Ontic, a leading licensor and manufacturer of complex engineering parts for the global aerospace and defence industries, are now recruiting for a Senior Buyer to join our team. Ontic is a more than just a business, we're a community of innovators who pride ourselves on fostering a culture where talent thrives, ideas flourish, and careers are built. We're committed to excellence, driving us to continuously improve and adapt, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of our industry. Job Purpose: As a senior buyer you will be a working team leader (estimated 80% working:20% managing) responsible for the quality, cost and delivery performance of the suppliers allocated to your team and Product lines. You will be responsible for ensuring your team’s purchased parts and/or services are supplied on time to support OE production and spares requirements in line with business needs. You will be required to lead specific supplier relationships, assess and manage supply risks by identifying and implementing countermeasures to mitigate or eliminate any risks to supply. Point of escalation for issues in your team. You may also be required to manage the introduction of new suppliers with the support of the category management and SQA teams in line with the business Source Change process. Main Responsibilities: A working team leader responsible for the direct management of a small team to service the allocated Product lines. Accountable for managing your team and completing tasks to manage the RFQ process and negotiations to convert purchase demand into purchase orders after appropriately evaluating vendor capability, price, delivery needs, and vendor performance. Accountable for managing your team’s allocated suppliers’ orderbook management to ensure the on-time-delivery of purchased parts from vendors, to meet the business and customer requirements. Main point of contact for supply chain related issues on managed product lines. Responsible for the team keeping the business ERP system up to date with supplier delivery commitments to allow system planning accuracy. Responsible for ensuring purchasing master data is maintained within ERP for the team’s suppliers. Responsible for ensuring effective working with engineering and quality to resolve issues impact purchased parts. Responsible for resolving invoice queries with the accounts payable team. Organise and lead supplier business reviews to monitor and improve supplier performance. Undertake supplier site visits as and when required to ensure accurate orderbook management and supplier engagement. Project and communicate cost variances, positive or negative, and deliver opportunities for total cost of acquisition reduction suggestions and plans to support business financial budgets. Other Responsibilities: Ensure compliance to all business policies and procedures and where applicable offer suggestions for continuous improvement of processes. Ensure compliance to regulatory requirements for suppliers, ethical trading standards and flow down of customer quality and delivery terms as required by the business. Undertake other duties commensurate with the role that may be required to support business needs. Educational Background: 5 years of experience in a purchasing role Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field Knowledge, Skills & Experience: Excellent negotiation, organisational and communication skills Commercially minded with an ability to deliver “outside of the box” solutions to commercial problems. Positive can-do attitude Total cost of acquisition analytical skills Strong IT skills, including working knowledge of MS office and ERP systems (Syteline preferred but not essential) Ability to be self-motivated and a confident decision maker within business approval guidelines Capability to work independently and as part of a team cross functionally and within the function demonstrating respect and understanding. Benefits At Ontic we care about your financial, physical, and mental wellness so we offer a range of benefits to support this, we care about what matters to you and have a valued culture of recognition and empowerment, accompanied by benefits that support work/life balance. Our benefits package highlights include: Up to 37 days paid leave 10 hours paid volunteering time Annual goal share bonus scheme for all employees 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Discounts and offers from a range of retailers Best place to work We are more than the sum of our parts. And we’ve been recognised internally and externally for being so: We were ranked 9 in Best Companies’ Q3 leaderboard for Best Manufacturing Company based on our employee feedback 72.5% of employees who took part in our 2023 employee satisfaction survey said they are proud to work at Ontic No day is the same at Ontic; we have doubled in size over the last couple of years and are still in rapid growth. We attribute our success to empowering colleagues to create the opportunity, fostering an environment of autonomy where we ask for forgiveness, not permission. Our values Our values are intrinsic to everything we do: We share a common sense - we’re a global family of specialists with a shared passion for precision. We have the freedom to choose - we’re challengers and innovators with the freedom to think differently and challenge the status quo. We create the opportunity - we’re change-makers with a clear direction and can-do spirit. We are a fast-paced business with ambitious growth plans; so, if you are dedicated, enthusiastic and always seeking ways to improve, you'll enjoy a career with us We are a fast-paced business with ambitious growth plans; so if you are dedicated, enthusiastic and always seeking ways to improve, you'll enjoy a career with us