Planinng & Purchasing Manager in Lincolnshire

A unique opportunity to shape a newly created leadership role. Our client is a highly successful and growing horticultural business supplying major UK retailers. As part of its continued growth and investment, the business is creating a brand-new Planning & Purchasing Manager position to strengthen its supply chain and support the next phase of development. This is a highly visible role, responsible for ensuring the business has the right materials, from the right suppliers, at the right time, to deliver customer commitments. Working closely with the Commercial and Growing teams, you'll play a pivotal role in translating customer demand into effective purchasing plans that enable successful crop production.

The Role

Leading a team of 2-3 direct reports, you will take ownership of all purchasing activities across the horticultural division. While demand forecasting is managed by the Commercial team, you will convert forecasts into purchasing plans, ensuring all materials and inputs are sourced and available to meet production schedules. Working closely with the Growing, Commercial and Operations teams, you will ensure purchasing activities are aligned with production requirements and customer demand. Alongside managing day-to-day procurement, you'll build stronger, longer-term supplier partnerships, moving away from transactional buying towards strategic agreements that deliver value, security of supply and improved commercial performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of 2-3 Planning and Purchasing professionals.
• Manage relationships with approximately 10 key strategic suppliers, alongside a wider network of smaller UK and European suppliers.
• Develop purchasing strategies that support business growth and improve supply continuity.
• Negotiate pricing, contracts and establish long-term supplier agreements.
• Source seeds, bulbs, plants, growing media, packaging and other horticultural inputs.
• Work collaboratively with Commercial, Growing and Operations teams to ensure materials are available in line with production plans.
• Monitor supplier performance, quality, service and cost.
• Identify opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiencies without compromising quality or continuity of supply.
• Manage purchasing risks and develop contingency plans where appropriate.
• Drive continuous improvement across planning and procurement processes.

About You

We're looking for an experienced Purchasing, Procurement or Supply Chain professional who thrives in a fast-paced operational environment. You'll be a confident people leader with experience developing teams, building strong supplier relationships and working collaboratively across multiple business functions. You'll ideally have:

• Previous experience in a Purchasing, Procurement or Supply Chain management role.
• Proven people management experience.
• Strong supplier negotiation and contract management skills.
• Experience developing strategic supplier partnerships and long-term supply agreements.
• The ability to work cross-functionally with Commercial, Production and Operations teams.
• Excellent planning, organisational and communication skills.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience within horticulture, agriculture, fresh produce, food manufacturing or another seasonal supply chain environment would be advantageous. However, candidates from manufacturing or FMCG businesses with strong purchasing and supplier management experience are also encouraged to apply.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to join a successful business at an exciting stage of its growth. As this is a newly created role, you'll have the chance to shape the purchasing function, influence procurement strategy and build long-term supplier partnerships that will directly support the continued success of the business. If you're an experienced Purchasing or Procurement leader looking for a role where you can make a genuine commercial impact, we'd love to hear from you.