Lead Buyer - Business Travel & Corporate Communications

Bolton

We're seeking a Lead Buyer to join our established team here at MBDA!

Salary: Circa £40,000 - £55,000 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: Stevenage / Bolton, 2-3 days per week on-site due to workload classification (We may be able to offer a relocation package for this role)

Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship. Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

What we can offer you:

1. Company bonus: Up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
2. Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
3. Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
4. Flexi Leave: Up to 15 additional days
5. Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
6. Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave - enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
7. Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more...

The opportunity:

Do you want a new opportunity to join a diverse international team that believes in championing talent and developing people to their full potential? Welcome to Travel and Communications procurement team at MBDA!

We lead all aspects of Travel and Communication spend across the Group, this role is specialised in Business Travel & Corporate Communication. If you have experience in either categories, or are an existing Indirect Buyer with experience in other professional services and would like a new and exciting challenge then we would like to discuss how you may best fit within the team!

Travel:

MBDA has extensive and geographically diverse travel needs across Europe as well as the Americas, Middle and Far East. You will be an integral partner within our Business Travel Manager community, collaborating closely with our Travel Management Company and Online Booking Tool providers, car rental firms, airlines, hotel chains, providers but also venue finding agencies. Our goal is to ensure the needs of our business travellers are met whilst also considering how to develop our Environmental, Social and Governance commitments.

Communications:

MBDA's communications include print and digital communications as well as trade shows and exhibitions or corporate events management both nationally and internationally. You would act as an extension to the MBDA Communications teams working with various suppliers commodities: photographic and video, goodies and corporate gifts, mock-ups, digital media and event management and international exhibitions related activities.

What we're looking for from you:

1. Experience within Business Travel Procurement or Marketing and Communications that you wish to develop further or broader Indirect Procurement where you can learn and develop these new Category specific skills.
2. Willingness to travel. There are regular bi-annual team meetings that rotate between our sites in the UK, Rome and Paris (for specific projects there may also be travel required for partner or supplier meetings in these Natcos) as well as for trade shows / to meet supplier etc.
3. Comfortable working in an international context with the ability to build internal and international relationships.
4. The ability to develop in-depth market knowledge (suppliers, services, technologies, business models, capabilities, innovation), taking into account risks / market opportunities and MBDA background and specificities.
5. The ability to prospect the market, evaluate new solutions and recommend them to internal clients, run competitions, negotiate contracts, develop and nurture supplier and stakeholder relationships.
6. Working towards MCIPS qualification or willingness to gain (we offer routes towards this qualification).

The team:

Digital and Mobility Services is an international team based in Stevenage, Bolton, Paris and Rome. Our collaborators are similarly based nationally and internationally. You would be working in partnership with our internal collaborators, championing supplier relationships, and delivering the best procurement outcomes for MBDA. The Business Travel & Communication Procurement team consists of three Buyers, two Category Managers and a Manager and is part of a wider family of forty Group Category Managers, Buyers and Early Careers Professionals with Digital & Services Procurement. We sit within a wider Indirect family of eighty people.

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity and more...

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), X (@MBDA_UK), Instagram (MBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.

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