Purchasing & Production Planning Manager

Allensmore Nurseries is one of Europe’s largest commercial nurseries, supplying garden centres, DIY retailers, supermarkets and other customers throughout the UK. We are looking for an exceptional Purchasing & Production Planning Manager to join our production management team in Hereford. This is a highly important role within the business. You will be responsible for securing the young plants required to support more than £20 million of annual sales, as well as purchasing pots and other key production materials. More importantly, you will sit at the centre of Sales, Purchasing, Planning and Production, making sure we have the right plants and materials, in the right quantities, at the right time.

The Role

• Take responsibility for purchasing young plants from UK and European suppliers.
• Manage and develop key supplier relationships and negotiate pricing, availability and terms.
• Work closely with Sales to understand customer requirements, quantities and required dates.
• Manage our three-person Planning Team to ensure purchasing information feeds into accurate production plans.
• Oversee purchasing of pots and other key production materials.
• Monitor supplier performance, quality and delivery.
• Identify and resolve potential supply issues before they affect production.
• Analyse sales, purchasing and production information to improve forecasting and decision-making.
• Use advanced Excel and production planning software to manage and analyse data.
• Work with suppliers and internal teams on new varieties, trials and range development.
• Visit UK and European suppliers as required, including annual overseas travel.

Although the Planning Team is small, the plans they produce have an impact on hundreds of people across our production operation, so accuracy, communication and good decision-making are critical.

The Person

We are looking for someone who is intelligent, analytical, commercially minded and highly capable. You will need to be comfortable working with large amounts of detailed information, while also understanding the wider commercial and production implications of your decisions. Ideally, you will have experience in purchasing, procurement, supply chain or production planning, together with:

• Excellent numerical and analytical ability.
• Advanced Excel skills.
• Experience with planning or production management software.
• Strong commercial awareness and negotiation skills.
• Excellent organisational and problem-solving abilities.
• The confidence to make decisions and take ownership.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• The ability to work effectively with Sales, Production, Planning and senior management.

Experience within commercial horticulture, particularly young plant purchasing or nursery production, would be a significant advantage. However, we are also interested in exceptional candidates from other complex production environments such as food production, FMCG or manufacturing. We are more interested in finding an exceptional person than someone who simply has the right job title on their CV.

People & Culture

The successful candidate will work with a small Planning Team but will interact with a large number of managers and senior colleagues across the business. We have a strong, collaborative senior management team and place considerable importance on people who are approachable, positive, commercially aware and good to work with. The ability and desire to develop as a people manager will also be important as the role develops.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to take on a genuinely influential role within a successful and growing horticultural business. You will have significant responsibility and the opportunity to influence how we purchase, plan and produce across a large-scale nursery operation. For the right person, there is plenty of scope for the role to develop over time. If you are intelligent, commercially minded and enjoy working with numbers, people, suppliers and production, we would like to hear from you.

Location: Hereford, Herefordshire

Salary: 40-£50,000 depending on experience

Job Type: Full-time