Procurement Manager

About you You're someone who knows there's a lot more to procurement than placing orders and chasing deliveries. You enjoy dealing with suppliers, negotiating better prices and finding ways to make purchasing more efficient.

You're commercially minded, organised and confident enough to question how things have always been done when you can see a better way. We're looking for somebody who can take ownership of purchasing within a busy manufacturing environment, keeping materials flowing while making sure the business is getting the best possible value.

Your experience You'll have a background in procurement, purchasing or buying within manufacturing, engineering, fabrication or a similar environment. You'll be comfortable negotiating with suppliers, managing material costs, controlling stock and working closely with production teams to keep everything moving.

Experience purchasing materials such as aluminium, steel, plastics, electrical components or other manufacturing supplies would be particularly relevant. If you've worked within signage, that's great, but it isn't essential.

Experience sourcing directly from overseas manufacturers, particularly in China, would also be useful, alongside any knowledge of imports, shipping and landed costs. Most importantly, we want somebody who can demonstrate where they've improved purchasing arrangements, saved money or introduced better ways of working.

What you'll be doing This is a newly created position, giving you the opportunity to take responsibility for procurement across the business. You'll be reviewing existing suppliers, negotiating more competitive agreements and exploring alternative sources for materials and components.

You'll also be looking at stock levels, identifying unnecessary expenditure and improving how purchasing works alongside manufacturing and project delivery. There'll be plenty of variety, from sourcing specialist materials for individual projects through to building longer-term supplier relationships and exploring international purchasing opportunities.

You'll work closely with the directors, with a clear focus on improving purchasing costs, supplier performance and material availability. About the business You'll be joining an established signage manufacturing and installation business based in Ashford, producing signage for major national brands.

With around 50 employees, its own manufacturing facility and installation teams working across the UK, there's a broad range of materials, suppliers and projects to get involved with. This is a new role within the business, so there's a genuine opportunity to take ownership of the purchasing function and make improvements that have a direct impact on how the company operates.

Next steps If you've got a strong purchasing background within manufacturing and like the idea...

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