Job Title: Direct Procurement Specialist
Location: Reading, RG6 1AZ (Hybrid)
Salary: £35,000 – £41,500 depending on experience
Job type: Full Time, Permanent.
Volution Group plc is a market leader in residential and commercial ventilation systems; our purpose is to provide healthy indoor air, sustainably. We are closely aligned with environmental, health, regulatory and consumer developments that are reshaping the world’s expectation of how we live life indoors.
About the Role:
As the Direct Procurement Specialist you will be responsible for providing support to the UK Head of Procurement; whose responsibility is based on the requirement to support seven operating companies within Volution Ventilation UK (VVUK).
This includes having responsibility for Direct Procurement spend for VVUK based brands and will require regular interaction with site and functional personnel to lead cross functional and site sourcing initiatives, ensuring key stakeholder requirements are accounted for. There will be a requirement to project manage, to completion, multi-site, multi-discipline cost initiatives, tracking and reporting them monthly.
The role requires particularly strong analytical, influencing, planning, organizing, and implementation skills. The role would ideally suit someone with experience within the manufacturing industry, or similar, with an intermediate level of Excel, can effectively multi-task while working in a high pressure/fast paced environment, highly developed attention to detail, highly organized with the ability to effectively communicate, and influence, personnel at all levels.
Responsibilities:
- Through demonstration of good market insight, and the sourcing of goods and services required by the business within agreed project timescales, most cost effectively, meeting associated cost saving objectives and key stakeholder service levels requirements.
- To be an instrumental force for increasing the use of more sustainable materials and packaging for products made in-house, and by third party manufacturers.
- Forecasting, tracking and reporting of UK cost saving activity monthly.
- Ensure all procurement activity undertaken fits within the overall Procurement Strategy and according to the centralized Procurement Policies.
- Build good working relationships with all VVUK site teams through regular site visits and interaction.
- Ability to travel to key suppliers at short notice to resolve emerging supply problems.
- Actively participate in supplier Key Process Indicator (KPIP) reviews, ensuring effective service levels and ongoing supplier management of Key Spend categories is maintained/developed.
- Research, identify and evaluate prospective suppliers.
- Manage Purchase Price Variances maintaining accurate purchase and pricing records while ensuring effective root cause analysis is applied to mitigate the risk of recurrence.
- Preparation of contracts and tender management, ensuring implementation within appropriate timescales.
- Liaise with key company employees to determine their product and service needs.
- Identify areas of continuous improvement, driving, and actively participating, in departmental projects from conception to completion.
- Effectively monitor and measure supplier performance, and resolve issues, and concerns by utilizing the Procurement generated Balanced Scorecard approach.
Required Skills:
- Minimum 3 years proven work experience as a Procurement Specialist, or similar role.
- Good working knowledge of purchasing strategies.
- Sound working knowledge of purchasing systems, processes and technologies.
- Must be highly numerate and possess excellent analytical skills.
- Excellent Interpersonal and Communication Skills.
- Proven ability to be self-motivated and be self-sufficient in taking the lead and making proposals and/or decisions.
- Willingness to travel regularly between Southern UK sites on a regular basis.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience within a multi-site manufacturing environment.
- Procurement experience from the Ventilation/HVAC industry would be an added advantage, but not essential.
- Experience of procurement process implementation.
- Experience of e-Procurement tools.
- MCIPS background, or similar.
- Knowledge of Epicor is desired, but not essential.
Pay range and compensation package:
- Salary: £35,000 – £41,500 depending on experience
- Annual leave – 25 days plus bank holidays
- Pension – auto-enrolment after 3 months of service
- Health Assured Wisdom Employee Assistance Programme
- Boost Works Online discount platform for supermarkets and retailers etc
- Company Employee Referral Scheme – up to £500
- Quarterly Volution Values Award – £100
- Ongoing training & development
Please click on the APPLY button to send your CV and Cover Letter for this role.
Candidates with experience of: Procurement Officer, Procurement Advisor, Purchaser, Procurement Manager, Procurement Operations, Procurement Admin, Procurement Manager, Engineering Procurement Officer, Engineering Procurement Advisor, Buyer, Purchaser may also be considered for this role.
