Buyer

Wales & West Utilities; Wales; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading gas distribution company in the UK is seeking a Buyer to support their Procurement Strategy and Annual Procurement Plan. The role involves managing supplier relationships and ensuring compliance with procurement policies. Candidates should possess relevant procurement experience and ideally an MCIPS qualification. This position offers a competitive salary and hybrid working arrangements.

Benefits

Competitive salary

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Retirement Savings Plan with employer matching

Flexible benefits scheme

Access to Financial Wellbeing Programme

Enhanced parental leave pay

Company Sick Pay

Comprehensive training

Qualifications

• Demonstrable relevant procurement experience and/or MCIPS qualification.
• Strong understanding of contract terms.
• Good understanding of EU procurement regulations.

Responsibilities

• Act as first point of contact for sourcing and contract queries.
• Maintain the category AVL for supplier accreditation.
• Ensure compliance with WWU procurement policy and procedures.

Skills

Procurement experience

Commercial awareness

Stakeholder management

Understanding of EU procurement regulations

Ownership and responsibility

Data manipulation

ERP applications experience

Tools

SAP S/4

Ariba Buyer

Job description

Location: Newport

Salary: £52,107 rising to £59,558

Contract: Permanent Full Time

Closing date: 22 December 2025

Accessibility

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Who are we?

We are a gas distribution business that services the gas infrastructure across Wales and the south‑west of England. We serve our customers and communities with safe, reliable, and affordable energy services whilst investing to create a sustainable future to deliver our carbon‑free vision for 2050.

What we’re looking for?

We’re looking for a Buyer to support the delivery of the WWU Procurement Strategy and Annual Procurement Plan. The role‑holder will support and/or manage with sourcing events both in line with the Annual Procurement Plan and adhoc sourcing requirements as required by the business.

The individual will support the contract management process that will enable the business to maximise the value obtained from its supplier relationships which includes ongoing Supplier Performance. You will also support day to day procurement and contract management issues, being recognised as a key point of contact for resolution of supplier performance issues where appropriate, and new procurement initiatives on designated contracts.

We’ll trust you to:

• Act as the first point of contact for both suppliers and business stakeholders to help resolve sourcing and contract queries.
• Act as the key point of contact to WWU business stakeholders to assist in resolution of procurement systems/initiative queries e.g. provide expert guidance/training to SRM users.
• Maintain the category AVL to ensure the optimum number of suitably competent and fully accredited suppliers are available for use by the business to allow them to comply with the WWU Procurement Policy.
• Ensuring ongoing business stakeholder compliance with WWU procurement policy, procedures and processes and assisting in the development and implementation of any new policy, procedures and processes.

You can read a full job description.

You’ll need to have:

• Demonstrable relevant procurement experience and/or MCIPS qualification with some practical experience, including end to end management of multiple tenders within a back office support / services procurement role.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of contract terms, as well as strong stakeholder management.
• A good understanding of EU procurement regulations and contract processes, procedures and best practices.
• A focused self‑starter who takes ownership and responsibility for delivering against performance objectives.
• Ability to operate procurement information systems and data manipulation, ideally with experience of using major ERP applications (SAP S/4, Ariba Buyer, etc).

We would also love to hear about anything else you feel you could add or bring to the role!

As we are a safety critical organisation, all offers of employment are subject to pre‑employment drug & alcohol screening.

What’s in it for you?

• A competitive salary starting at £52,107 rising to £59,558
• Hybrid working
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays which can be tailored to celebrations that reflect your beliefs
• Retirement Savings Plan (pension) with Aviva: 5% employee contribution, with WWU doubling your contribution at 10% - totalling 15%
• 14 x salary Life Insurance linked to membership of the Retirement Savings Plan
• “Choices” flexible benefit scheme options including corporate gym memberships, dental insurance, and health cash‑plans
• Access to our Financial Wellbeing Programme - allowing you to manage your benefits flexibly to suit your financial needs
• Enhanced pay for parental leave
• Retail discounts and cashback scheme
• Annual salary review
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Company Sick Pay
• In‑house Occupational Health Team
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Comprehensive training

The way we do things

Our Ambition, Priorities and Values inform everything we do as a business – from our strategic planning to the performance management of our colleagues. Our values underpin everything we do and we are committed to creating a working environment that supports and fosters diversity, inclusion and equity, where all of our colleagues feel valued and supported to contribute to their full potential.

We are focused on creating a culture where it doesn’t matter about gender, race, sexuality or disability; it’s about our colleagues’ skills, the way we do things and how we live our values.

You can find out more.

Interested?

If you think you’d make a good addition to the team, we would love to hear from you!

To apply, click the link below.

Apply Online Now

If you would prefer to complete your application form in an alternative format such as Microsoft Word or would like to discuss the role in a little more detail, please contact us at [e-mail] or on 07971 038 982.

You can also ask us about flexible working practices that may be available or tell us if you have any special requirements during the application process.