Senior Buyer - Civils in Manchester

Location: Hybrid, based from Derby, Manchester or Warrington

Salary: £44,600 – £55,125 dependent on experience + bonus + excellent benefits

Our mission is to deliver clean, affordable energy for all. Rolls‐Royce SMR provides a British solution to a global energy challenge, leading the way in Small Modular Reactor technology and shaping the UK’s premier green export opportunity.

Our Procurement function is central to building the commercial and supply chain foundations required to deliver our first SMR and future fleet deployment. As part of this, Civils procurement is critical — supporting major construction activity, groundworks, enabling works, heavy civils, site infrastructure, and the development of future manufacturing and project delivery sites.

To support this growth, we’re looking for a Senior Buyer – Civils to lead sourcing activity, develop category strategies and manage complex supplier relationships across a diverse range of civil engineering and construction packages. Reporting to the Procurement Manager, you’ll shape strategy, influence design and programme decisions, and help build a scalable and resilient Civils supply chain for one of the UK’s most innovative engineering programmes.

What you’ll be doing

• Develop and implement category and sourcing strategies for Civils packages, ensuring alignment with programme cost, quality and schedule requirements.
• Manage end‐to‐end procurement activity including PQQs, RFQs, RFPs, tender evaluations, negotiation, contract drafting and award recommendations.
• Build and mature the Civils supply base—identifying risks, opportunities, cost levers and future capability needs across groundworks, infrastructure, enabling works and major construction.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders across Engineering, Construction, Programme Delivery, Project Controls, Finance, Legal and Operations to influence early decision‐making.
• Translate technical, commercial and market insights into clear recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Ensure strong governance, compliance and documentation throughout the procurement lifecycle, including contract and supplier performance management.
• Drive continuous improvement across processes, templates, reporting and supplier engagement.

This is a pivotal role in supporting our project delivery and long‐term infrastructure roadmap. You’ll bring strong commercial judgement, a collaborative mindset and the ability to operate effectively in a fast‐paced, evolving and highly innovative environment.

What you’ll bring

• Proven experience in Civils procurement — ideally groundworks, infrastructure, large‐scale construction, enabling works, or major project delivery.
• Strong commercial acumen with hands‐on experience running competitive tenders and negotiating complex supplier agreements.
• Confidence working with cost models, programme interfaces, market analysis and supply chain capability assessments.
• Experience in regulated, complex or safety‐critical programmes (energy, nuclear, infrastructure, aerospace, defence or similar).
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical and non‐technical teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to present complex information clearly.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Word.
• MCIPS (or working towards) is desirable but not essential.

Location & Ways of Working

This role can be based from our Derby, Manchester or Warrington office. We operate hybrid working, with regular weekly office attendance expected. Some travel may be required depending on project and supplier needs.

Salary: £44,600 – £55,125 depending on experience.

Benefits include:

• Bonus – up to 12.5% performance‐related
• Benefits Allowance – £2,200 for a bespoke package
• Pension – 12% employer, 6% employee
• Holidays – 28 days + public holidays (option to buy/sell 4 days)
• Private Medical Insurance – BUPA
• Life Assurance – 6× pensionable pay
• £250 one‐off