Procurement Specialist in Portsmouth

Salary & Work Details: Up to £50,000 DOE. Full‑time, Permanent.

About SubSea Craft: SubSea Craft is a fast growing, privately‑funded, UK‑based innovative maritime technology company specialising in next‑generation, high‑performance watercraft and systems. We operate at the intersection of advanced engineering, cutting‑edge design, and user‑centric innovation, delivering safe, effective, and enabling solutions for commercial and defence applications.

Benefits:

• Pension Contribution: Pension scheme with the option to contribute via salary sacrifice.
• Annual Bonus Scheme: Eligibility to participate in the company’s annual discretionary bonus scheme, linked to individual and company performance.
• Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover: Comprehensive protection including Life Assurance (4x salary) and Critical Illness Cover for added financial security.
• Annual Leave: Entitlement to 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Christmas Leave: A Christmas shutdown is typically observed.
• Wellbeing Day: An additional Wellbeing Day each year to focus on personal health and wellbeing.
• Family Leave: Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
• Private Healthcare: Access to comprehensive private healthcare coverage to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• Professional Development: Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth, supported by training programmes.
• Flexible Working: Opportunities for flexible working arrangements to promote work–life balance.
• Inclusive Culture: A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.
• Offsite parking available.

Responsibilities:

• Procure a combination of build‑to‑print and build‑to‑specification goods and services in a largely production ERP environment, while working with engineering teams to support the definition of requirements before formal definition in a BOM.
• Create and manage purchase orders, including order acknowledgement, expediting, and, where required, alternate solutions or interventions to resolve supplier issues.
• Monitor and report supplier performance against contracted requirements, including expediting of open purchase orders, updating stakeholders and the ERP system.
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks to minimise project delays.
• Negotiate with suppliers to secure favourable contract solutions, including negotiation on pricing, scope, and terms and conditions as required.
• Sourcing suppliers or third‑party solutions in conjunction with engineering teams as needed.
• Understand and work with engineering teams around technical artefacts (drawings, specifications, statements of work) to ensure compliance and identify risks and issues.
• Contribute to processes such as NPIs, concessions, deviations, and change management in a technical/production environment.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal stakeholders as well as suppliers.
• Collaborate across functions and teams to achieve business objectives (e.g., technical, stores/logistics, operations, quality).
• Provide progress updates and supply‑chain feedback to internal stakeholders.
• Support supplier audits as and when required.
• Support the Procurement Manager in achieving departmental goals and undertake any other duties as appropriate within their competence, as required.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Significant experience in procurement and supply chain management.
• Demonstrable experience in a European production environment working with high‑tech engineering, ideally maritime and including R&D; supporting delivery to deadlines on projects preferably within the marine engineering industry.
• Strong commercial acumen with excellent negotiation skills.
• Experience working with an ERP system, such as Infor LN.
• Willingness to support and embrace change in a fast‑paced environment.
• Team‑player with key communication skills.
• Analytical and problem‑solving skills.
• Educated to degree level or a minimum of 10 years’ experience in a relevant field.
• Defence sector experience would be beneficial.
• MCIPS qualification is preferred but not essential.

Security Requirements: Due to the nature of work undertaken at SubSea Craft, the selected candidate must be capable of meeting the security requirements of the position, which would include, as a minimum, existing right to live and work in the UK, Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), with UK National security clearance required for certain roles.

Equal Opportunity & Inclusivity: We are committed to building an inclusive, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive. If you require any support or adjustments to interact with us, please let us know.

Disability and Criminal Record Information: All offers of employment are conditional and subject to satisfactory DBS, driving licence and reference checks. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify candidates from employment; we will consider criminal record information alongside the wider range of evidence gathered at the application, interview, and pre‑employment checking stages.