Senior Buyer

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The Senior Buyer is responsible for the full purchasing and supplier management lifecycle across allocated categories, with a primary focus on strategic suppliers. Working collaboratively with cross functional teams, the Senior Buyer ensures alignment between supplier activities and Optos’ business goals, delivering against cost, quality, delivery, and risk requirements. Bringing deep expertise in operational processes and supply chain optimisation, the Senior Buyer acts as a key driver of process improvement, efficiency, and performance development across the team.

The role leads and supports cross functional initiatives, enhances supplier capability, and provides guidance and mentoring to the wider procurement team to build capability and embed best practice procurement.

• Cost Optimisation – Identify and deliver cost‑reduction opportunities by analysing spend, engaging suppliers in negotiation, collaborating with cross‑functional teams, and ensuring cost improvements are validated, implemented, and sustained.
• Manage Purchase Orders – Ensure lead times and system data are accurate, POs raised in line with demand and sourcing strategies, and queries resolved ahead of critical path milestones.
• Forecast & Capacity Planning – Share capacity forecasts with managed suppliers monthly and obtain confirmed commitments. Take ownership for resolving any capacity related constraints before they impact production or NPI timelines. Support team‑wide escalations by coordinating cross‑functional input, ensuring accurate and timely information flow, and helping drive effective and aligned resolution of issues.
• Optimise Inventory – Optimise inventory levels ensuring key metrics are achieved for availability, total inventory, nonconforming stock, excess, and obsolescence. Design and implement optimised supply chain setups that support flexibility, responsiveness, and long‑term stability.
• Integrated Product Team – Collaborate cross functionally through the IPT and other support functions to align sourcing decisions and supplier engagement with operational deliverables, product and business strategies. Establish IPT strategy / development plan.
• Supplier Management – Ensure efficient and effective supplier management by maintaining standardised data sharing and alignment processes, supporting consistent ways of working, and coordinating structured meeting governance with a focus on timely tracking and closure of actions / KPI delivery. Lead effective escalations with senior supplier management as appropriate.
• Supplier Development – Take full responsibility for the performance, development, and relationship management of assigned suppliers. Lead supplier business reviews, drive performance improvement initiatives, effectively escalate risks, and advance supplier capability development through structured improvement plans.
• Continuous Improvement – Lead continuous improvement and best practices initiatives across the supply chain and wider business with a prime focus on operational process optimisation.
• Change Management – Support or lead the implementation of New Product Introduction (NPI) activities and Engineering Change processes, ensuring robust, efficient, and timely transitions on applicable parts. Potential to represent supply chain on larger change projects.
• Data Integrity & Reporting – Maintain the highest level of accuracy and consistency across all procurement related data and systems.
• Risk and Compliance – Actively manages risk and compliance across allocated suppliers achieved by maintaining accurate risk and compliance documentation, and engaging suppliers in corrective and preventive actions to ensure ongoing adherence to contractual, ethical, regulatory, quality and audit requirements. In addition, the role contributes to team‑wide development and reporting initiatives helping to shape improved governance practices.

• Significant procurement experience managing complex or critical inventory supply areas within a manufacturing environment.
• Advanced operational capability in demand and capacity planning,…