buyer

**Category Buyer **(Maternity Cover)

**£28,000pa**

**Hybrid/Aylesford, Kent**

Do you have previous buying experience and strong negotiation skills? Are you able to build and maintain strong working relationships?

**In return we will offer you**
- 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays
- Never work a birthday again You receive an extra day off for it to enjoy however you wish
- Generous discount scheme, including gym and retail
- Life assurance cover
- Health cash plan initiative
- A culture of progression and development
- Plus many more perks

**Key duties**
- Sourcing new products and reviewing existing lines to ensure competitive advantage by understanding customer needs and providing a commercially viable range
- Plan, organise and attend Supplier Review meetings to ensure each supplier is engaged-with and strong relationships are maintained
- Manage all aspects of supplier onboarding
- Ensure all system data relating to supplier information is accurate and up to date.

**What we need from you**
- Previous buying experience, including overseas sourcing
- Confident negotiation skills to deliver KCS with critical savings
- Able to work confidently with both internal and externals teams with multiple stakeholders
- The ability to build relationships and gain long-term commitment from suppliers in a difficult market
- Education market knowledge and/or experience developing new IPR products is desirable but not essential.

**About Commercial Services Group**

Commercial Services Group (CSG) is one of the largest providers of public sector and education procurement and support services globally, with revenues of c£600M, 1,800 staff across 25 trading brands, providing services ranging from: HR Services, IT Services, Energy, Education Resources, Procurement and many more.

Wholly owned by Kent County Council, CSG supports over 15,000 customers in 86 countries and collaborates with a supply chain of c1,000 suppliers.