Senior Buyer

Evolito Ltd; Cherwell District; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading aerospace company in the UK is seeking a Senior Buyer to strengthen its supply chain capabilities. The role focuses on building supplier relationships, negotiating contracts, and managing procurement for engineering and aerospace-critical components. Candidates should possess CIPS Level 5 and have experience in regulated environments. This position involves significant analytical skills, strategic supplier engagement, and negotiating procurement strategies aligned with aerospace certification requirements.

Qualifications

• Experience managing suppliers within highly regulated environments.
• Proven ability to lead complex negotiations for procurement.
• Ability to draft robust commercial agreements aligning with certification needs.

Responsibilities

• Build strong relationships with suppliers for Engineering and Testing activities.
• Lead complex commercial negotiations and manage service contracts.
• Support procurement for aerospace critical commodities and ensure compliance.

Skills

Supplier relationship development

Commercial negotiation

Risk-based procurement

Strong analytical capability

Excellent communication skills

Education

CIPS Level 5 or equivalent

MCIPS preferred

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

Evolito’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of electric propulsion in aerospace applications in support of a net-zero world. We will help to revolutionise personal mobility and transform our towns and cities with clean, noise-free air transportation.

Evolito develops and manufactures class-leading, lightweight, high-power, and high-torque-density electric propulsion systems for a range of aerospace markets, including EVTOL, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and General Aviation.

As well as ultra-high performance, low-weight electric motors and controllers, Evolito specialises in high integrity, bespoke battery systems for the aerospace and defence markets. The team is scaling rapidly and has ambitious growth plans over the next twelve to eighteen months.

As we continue to scale, we are strengthening our supply chain capability with a Senior Buyer who excels in supplier relationship development, commercial negotiation and risk-based procurement to support Engineering and our aerospace certification testing roadmap.

Reporting to our Head of Supply Chain, you will play a critical role supporting technologies at TRL 4+ through to industrialisation, driving supplier engagement and commercial strategy for components, engineering services, certification critical activities and industrial readiness.

This role requires someone who builds strong supplier partnerships, negotiates robust service contracts, understands certification and testing needs, and makes well informed procurement decisions that balance risk, cost, capability and longer term production readiness.

You will partner with Engineering, Test, Quality, Compliance and Programme teams to ensure suppliers can meet the rigorous technical, compliance and schedule demands of aerospace certification and transition to production.

Key responsibilities will include:

Strategic Supplier Relationship Management

• Build strong, trust-based relationships with suppliers supporting Engineering, Testing and industrialisation activity.
• Engage suppliers suitability across TRL 4+, prototype development, certification testing and preproduction phases.
• Develop supplier relationship and contract management plans, including KPIs, structured reviews and improvement actions.
• Monitor supplier capability, capacity, operational risk and suitability for certification and industrialisation requirements.
• Lead and deliver on complex commercial negotiations for engineering services, prototypes, certification test services and strategic components.
• Develop, negotiate and manage service contracts and supply agreements that consider certification milestones, technical scope, data/IP, compliance and delivery risk.
• Drive strong commercial positions using understanding of cost drivers, market conditions and supplier capability.
• Ensure contractual commitments reflect aerospace quality, traceability, safety and regulatory expectations.

Strategic Procurement Decisions

• Analyse insourcing and outsourcing options analysis in line with business plans, core competencies, requirements and capacity.
• Lead sourcing decisions that assess capability, cost, schedule, certification risk and industrial scalability.
• Prepare and present business cases for complex or high risk procurement activity.
• Maintain and contribute to supplier and supply chain risk registers, leading targeted mitigation plans.
• Embed risk-based decision making across all procurement strategies, especially for certification critical and industrialisation critical suppliers.
• Lead sourcing and supplier onboarding for engineering design, validation, testing and certification work packages.
• Support supplier delivery across prototype, certification test phases and industrial readiness.
• Manage end to end procurement for engineering, testing and aerospace critical commodities.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Test, Quality, Compliance and Programme teams to ensure supplier deliverables meet technical and certification objectives.

Skills and experience required:

• CIPS Level 5 or equivalent; MCIPS preferred
• Experience supporting engineering teams through TRL 4+ development cycles towards industrialisation
• Demonstrated experience managing suppliers within highly regulated environments
• Proven ability to lead complex negotiations that deliver significant benefits
• Ability to draft and implement robust, risk balanced commercial agreements
• Ability to assess procurement risks and make informed decisions aligned to engineering and certification needs
• Ability to translate detailed technical requirements and statements of work into strong commercial and contractual positions
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills
• Strong analytical capability, including cost driver analysis to support negotiation strategies
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Experience using ERP systems
• Knowledge of AS9100 or ISO9001 environments.