Senior Buyer

OpenWorks Engineering Ltd; Prudhoe; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 44,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary from £40,000

Discretionary annual bonus up to 25%

Employer pension up to 8%

25 days holiday + holidays

Private healthcare

Learning budget £250

Team events

Flex pay progression

Job summary

OpenWorks Engineering Ltd is seeking a Senior Buyer to strengthen our supply chain, secure critical components, and build strategic supplier partnerships for defence products delivered globally. You will lead end-to-end procurement for direct and indirect spend, manage supplier performance, and ensure compliance across programmes, collaborating with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and programme teams.

This role offers a competitive salary from £40,000, plus a discretionary annual bonus up

Qualifications

• CIPS qualification desirable or currently progressing.
• 5+ years in senior procurement roles; defence/aerospace/electronics exposure preferred.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end procurement for direct and indirect spends.
• Lead procurement for electronic components, mechanical assemblies, optics.
• Identify, evaluate and onboard suppliers meeting tech, commercial, quality and security needs.
• Develop sourcing strategies to deliver value and reduce risk.
• Negotiate terms, pricing and contracts with suppliers.
• Build and maintain supplier relationships to improve performance and delivery.
• Collaborate with engineering, programme management, manufacturing and quality.
• Plan supplier audits to assess quality, regulatory compliance and performance.

Skills

CIPS qualification

Procurement experience

Defence/aerospace experience

Strategic sourcing

Stakeholder management

Job description

Overview

We're looking for a Senior Buyer who can strengthen our supply chain, build strategic supplier partnerships and keep critical components moving reliably into our products.

As a Senior Buyer, you will play a pivotal role in securing the goods, services, and strategic supplier partnerships that enable the delivery of cutting‑edge defence capabilities to customers around the world. Working within a high‑performing developing procurement team, you will develop and execute sourcing strategies for critical materials and complex supply chains, ensuring quality, value, resilience, and compliance across our programmes. This is an opportunity to influence supplier strategy, negotiate high‑value contracts, and build long‑term partnerships that support the successful delivery of technologically advanced products in a fast‑paced, highly regulated environment. You will collaborate closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and programme teams to ensure materials and services are delivered on time, to specification, and in support of demanding operational and customer requirements.

Security Vetting Information

OpenWorks Engineering operates within the defence sector. As part of our recruitment and onboarding processes, we collect information that may be required to support future security vetting and clearance requirements, should these become necessary during employment.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, starting from £40,000, plus a discretionary annual bonus of up to 25% of salary alongside a structured pay progression framework.
• Up to 8% employer‑matched pension contributions to help you plan for the future.
• 25 days holiday plus public holidays, long‑service rewards, and the option to buy up to 5 extra days.
• Team breakfasts and freshly prepared lunches every day courtesy of the kitchen.
• Private healthcare and life assurance.
• Salary sacrifice schemes, including EV car and Cycle to Work options.
• Regular team social events, such as quiz nights, football, board games, and more.
• Annual learning budget of £250 to invest in development.

Responsibilities

• Managing end‑to‑end procurement activities for direct and indirect spend categories.
• Lead procurement activities for electronic components, mechanical assemblies, optics and associated componentry to support C‑UAS programmes.
• Identify, evaluate, select and onboard suppliers capable of meeting technical, commercial, quality and security requirements.
• Identify, develop and drive implementation of sourcing strategies that deliver value, reduce risk in line with business growth plans and associated objectives.
• Negotiate commercial terms, pricing and contractual agreements with suppliers.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with critical suppliers aiming to improve performance, quality, innovation, delivery and long‑term performance.
• Collaborate with engineering, programme management, manufacturing, quality, senior management and finance teams to support project delivery.
• Develop supplier performance through generation and ongoing management of KPIs to drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify supply chain risk including obsolescence, capacity constraints and geopolitical impacts.
• Manage cost‑saving initiatives and value engineering opportunities.
• Support new product introduction and strategic supply chain planning.
• Plan and conduct supplier audits to assess quality systems, process capability, regulatory compliance and operational performance whilst driving corrective actions where required.
• Ensure compliance with defence procurement regulations, export controls and internal governance processes.
• Drive data integrity improvement projects, reviewing and cleansing procurement and supplier master data to enhance accuracy, standardise records and improve reporting.
• Monitor market trends, supplier capabilities and industry developments to strengthen the supply base and support innovation.

Qualifications

• CIPS qualification: qualified or working towards desirable.
• 5+ years procurement experience in a senior role – defence, aerospace, electronics industry preferred but not essential.
• Strong curiosity, creativity, highly organised with attention to detail.
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to identify opportunities to mitigate supply chain risk and generate process efficiencies.
• Persistence, patience and resilience when working through complex supply chain issues with ability to generate supporting corrective action plans.
• Strong decision‑making and problem‑solving capability.
• Ability to balance cost, quality, delivery, security and compliance to achieve programme delivery success.
• Willingness to travel for short supplier visit trips.

Additional Information

No relocation requirement. A flexible work environment with a focus on professional growth and responsible procurement practices.