Global Commodity Senior Buyer

GKN Aerospace; West of England; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus up to 15%

Competitive salary dependent on exp.

Industry Leading Pension Scheme

Life Assurance 8x salary

25 days holiday + bank holidays

Flexible working hours

Job summary

GKN Aerospace is seeking a Commodity Buyer to drive category strategy and supplier management across Machining, Fabrications and Special Processes. You will manage over £100m spend, coordinate pan-site sourcing and implement contracts that deliver value.

Reporting to Global Commodity Manager, you will build supply market knowledge, evaluate contracts, and ensure supplier performance aligns with site and Business Line goals. A strong procurement background is essential.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of current strategic procurement techniques
• Experience in Sourcing & Procurement (around 5 years)
• Ability to identify and deliver procurement savings
• Strong written and verbal communication, highly commercial

Responsibilities

• Manage category strategies to maximise value for the business
• Build deep knowledge of the supplier market
• Negotiate and contract with suppliers and manage performance
• Analyze expenditure and supply market to inform strategy

Skills

Procurement strategy

Supplier management

Negotiation

Cost savings

Stakeholder management

Education

CIPS certification

Related degree

Job description

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers.

GKN Aerospace spends >£2bn p.a. with more than 11,000 suppliers. We will build and deploy structured, collaborative relationships with our key suppliers. Suppliers to GKN should actively compete for our business and work hard to retain it by achieving continually high levels of delivery & quality performance whilst incrementally delivering value (reducing total cost or supporting revenue growth).

Our procurement function operates in a matrix between Site based procurement operations and Global Commodity Management functions.

Role

Reporting to the Global Commodity Manager the Commodity Buyer will have accountability for category strategy execution across 5 sub-categories. Objectives for this role will include:

• Establishing Programme and Site requirements, including those driven by current and planned future business.
• Supporting business growth to design and engage supply chains that meet the business requirements.
• Delivering tangible, bottom-line benefits resulting from pan-Business Line category management of Spend.
• Supporting the delivery of Business Line and Site strategies through the rigorous management of contract and supplier performance.

What You’ll Be Doing

The Commodity Buyer will have responsibility for >£100m expenditure within the Machining, Fabrications and Special Processes category.

Category Management

• Manages category strategies that maximise value for the business based on understanding of business needs and supply market.
• Builds deep knowledge of the supply market within the business.
• Execution of the strategy, including negotiating and contracting with suppliers, evaluating on-going contract and supplier performance and measuring contract compliance.
• Analysis of expenditure (cost and price) and the supply market to inform the development of the category strategy.

Sourcing

• Captures specific business requirements and builds into RFx documents.
• Executes pan site sourcing activity using strategic sourcing methodologies in order to put fit-for-purpose supply contracts in place.
• Accountable for the implementation of pan-Business Line contracts so that they can be used in practice by the sites.
• Where appropriate supports bid activity where there is a significant category requirement.

Supply Management

• Segmenting and managing suppliers within the category.
• Developing the appropriate strategies to incentivise and engage suppliers and to measure and incentivise their performance.
• Establishing appropriate supplier governance, fed by relevant data and attended by empowered representatives of both organisations.

What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Experienced procurement practitioner with deep knowledge of current strategic procurement techniques and (c. 5 Years in Sourcing & Procurement).
• Knowledge of relevant categories.
• Proven track record of identifying and delivering procurement savings against multi-million pound expenditures.
• High quality communication ability, both written and orally.
• Highly commercial, with a proven ability to use procurement to unlock value for the business.
• Delivery focused with a pragmatic, hands‑on approach that enables strategies to be fully executed.

Desirable

• Relevant business experience in the commercial aerospace sector, knowledge of the customer programmes of GKN Aerospace.
• Relevant professional and academic qualifications are highly valued. For example CIPS, degrees in relevant subject matter.

What We’ll Offer

Once you’re on board you’ll get the following perks and benefits:

• Competitive salary dependent on experience.
• Annual bonus of up to 15%
• Industry Leading Pension Scheme = we’ll pay 1.5x your contribution (max 12%)
• Life Assurance 8 x salary.
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays.
• Flexible working hours.
• Income protection.
• Shopping discounts.
• Cycle To Work Scheme.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Virtual GP Clinic for you and immediate family.
• A collaborative, dynamic working environment.

As well as a competitive package we’ll offer you a world of opportunity. We want to see your career fly! We’ll support your career progression by providing you with learning and development opportunities. That’s the beauty of being part of a global business, once you’re on board you never know where you career journey may take you!

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.