Senior Buyer

Senior Buyer - Ingredients & Packaging Procurement

Location: Berkshire

Food Manufacturing - Multi-Site - High-Impact FMCG Environment

Salary: £45-50,000 + benefits + career opportunities + CPD (CIPS)

A highly respected and rapidly evolving UK food manufacturing business is seeking an exceptional Buyer to take ownership of strategically critical procurement categories across ingredients and packaging (approximately £20m portfolio) within a fast-paced FMCG manufacturing environment.

The organisation operates within a dynamic food manufacturing environment supplying both retail and B2B channels, where procurement plays a central role in protecting margin, maintaining continuity of supply, driving innovation, and supporting wider commercial performance.

This is not a transactional buying role.

It requires a commercially astute, strategically minded procurement professional capable of operating across supplier markets, manufacturing operations, finance, planning, technical, NPD, and commercial teams to deliver measurable business impact.

The Opportunity

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• Develop and execute category strategies aligned to wider business objectives
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• Manage supplier performance, cost control, and security of supply across critical spend areas
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• Operate confidently within volatile commodity and ingredient markets
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• Lead commercial negotiations with both UK and international suppliers
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• Identify opportunities for value creation beyond simple cost reduction
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• Support working capital and inventory optimisation initiatives
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• Drive supplier innovation into the wider business
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• Partner closely with operational stakeholders to support service, production, and customer requirements
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• Build robust procurement governance whilst maintaining pace and agility
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• The role requires someone capable of balancing strategic thinking with operational execution.
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Key Areas of Responsibility

Strategic Procurement & Category Management

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• Develop robust procurement category strategies across allocated areas of spend
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• Create short, medium, and long-term sourcing plans aligned to business growth and operational requirements
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• Continuously analyse supplier markets, commodity movements, inflationary pressures, & broader market dynamics
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• Identify opportunities to reduce total cost of ownership whilst protecting quality and service
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• Lead strategic sourcing activity including tendering, benchmarking, supplier rationalisation, and contract negotiations
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• Deliver procurement savings, value improvement initiatives, and margin enhancement opportunities
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• Build contingency planning and mitigation strategies for supply chain risk
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• Ensure continuity of supply across critical operational categories
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• Support procurement transformation and continuous improvement initiatives
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Supplier Management & Commercial Leadership

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• Build strong strategic relationships with key suppliers and manufacturing partners
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• Lead supplier negotiations
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• Conduct supplier performance reviews and drive accountability through structured KPIs
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• Introduce joint business planning approaches with strategically important suppliers
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• Drive supplier-led innovation into the business
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• Challenge underperformance and implement corrective action where required
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• Collaborate with suppliers on cost engineering and value optimisation initiatives
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Operational & Cross-Functional Partnership

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• Work closely with manufacturing, planning, technical, finance, commercial, and NPD functions to support business objectives
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• Support service continuity and minimise operational disruption through proactive supplier and inventory management
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• Participate in business-critical operational and supply chain meetings
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• Contribute to working capital reduction initiatives
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• Ensure procurement decisions balance commercial objectives with operational realities
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• Support launch activity, customer requirements, and business growth initiatives
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Market Intelligence & Risk Management

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• Monitor commodity and ingredient markets continuously
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• Forecast pricing movements and supplier market trends
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• Assess geopolitical, agricultural, economic, and supply chain risks
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• Provide commercial insight and market intelligence to internal stakeholders
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• Support budget planning and forecasting activity with accurate procurement analysis
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• Develop proactive risk mitigation strategies across categories
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The Candidate

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• Degree educated and a minimum of CIPS Level 3 or 4
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• This role requires an experienced FMCG procurement professional with strong food manufacturing or FMCG exposure
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• Progressive procurement and category management experience within FMCG manufacturing
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• Experience purchasing ingredients, raw materials, commodities, and packaging
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• Experience operating within food manufacturing or complex manufacturing supply chains
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• Strong negotiation capability across supplier relationships
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• Excellent commercial acumen and analytical capability
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• Experience managing volatile commodity-driven categories
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• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
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• The ability to operate with pace, resilience, and accountability
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• A highly collaborative approach combined with the confidence to challenge constructively
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• Strong understanding of procurement governance, supplier management, and category strategy
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• The ability to balance strategic thinking with operational responsiveness
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Personal Attributes

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• Commercially sharp and analytically minded
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• Proactive and solutions focused
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• Comfortable operating within fast-moving manufacturing environments
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• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
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• Confident influencing cross-functional stakeholders
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• Capable of managing competing priorities effectively
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• Collaborative whilst able to challenge appropriately
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• Driven to continuously improve processes, performance, and outcomes
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• Resilient under pressure and calm within operationally demanding situations
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Why This Opportunity?

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• Significant exposure across the wider business
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• The opportunity to influence strategic procurement direction
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• Ownership of commercially important categories
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• A collaborative and fast-paced FMCG environment
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• Strong long-term career development potential
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• The ability to make a visible and measurable impact
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