Senior Category Buyer

Leonardo; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology and engineering company based in Edinburgh is seeking a Senior Category Buyer to manage sourcing and supplier relationships in electronics procurement. The role entails defining category strategies, analyzing spend categories, and ensuring compliance with delivery and quality standards. The ideal candidate should have strong negotiation skills and experience in category management, with a commitment to continuous improvement. Competitive benefits and flexible working options are included.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Company-funded healthcare

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Pension scheme with employer contribution

Employee assistance programme

Discounted gym memberships

Free online courses access

Qualifications

• Experience in category management and procurement.
• Ability to analyze complex spend categories and market trends.
• Strong negotiation skills and supplier management experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement category strategies.
• Analyze spend categories and identify improvement actions.
• Negotiate with suppliers to ensure compliance and quality.

Skills

Supplier negotiation

Risk analysis

Market analysis

Strategic sourcing

Stakeholder management

Education

Relevant degree or equivalent

Job description

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A great opportunity has arisen to join the Electronics Procurement Category Management team. We are looking for an experienced Senior Category Buyer to join our electronics and interconnect & cable assemblies category. In this role, you will be responsible for sourcing, negotiating, and managing supplier and stakeholder relationships.

What you’ll do:

1. You will be responsible for defining and implementing your own category strategies.
2. Analyze the spend categories managed by the company, in terms of impact to business and category complexity, and identify potential actions for each category.
3. Develop, with a focus on continuous improvement, the strategic sourcing of suppliers to achieve cost reductions, ensure compliance with delivery deadlines, and maintain high supply quality.
4. Oversee suppliers and subcontractors at the program / LoB level, supporting verification of compliance with contractual performance, deadlines, and quality standards, and monitor the progress of supply contracts, identifying critical issues and defining recovery plans.
5. Support strategic Make or Buy (MoB) decisions regarding product development, vertical integration, and M&A strategies.
6. Conduct risk analyses for purchases by supplier or product to mitigate and prevent associated risks.
7. Support the definition and application of offset strategies leveraging knowledge of the supply market.
8. Assist the Sales function in developing economic offers related to external costs.
9. Analyze spend categories to assess impact and complexity, and identify potential actions per category.
10. Determine the optimal number and mix of suppliers for each region and category.
11. Coordinate with other company functions to provide purchasing solutions aligned with internal customer requests.
12. Analyze market trends per product category and conduct business intelligence activities to enhance supplier market knowledge.
13. Apply the most relevant sourcing strategy by macro-category.
14. Support tactical Make or Buy decisions to address production capacity issues and activate operational procurement if needed.
15. Define long-term sourcing strategies with suppliers, with support from the Procurement Program Manager.
16. Monitor supply contract progress, identify critical issues, and define recovery plans.

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Life at Leonardo

With a benefits package funded by the company, a commitment to learning and development, and flexible working hours tailored to employee and customer needs, a career with Leonardo offers numerous opportunities and accessibility.

• Flexible Working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part-time opportunities, please contact us.
• Company-funded flexible benefits: Access to private healthcare, dental schemes, Workplace ISA, Go Green Car Scheme, technology and lifestyle options (£500 annual allowance).
• Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays, with options to buy/sell leave and accrue up to 12 additional flexi leave days annually.
• Pension: Award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Wellbeing: Employee Assistance Programme offering free mental health support, financial wellbeing resources, and diversity & inclusion network groups (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing, and Ethnicity).
• Lifestyle: Discounted gym memberships, Cycle to Work scheme.
• Training: Free access to over 4,000 online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn.