Procurement Specialist / Category Buyer

Job description

Procurement Specialist / Category Buyer

Location: Milton Keynes

Rewarding Salary & Benefits

Procurement Specialist / Category Buyer (Indirect/Professional Services)

Milton Keynes

Rewarding Salary and Benefits

Home Retail Group, which compromises of Argos, Homebase and Habitat, has an opportunity for a talented and experienced Indirect Procurement Specialist/Category Buyer to join our Group Procurement function managing HR and Professional Services spend.

As the Procurement Specialist, you will have end to end involvement in the buying process for contracts totalling up to £100m by delivering best-in-classstrategies that align business priorities, supply market opportunities and deliver significant benefits to the business. You don’t need to have your CIPS but if this is something you would like to work towards than it’s something we would like to support you with as well as offering other development opportunities.

What you'll get in return:

Whilst rewarding you with a competitive salary, our benefits also include 24 days holiday, car allowance, share save, discretionary annual bonus (up to 10%), private healthcare, company pension, staff discounts and not to mention that you will be working in an exciting environment with the potential to develop your skills for a career that fits with your own aspirations through our various development programmes.

As the Procurement Specialist you can expect to:

1.Ensure the Home Retail Group scale is leveraged, aggregating all volumes across functions/business units, rationalising the supply base, moving to more standard specifications across the addressable spend.

2.Define the requirements of goods and services through to managing supplier relationships.

3.Support the users in developing specifications for the products or services for assigned categories being sourced whilst challenging requirements based on effective demand management tools and techniques.

4.Contribute to the development of the Group Procurement Department through initiating and implementing improved processes, systems and policies.

5.Manage the supply base in terms of supplier rationalisation and managing the key suppliers for the given area.

6.Act as a central point of expertise for all matters relating to procurement of the relevant category.

7.Maintain a working knowledge of both legislation and policies relating to defined categories.

8.Identify linkages with related functions (e.g. e-auctions, NMP, legal etc.) and distributed buyers, and building mechanisms to ensure successful collaboration.

To be successful in this role we ask that you have:

1.Extensive procurement experience which has delivered real value ideally within a large “blue chip” environment or organisation of similar size.

2.Knowledge of working with Indirect purchasing, most notably HR (temporary labour) and Professional Services.

3.Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

4.Strong interpersonal skills and ability to influence internal stakeholders at all levels.

5.Education to degree standard or similar/equivalent level of qualification in a relevant subject.

6.Strong negotiation skills.

7.Detailed knowledge of contract law, structuring & documentation of agreements

8.A willingness and desire to progress and develop your career, whilst having your CIPS/other industry qualification is highly desirable, it is not essential.

Home Retail Group

Home Retail Group is the UK's leading home and general merchandise retailer, with sales of over £5.8 billion in the last financial year. Our Argos and Homebase brands form part of an expanding network of stores throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with many exciting new developments in the pipeline.

You may have experience of any of the following: Procurement Specialist, Category Buyer, Indirects, Procurement Manager, Category Manager, Senior Buyer, Indirect Procurement, CIPS, Purchasing Manager, Commodity Buyer, Indirect Buyer, Category Management, HR, Professional Services etc…

What we hope you will do next

Please complete our short application process by clicking apply now.

Home Retail Group operates as an equal opportunities employer and we welcome all applications regardless of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, disability, age, political opinions or trade union membership