Indirect Buyer (IT, HR, PMC, Administration)

Location: Oxfordshire (fully based on-site initially)

Salary: Excellent salary + bonus

The Opportunity

Are you an experienced Indirect Buyer or Category Buyer looking for your next challenge? This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing and highly complex organisation where procurement is playing a key role in supporting business performance, driving value and shaping how the organisation works with its strategic suppliers. We are looking for a commercially astute Indirect Buyer to take ownership of a diverse portfolio of spend across IT, HR, Professional & Management Consultancy (PMC) and Administration. This is far more than a transactional purchasing role. You will have the opportunity to develop category strategies, influence senior stakeholders, lead strategic sourcing projects and negotiate agreements that deliver tangible commercial and operational benefits. You'll be joining a procurement function where there is genuine scope to challenge, improve and make a difference.

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll take ownership of your assigned categories, developing and implementing strategies that deliver the right balance of cost, quality, service, risk and long-term value. Responsibilities include:

• Developing and implementing category strategies across IT, HR, PMC and Administration.
• Analysing spend, market conditions and supplier capability to identify opportunities for savings and value creation.
• Identifying opportunities to consolidate demand across multiple sites and leverage wider purchasing power.
• Leading end-to-end sourcing projects, including RFI, RFQ and RFP processes, tendering, bid evaluation and supplier selection.
• Building robust commercial evaluation models and supplier comparison analysis.
• Leading negotiations covering pricing, payment terms, SLAs, contractual terms, warranties and wider commercial conditions.
• Challenging specifications and requirements where appropriate to identify more commercially effective solutions.
• Developing and maintaining strong, strategic supplier relationships.
• Monitoring supplier performance against agreed KPIs, SLAs, quality and service requirements.
• Leading supplier reviews and driving corrective actions and continuous improvement where required.
• Acting as a trusted procurement partner to stakeholders across IT, HR, HSE, Finance, Operations, Administration, Legal and site management.
• Ensuring procurement activity is commercially robust and compliant with internal policies and relevant legislation.
• Supporting supplier consolidation, standardisation, risk reduction and business continuity initiatives.

What are we looking for?

• Extensive experience in procurement, category buying or strategic sourcing, preferably within a multi-site or complex organisation.
• Proven experience managing indirect procurement categories, particularly IT, professional services, HR, HSE and general administration.
• A proven track record in tendering, negotiation and contract management.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and driving supplier performance.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with the ability to turn spend data into meaningful procurement opportunities.
• Someone who combines commercial thinking with strong procurement capability and is not afraid to challenge the status quo.
• Experience using ERP/procurement systems, ideally SAP/Ariba.
• Strong Excel and wider Microsoft Office skills.
• A degree in Procurement, Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Engineering or a related discipline.
• CIPS qualification desirable.
• Commercially confident, analytical and naturally curious.

You’ll enjoy getting under the skin of a category, understanding what the business really needs and finding opportunities to improve the way money is spent.

What’s On Offer?

Private Healthcare | Company Pension | 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays

Interested?

If you’re an experienced Indirect Buyer or Category Buyer with experience in the stated categories and ready to take on a role with genuine responsibility and opportunity to make a difference, we’d be keen to hear from you. Apply now to find out more.