Assistant Buyer

Surface Transforms Plc; West Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 35,000; Full time

Job description

Who Are We

Surface Transforms are experts in the development and production of carbon-ceramic materials and the UK’s only manufacturer of carbon-ceramic brakes for automotive use.

Here at Surface Transforms, our mission is to ‘Innovate and develop a sustainable, world leading, high performance braking system to push performance boundaries to new levels. Investing in our people and processes to empower and enable profitable success.’

Our Values:

• Leadership - Decisive, united together, acknowledging our success
• Collaboration - Empowering and challenging our entire team
• Communication - Thorough, inclusive, agile considered decisions
• Ambition - Resilience through brave and bold thinking
• Excellence - Striving to continuously improve our high standards
• Trust - Autonomy to develop and deliver, knowing you are fully supported

We are looking for an Assistant Buyer to help us gain even more traction with suppliers, by placing orders, expediting demand, negotiating the best rates and discounts to exceed our customer expectations. As our Assistant Buyer you will ensure that direct and indirect materials and services are purchased and ready for daily production, and work to manage day to day purchasing routines, using their exceptional communication skills to achieve a win-win in supplier negotiations.

Key responsibilities as our Assistant Buyer:

• Support the Procurement manager to maintain a steady supply of, quality, cost-effective direct purchases from approved suppliers
• Foster strong and effective working relationships with suppliers to deliver savings and process efficiencies for direct and indirect material
• Assist the procurement manager to negotiate, agree, manage, and measure supplier performance against defined SLAs
• Participate in a diverse range of procurement and supply chain projects
• Work cross-functionally, collaborating with colleagues in Production, Sales, Marketing, R&D, and Quality

What you will be doing as our Assistant Buyer:

• Assist in sourcing and purchasing materials and related products while ensuring optimal stock availability.
• Analyse sales, stock and supplier performance data to drive purchasing decisions and recommend stock adjustments.
• Support the procurement manager with product range reviews, cost-saving initiatives and sourcing strategies.
• Work closely with suppliers to negotiate pricing, terms and promotional opportunities while managing communications, including orders, product enquiries and promotions.
• Assist with resolving invoice price queries and discrepancies.
• Collaborate with internal departments to maintain accurate product information and resolve product-related issues.
• To produce department KPI’s where applicable.
• To support and undertake associated projects with the relevant stakeholders - stock, planning and production, master data actions etc.
• Oversee day-to-day administrative tasks to ensure smooth operations within the Buying Department.
• To contribute to CI initiatives to enhance throughput, product and service levels to our customer.
• Seeking new suppliers to enhance supply chain and ensuring pre-qualification questionnaires are completed accordingly.
• Improve significantly the customer’s experience with product delivery requirements.

The Skills, Knowledge and Experience you will need as our Assistant Buyer:

• Purchasing / Procurement experience in a similar position
• 2 years or more previous production / manufacturing procurement experience
• Experience using SAP

You’ll have these personal attributes:

• Attention to detail
• Analytical
• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• Communication

What we’ll give you in return:

• Attractive salary
• 25 Days Annual Leave + Bank holidays
• Extra day Annual Leave for your birthday
• An autonomous working environment
• A confidential employee assistance helpline covering physical and emotional support
• Jobs are promoted internally providing job transfer opportunities
• Death in service scheme

Salary: £35,000

Hours: Monday - Thursday 8am - 5pm, Friday 8am - 2.30pm