Senior Buyer

A highly respected and rapidly evolving UK food manufacturing business is seeking an exceptional Buyer to take ownership of strategically critical procurement categories across ingredients and packaging (approximately £20m portfolio) within a fast-paced FMCG manufacturing environment.

This is a significant opportunity for an experienced procurement professional who thrives within commercially complex, operationally demanding, and highly collaborative manufacturing businesses. The role offers genuine visibility, influence, and the opportunity to shape category strategy within a business that is investing heavily in operational capability, customer partnerships, innovation, and long-term growth.

The organisation operates within a dynamic food manufacturing environment supplying both retail and B2B channels, where procurement plays a central role in protecting margin, maintaining continuity of supply, driving innovation, and supporting wider commercial performance. This is not a transactional buying role. It requires a commercially astute, strategically minded procurement professional capable of operating across supplier markets, manufacturing operations, finance, planning, technical, NPD, and commercial teams to deliver measurable business impact.

The Opportunity

The Senior Buyer will hold end-to-end responsibility for a portfolio of strategically important procurement categories spanning raw materials, ingredients, commodities, and packaging. The successful individual will be expected to:

• Develop and execute category strategies aligned to wider business objectives
• Manage supplier performance, cost control, and security of supply across critical spend areas
• Operate confidently within volatile commodity and ingredient markets
• Lead commercial negotiations with both UK and international suppliers
• Identify opportunities for value creation beyond simple cost reduction
• Support working capital and inventory optimisation initiatives
• Drive supplier innovation into the wider business
• Partner closely with operational stakeholders to support service, production, and customer requirements
• Build robust procurement governance whilst maintaining pace and agility

The role requires someone capable of balancing strategic thinking with operational execution. You will need to be equally comfortable negotiating commercial agreements, managing supply risk, influencing senior stakeholders, analysing market movements, supporting manufacturing operations, and challenging suppliers where required.

Key Areas of Responsibility

Strategic Procurement & Category Management

• Develop robust procurement category strategies across allocated areas of spend
• Create short, medium, and long-term sourcing plans aligned to business growth and operational requirements
• Continuously analyse supplier markets, commodity movements, inflationary pressures, and broader market dynamics
• Identify opportunities to reduce total cost of ownership whilst protecting quality and service
• Lead strategic sourcing activity including tendering, benchmarking, supplier rationalisation, and contract negotiations
• Deliver procurement savings, value improvement initiatives, and margin enhancement opportunities
• Build contingency planning and mitigation strategies for supply chain risk
• Ensure continuity of supply across critical operational categories
• Support procurement transformation and continuous improvement initiatives

Supplier Management & Commercial Leadership

• Build strong strategic relationships with key suppliers and manufacturing partners
• Lead supplier negotiations across pricing, contracts, service levels, rebates, payment terms, and performance expectations
• Conduct supplier performance reviews and drive accountability through structured KPI management
• Introduce joint business planning approaches with strategically important suppliers
• Drive supplier-led innovation into the business across ingredients, packaging, product development, sustainability, and operational efficiency
• Challenge underperformance and implement corrective action where required
• Collaborate with suppliers on cost engineering and value optimisation initiatives

Operational & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Work closely with manufacturing, planning, technical, finance, commercial, and NPD functions to support wider business objectives
• Support service continuity and minimise operational disruption through proactive supplier and inventory management
• Participate in business-critical operational and supply chain meetings
• Contribute to working capital reduction initiatives including stock optimisation and reduction of obsolete materials
• Ensure procurement decisions balance commercial objectives with operational realities
• Support launch activity, customer requirements, and business growth initiatives

Market Intelligence & Risk Management

• Monitor commodity and ingredient markets continuously
• Forecast pricing movements and supplier market trends
• Assess geopolitical, agricultural, economic, and supply chain risks impacting procurement categories
• Provide commercial insight and market intelligence to internal stakeholders
• Support budget planning and forecasting activity with accurate procurement analysis
• Develop proactive risk mitigation strategies across categories

The Candidate

Degree educated and a minimum of CIPS Level 3 or 4 required with the desire to continue those studies. This role requires an experienced FMCG procurement professional with strong food manufacturing or FMCG exposure and a track record operating within commercially and operationally demanding environments. The successful individual is likely to bring:

• Progressive procurement and category management experience within FMCG manufacturing
• Experience purchasing ingredients, raw materials, commodities, and packaging
• Experience operating within food manufacturing or complex manufacturing supply chains
• Strong negotiation capability across supplier relationships
• Excellent commercial acumen and analytical capability
• Experience managing volatile commodity-driven categories
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• The ability to operate with pace, resilience, and accountability
• A highly collaborative approach combined with the confidence to challenge constructively
• Strong understanding of procurement governance, supplier management, and category strategy
• The ability to balance strategic thinking with operational responsiveness

Personal Attributes

The organisation is seeking an individual who combines commercial credibility with strong relationship-building capability. You will be:

• Commercially sharp and analytically minded
• Proactive and solutions focused
• Comfortable operating within fast-moving manufacturing environments
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Confident influencing cross-functional stakeholders
• Capable of managing competing priorities effectively
• Collaborative whilst able to challenge appropriately
• Driven to continuously improve processes, performance, and outcomes
• Resilient under pressure and calm within operationally demanding situations

Why This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to join a highly regarded food manufacturing business at an exciting stage of evolution and growth. The procurement function is highly valued within the organisation and plays a critical role in supporting operational performance, customer delivery, innovation, and commercial success. The successful individual will gain:

• Significant exposure across the wider business
• The opportunity to influence strategic procurement direction
• Ownership of commercially important categories
• A collaborative and fast-paced FMCG environment
• Strong long-term career development potential
• The ability to make a visible and measurable impact

This opportunity would suit ambitious procurement professionals seeking a role with genuine breadth, influence, and progression potential within a complex FMCG manufacturing environment.