Senior Buyer

Opportunity for a Senior Buyer for a major MoD Project.

This is an initial 12 month contract but potentially could be a three year contract although it will be reviewed on an annual basis.

It is based a minimum of three days a week in Dorset

SC clearance required,

Please note The Role is inside IR35

This role requires knowledge and experience of MoD procurement processes ideally in electronic communications and networks.

Job Description
The Senior Buyer will operate as part of the Vigilant Procurement & Supply Chain team supporting the Procurement Manager in establishing the project procurement mechanics.

Responsibilities

• Work with Procurement and Supply Chain team members, cross-functional stakeholders (e.g. representatives from Quality, Project Management, Engineering and Finance) and suppliers to ensure the timely implementation of Procurement processes relating to the selection, evaluation and approval of new suppliers, and reassessment of existing suppliers.
• Know how to operate within the governance framework. Ensure the requirements of EN9100 are met and supplier approval decisions can stand the scrutiny of internal and external audit.
• Identification, monitoring and support to mitigation of supplier risks and opportunities, such as responsible trading, financial insolvency, cyber security, business continuity and product safety competence of suppliers.
• Seek out opportunities for continuous improvement, including automation, process improvement.

Experience Requirements

• Understand the need to engage with senior management or specialist support as and when appropriate in order to report, obtain final authorisation of new suppliers from senior management, highlight and escalate issues.
• In-depth understanding of the legal, regulatory and contractual requirements, and priorities and governance for area of responsibility.
• Understands the line of business' strategy and priorities, to deliver procurement support that best meets them.
• Knowledge of UK Defence Sector and its supply chain - recognise key players in market.
• Knowledge of MoD procurement processes.

Technical Skills/Knowledge

• Able to adapt approach to ensure decisions support an optimised business outcome, whilst considering stakeholder relationships.
• Able to communicate and influence across the immediate team and able to influence wider stakeholders and external suppliers.
• Able to deal with all scenarios when dealing with Procurement and Supply Chain activities.
• Prioritising workload and communicating this to stakeholders when required.
• Comfortable with addressing poor performance and handling difficult people.
• A proactive approach to solving problems, guiding cross-functional stakeholders to make informed decisions based on risk and opportunity analysis, business acumen, knowledge, experience and total cost of acquisition principles.