Buyer & Purchase Invoice Coordinator

Tennial Personnel are currently recruiting for an experienced and detail-oriented Buyer & Purchase Invoice Coordinator to join our client’s team based in Ipswich on a permanent basis. The role combines purchasing, supplier management and purchase invoice coordination within an electronics manufacturing environment. The successful candidate will play an important role in ensuring materials and components are available when required, purchase orders are accurately maintained and supplier invoices are correctly matched against orders and goods received.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone with previous purchasing, buying, procurement or invoice-matching experience who is looking to develop their career within a technical manufacturing environment. The successful candidate will be organised, accurate, proactive and reliable, with the confidence to question discrepancies and follow outstanding issues through to resolution. They will also need to work effectively as part of a wider team, understanding the direct impact that purchasing and supplier performance can have on production and customer delivery schedules.

Key Responsibilities:

• Raising and managing purchase orders through the company’s MRP system.
• Sourcing electronic components, PCBs, mechanical parts, consumables and other production materials.
• Obtaining and comparing supplier quotations, pricing, availability and lead times.
• Reviewing supplier order acknowledgements and ensuring prices, quantities and delivery dates are correct.
• Monitoring outstanding purchase orders and proactively chasing suppliers regarding overdue or critical deliveries.
• Identifying potential material shortages and delivery delays and communicating these to the relevant departments.
• Working closely with Production, Engineering, Goods In, Accounts and Management to ensure purchasing priorities align with production requirements.
• Matching supplier invoices against purchase orders and goods received records.
• Checking supplier, PO number, part number, quantity and pricing information for accuracy.
• Investigating and resolving invoice, pricing and quantity discrepancies.
• Liaising directly with suppliers regarding incorrect invoices, missing credits, pricing queries and delivery issues.
• Requesting credit notes where goods have been overcharged, returned, rejected or incorrectly invoiced.
• Helping to source alternative or equivalent electronic components where parts are obsolete, unavailable or subject to long lead times.
• Maintaining accurate purchasing, supplier and invoice records within the company’s MRP/ERP system.
• Monitoring component availability against current and upcoming production requirements.
• Supporting the wider purchasing and production teams with material-related queries and urgent requirements.
• Ensuring purchasing documentation is accurate, traceable and maintained in accordance with company procedures and quality requirements.

Skills Required:

• Previous experience within purchasing, buying, procurement, accounts payable or invoice matching.
• Experience within an electronics manufacturing environment would be highly advantageous.
• Good knowledge of electronic components, including resistors, capacitors, ICs, diodes, transistors, relays and connectors, would be particularly beneficial.
• Ability to understand and work with manufacturer part numbers, datasheets and component specifications.
• Experience sourcing alternative or equivalent components would be advantageous.
• Good understanding of purchase orders, supplier invoices and goods received processes.
• Strong attention to detail with excellent numerical accuracy.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple suppliers, purchase orders and outstanding queries simultaneously.
• Confident communication skills with the ability to deal directly with suppliers and internal departments.
• Proactive approach to chasing outstanding information, deliveries and invoice queries.
• Good Microsoft Excel, Outlook and general IT skills.
• Experience using an ERP/MRP system would be advantageous.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of supplier pricing, lead times and delivery performance.

Qualifications Required:

• No specific formal qualifications are required for this position, although relevant purchasing, procurement, finance or supply chain qualifications would be advantageous.
• Previous experience within a purchasing or procurement environment is essential.
• Any previous experience within electronics, engineering or manufacturing would be highly desirable.
• Knowledge or experience of ISO 9001 / ISO 13485 quality systems would also be beneficial.