Senior Buyer - Purchasing

Job Description

Location:

Elland, Halifax, HX5 9JP

Hours:

37.5 hours

Working Pattern:
Full-time, On-site 5 days per week

Are you a commercially minded buyer who thrives at pace, loves getting things done and wants to bring your thinking to a team that will actually listen, then back you to make it happen?

As a Senior Buyer at A-SAFE, you will join a purchasing function that is being rebuilt from the ground up. The team has recently moved under Finance and is at the start of an exciting transformation – from a standalone UK operation to a commercially focused, globally aligned purchasing function. This is not a role where the job description will look the same in 12 months.

It is a role where you help write it.

You will work closely with the Group Purchasing Manager and the wider Finance team, managing key supplier relationships, supporting the drive for cost savings and process improvement, and playing an active role in building the systems, controls and ways of working that a world‑class purchasing function needs. You will also work directly with senior stakeholders – including board‑level contacts – so confidence, resilience and strong communication skills matter as much as your technical buying knowledge.

• You’ll manage key supplier relationships, ensuring pricing, service levels, lead times and quality expectations are clearly agreed, monitored and improved.
• You’ll support the Group Purchasing Manager in developing the purchasing function – moving it from a transactional process to a proactive, commercially driven operation.
• You’ll identify and deliver cost‑saving opportunities through negotiation, benchmarking, tendering and supplier rationalisation.
• You’ll build and maintain vendor scorecards, using the outputs to drive supplier improvement plans and escalating underperformance where required.
• You’ll collaborate across Finance, Operations, Engineering, Logistics and NPD to understand purchasing needs and challenge spend where appropriate.
• You’ll get involved in system improvement work – including Net Suite and the rollout of our new procurement platform, Medius – and help embed better ways of working.
• You’ll review purchasing data to identify trends, supplier issues, cost increases and opportunities for improvement.
• You’ll bring fresh thinking from your previous experience and actively contribute ideas on what can be done differently, better and smarter.
• You’ll communicate clearly with stakeholders at all levels— from the shop floor to the boardroom— building relationships that make the purchasing function trusted and valued across the business.
• You’ll support and mentor junior members of the purchasing team as the function grows.

• Previous experience in a buying, senior buyer or procurement role – we are open to sector. FMCG, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, distribution and engineering backgrounds are all relevant and welcome.
• A proactive, ‘get it done’ mindset – someone who finds a way rather than lists the obstacles, even when deadlines feel impossible.
• Strong commercial awareness: you understand cost, supplier performance, risk and how to create value through smart procurement decisions.
• Confident communicator – able to build effective relationships with suppliers, internal stakeholders and senior leaders, including at board level.
• Strong negotiation skills with experience agreeing pricing, payment terms, lead times and service levels.
• IT literate with the ability to pick up new systems quickly. Net Suite or similar ERP experience is a bonus, not a requirement.
• Comfortable with change and genuinely energised by it – this function is evolving fast and we need someone who is too.
• Fully office‑based in Elland 5 days per week, ideally within around 30 minutes’ commute.
• Willing to work towards CIPS Level 4 (or already holding it) – we provide full study support and treat CIPS as a requirement of this role, not an option.

• Resilience and a positive outlook when the pressure is on – this team moves fast and needs people who move with it.
• A continuous improvement mindset – always asking how something could be done better, faster or smarter, no matter…