Band 4 - Senior Buyer in England

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust are searching for a passionate Band 4 Senior Buyer to join their highly skilled team. At Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care. We are here for our local population of about 675,000 residents across Portsmouth and south east Hampshire and care for many people beyond.

The Role

• Lead, manage, and support the Purchasing Team in the purchase of goods and assist in the delivery of portfolio contracts and evaluating quote/tender returns to maximise quality but with cash releasing benefits.
• Coordinate and supervise work for the Purchasing Team, cultivating a team ethos.
• Support the delivery of an efficient and effective purchasing service to meet customer requirements, ensuring the best value for all organisations served and promoting this service to all users.
• Train and manage the Buyers to ensure that the service functions at optimal efficiency including but not limited to producing and processing requisitions, purchase orders, resolving invoice queries and contract pricing agreements.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Proactively and positively contribute to the successful overall performance of the Trust.
• Deal with any questions or queries which result from purchasing activity and respond with appropriate advice and guidance.
• Deliver excellent levels of customer service to all stakeholders.
• Ensure the maintenance of supplier catalogues.
• Be accomplished on all procurement systems, offering advice and knowledge to team members and stakeholders.
• Develop effective ways of working and create strong partnerships and relationships with all stakeholders.
• Liaise with Account Payables and Finance colleagues to resolve invoice queries in a timely manner.
• Develop an organisational culture that fosters collaborative working among all staff groups, to ensure a focused commitment to delivering quality services and outcomes.
• Act as an advocate for the Trust & its contribution to the Health Service arena through creating effective partnerships and relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Comply with corporate governance structure in keeping with the principles and standards set out by the Trust.
• Support the Trust culture of collaborative, flexible cross-team working and commitment to delivering quality services and outcomes.
• If your employment is to a post that requires you to be registered with a professional body, the continuation of your employment is conditional upon you continuing to be registered with the appropriate professional body. The Trust will require evidence of current registration.
• Support the Trust’s Green Plan ensuring that sustainability and social values are considered for all procurement projects.

Requirements

• Good general standard of education including Mathematics and English Language to NVQ 4 or relevant equivalent.
• Be prepared to work towards the completion of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) or equivalent.
• Willingness to develop self as well as the Operational Buying into a centre of Buying excellence over time.
• Appreciation and understanding of the term “whole life costing.”
• Experience of persuading and influencing others to lead change.
• Experience of negotiating prices or conditions of contract.
• Experience of competitive quotations.
• Experience of a customer service environment.
• Experience of working within the public sector.
• Procurement knowledge.
• Competent with Word, Excel, and Access.
• Good Communication: written & oral.
• Interpersonal, able to work and lead a team of 4-Operational Buyers.
• Able to use initiative and work independently as well as part of the team.
• Well organised, able to prioritise workload.
• Clearly manage priorities in order to meet specific deadlines.
• Express ideas clearly both orally and in writing and listen actively.
• Create, develop and maintain working relationships with finance and Trust managers to achieve corporate and team objectives.

We are so grateful for the commitment and devotion of our Bank Staff, so are pleased to offer the following benefits:

• Weekly salary.
• Staffing Bank workers can contribute to their NHS pension.
• Priority of shifts over all agency workers.

Apply now for this fantastic opportunity by uploading your CV, and a member of our recruitment team will be in touch.