Senior Buyer
| Job title: |
Senior Buyer |
| Sector: |
Accounting & Auditing |
| Salary: |
£14.00 per hour |
| Reference number: |
MJ7427 |
| Contract type: |
Temporary |
| Job validation: |
Randstad Job Advertisment |
job description
Main Job Purpose
• Supporting the Procurement Management Team to ensure that the internal customers receive the goods and services they need in a timely manner ensuring that the blood supply to our hospital customers is not at risk.
• To receive customer demands, interpret those requests, ensuring that the appropriate procurement method is applied, resulting in best value for money procurement on its non-pay expenditure
• The Procurement Team is a front line critical support service to the Organisation, the post holder as a member of that Team is required to resolve and expedite queries and issues as they arise. Good communication and negotiation skills are essential and will be complimented with tact and diplomacy.
•
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Communication
1. To develop and maintain excellent supplier relationships, creating professional working relationships that ensure the company is treated as a “Preferred Customer”. This is essential in times of short supply or emergency situations.
2. The Senior Buyer must ensure that they consult with their manager when a customer demand for product of high risk or complex nature is requisitioned.
3. Workings closely with other colleagues in the contracting teams to support their contracts when order placing. To keep up to date with contract changes and executing purchase orders against the current contract details.
Knowledge
5. To develop and maintain commercial, financial and legal knowledge and awareness of constantly changing markets, informing the Management Team of issues and changes that affect the market.
6. To have knowledge, understand and follow Public Procurement Regulations and company Policies and Procedures relating to Procurement.
7. To be knowledgeable in using Oracle and Microsoft Packages and to further develop that knowledge.
Analysis and Judgement
8. The Senior Buyer must ensure that company and/or Government contracts are always utilised where appropriate to obtain maximum economies of scale and ensure the right terms and conditions are applied.
9. To undertake quotation exercises in their entirety, to interpret the responses into spreadsheets to assist with the evaluation. Investigate and clarify queries and bring complex issues to the immediate attention of the management team. Ensuring that the data is presented in a clear and precise manner to facilitate the purchasing decision.
10. To negotiate best value for money purchases and low value procurement requests nominally below £20,000. To monitor such requests in order that the management team can identify areas suitable for contracting.
11. Assist and prepare, analyse and interpret and investigate quotation data, whole life cycle costs highlighting any potential issues to the management team. Support the evaluation process, offer professional procurement guidance to the customer in the decision making outcome. Ensuring the customers assumptions to achieve best value for money decisions are always made. This must be undertaken with tact and diplomacy, as the customer will have technical expertise and may be the budget manager.
Planning and Organising
12. The post holder must ensure that they plan their workload and day in such a way to ensure that all purchase orders are raised in a timely manner as specified and agreed in the Procurement Customer Service Level Agreement. The buyer must ensure that emergency demands are given priority.
13. When directed by the management team attend and assist at meetings as appropriate, including preparation of agenda, invites to attendees and minute taking.
14. To meet the requirements of the Personal Development Plan and attend training and development courses when required.
Physical Duties
15. Requires excellent keyboard and IT skills to input commercial data into Oracle, databases and spreadsheets.
Patient/Client Care
16. Develop consultation with customer departments, to ensure that all arrangements reflect customer requirements.
17. Subject to all commercial policies and procedures ensure that goods and services ordered meet the requirements of the customer.
18. To be the first line of contact for queries and enquires, deal with them in an appropriate and timely manner ensuring that the customer is kept informed at all times, resolving and closing customer/supplier problems in such a manner that satisfies all parties (including invoice queries).
Policy and Service Development Implementation
19. The Senior Buyer must aggregate all demands to the correct supplier, consolidating the requests to one order to ensure a reduction in the number of low value orders raised (this is a Government mandated requirement). To reduce process costs within the company (including order, delivery and invoice).
20. To ensure that all quotation and order activity is in accordance with Public Procurement Regulations, Standing Orders, Standing Financial Instructions and Purchasing Procedures.
21. Assist and implement best practice as directed by the management team.
22. Liaise with the Quality Directorate as appropriate in order to ascertain current NBA quality standards applicable to product/service and ensuring supplier meet these standards.
Responsibility for Resources (physical equipment and financial equipment and financial resources)
23. Responsible for authorising invoice queries within current procedures.
24. Responsible for authorisation of Standard Purchase Orders to the Value of £2,500 and Blanket Releases to £5,000.
Human Resources
25. Support and assist the Buyer Section Supervisor and the Assistant Purchasing Manager in providing work and guidance to buyers.
26. Share knowledge with colleagues as and when required.
Information
27. Purchase Orders are legally binding documents, and as such attention to detail is of paramount importance. If errors are made the customer may receive more or less in quantity; or the incorrect goods and or the goods may be delivered to the wrong location. Mistake of this nature put the blood supply and put patients at risk.
28. Maintain purchasing records and documents in an auditable format.
29. Disseminate purchasing information to the customer departments as appropriate in a timely manner to ensure that order and invoice information is accurate.
30. To make and record savings as they are identified, either as cost reduction and or cost avoidance and assist with the collation of savings reports on a monthly basis.
31. To use IT word-processing, spreadsheets, databases to maintain accurate records. The buyer will routinely (for long hours at a stretch), use the Oracle Financials System, this system is complex.
32. Input all contract award data (Government contracts) onto Oracle, maintain and manipulate the data to ensure electronic catalogues are up to date and factual at all times.
Research and Development
33. Support the management team in monitoring on a regular basis the performance of suppliers. To include research; obtaining trading information from Oracle, obtaining information from customers on supplier performance, setting up and administering review meetings.
34. The Senior Buyer will help and assist the customer to source goods, they will advise where contracts are available and on market/supplier availability.
35. To carry out cost analysis, market research and bench marking of goods and services.
Decision Making / Freedom to Act
36. To support the Purchasing Systems & Operations Team in the negotiation of effective purchasing arrangements with suppliers for commercial goods and services. Maximising the cost benefits to the company and ensuring that the appropriate conditions of contract are in place.
37. To be responsible for raising and progressing Purchase Orders, whilst ensuring every order represents best value for money in all its aspects. Including approval of purchase orders up to the value of £5,000 against contracts and £2,500 outside of contract.
38.