Purchasing Assistant

If you are ambitious, self-motivated, hardworking and a team player and interested in growing your career with an International FMCG business, please read through our job opportunity.

To work as part of the Purchasing Assistant “Strategic” pool to assist any Buyers and Purchasing Managers with administrative tasks as well as support other key purchasing initiatives designed to improve on existing ways-of-working and / or realise purchasing related savings and benefits. Activities may link to the procurement of both Direct materials and Indirect goods and services. Both core activities and key initiatives are to be undertaken in line with documented procedures and based on standardised ways-of-working.

Key Responsibilities:

- Evaluation, interpretation and presentation of purchasing data to propose opportunities for tendering to Buyers and Purchasing Managers.
- Management of specific / exceptional price requests as directed by Buyers / Purchasing Managers
- Provide internal data and external market intelligence to support Buyers and Purchasing Managers with their portfolio strategy development agenda and general negotiations.
- Create and maintain supplier and functional presentation materials for usage by the wider Group Purchasing team.
- Engage with Product Development and Divisional plant teams to follow-up on the progress of work-in-progress Cost of Product (COP) projects.
- At the request of Purchasing Management, take a leading role in driving special and specific procurement related projects that drive efficiencies in ways-of-working and provide benefits around further cost savings and avoidance.
- Support the Purchasing Assistant “Operational” pool and assume equivalent responsibilities in times of increased workload in that area or to cover periods of absence (sickness, holidays etc.).
- Assist in training new colleagues working in both the Purchasing Assistant “Operational” and “Strategic” pools.

Curiosity (thinking out of the box) - how can we do more, be better and pay less?

Pro-activity - an evident continuous improvement mind-set.

Accuracy and attention to detail.

Timeliness in responding to requests from Purchasing and non-Purchasing colleagues alike.

Adherence to policies, procedures and published ways-of-working at all times.
- Role interaction with multiple internal and external McBride stakeholders at a Group and Divisional level.
- No direct reports.
- Administrative tasks relate to and support c.£500m of Group Purchasing spend.
- Strategic projects will complement the wider Group Purchasing fiscal year savings and cost avoidance objectives.

The role is not portfolio or project specific. Assistance will be provided across the full Purchasing team as required by Buyers and Purchasing Managers with tasks assigned through the Line Manager or by Purchasing sub-team (i.e. Packaging, Raw Materials, Indirect)

Behavioural Competencies / Personal Characteristics:

- Evident independence and pro-activity coupled with a real desire to seize the initiative and strive for better.
- Able to communicate in a professional and appropriate manner with all internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority.
- A strong team ethic and “can-do” attitude geared to support both the full Purchasing Assistant pool and the requests of the wider Purchasing team.
- Genuine pride in data and presentational accuracy and in meeting critical internal deadlines.

Technical Competencies & Qualifications:

- Highly numerate and analytical.
- Organised, efficient and self-motivated.
- Well developed interpersonal skills, experienced in dealing with people from a range of backgrounds and cultures.
- Fluent in the English language with evident written and verbal skills.
- Excellent overall written and verbal communication and persuasion skills.
- Able and content to work independently on day-to-day activities, but also to function as part of a wider team.
- Compliant with documented policies and ways-of-working.
- Confident in escalating problems in an appropriate and timely manner should they occur.
- Highly articulate when providing feedback.
- Confidently assured when soliciting feedback in the case prioritising tasks and managing deadline expectations.
- Advanced in SAP, Business Warehouse and other Microsoft packages (Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint).

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