Buyer

Location: Burton upon Trent
Salary: £32,000 - £37,000 per annum (depending on experience)

Join a growing business where your purchasing expertise can make a real impact.

We are looking for an experienced Buyer to join our Purchasing team and play a key role in sourcing innovative products, developing supplier partnerships, and ensuring customers receive the right products at the right time.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys negotiating with suppliers, identifying new sourcing opportunities, improving supply chain performance and working collaboratively across multiple departments. You'll have the chance to influence purchasing strategy while contributing to the continued growth of the business.

The Role

As a Buyer, you will be responsible for managing supplier relationships, sourcing new products, supporting product development, and maintaining excellent product availability. Working closely with the Supply Chain Director and Supply & Demand Planning team, you'll help drive commercial improvements while maintaining high standards of quality, compliance and customer satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities

Supplier & Purchasing Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with existing and new suppliers.
• Negotiate competitive pricing, lead times, minimum order quantities (MOQs) and commercial terms.
• Identify and develop new sourcing opportunities to improve supply chain resilience.
• Monitor supplier performance and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
• Develop a thorough understanding of supplier capabilities, manufacturing processes and product ranges.
• Support supplier development and strategic partnership initiatives.

Inventory & Supply

• Work closely with the Supply & Demand Planner to maintain high product availability.
• Monitor inventory levels, demand forecasts and supplier lead times.
• Help achieve departmental KPIs relating to availability, cost and supplier performance.
• Support projects that simplify the supply base and improve operational efficiency.

Product Development

• Collaborate with Product Development and Design teams to source and develop new products.
• Manage product sample timelines for photography, marketing and catalogue production.
• Carry out competitor and market research to identify new opportunities.
• Negotiate target product margins through effective sourcing and supplier negotiations.

Quality & Compliance

• Develop knowledge of relevant product safety standards and compliance requirements.
• Coordinate product samples throughout the development process.
• Work alongside the Quality team to resolve product quality issues.
• Participate in supplier reviews and audits to ensure quality and performance standards are maintained.

About You

We're looking for someone who is commercially minded, organised and passionate about building strong supplier relationships.

You'll ideally have:

• A minimum of 3 years' buying or purchasing experience within a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent negotiation and supplier management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• The ability to prioritise workloads and meet deadlines.
• A proactive approach with excellent attention to detail.
• A full UK driving licence.

Desirable

• CIPS qualification.
• Experience within retail, educational products or consumer goods.
• Knowledge of operational supply chain processes.
• Mail order or catalogue experience.
• Additional European language skills (such as Polish or Latvian).

What We Offer

• Competitive salary of £32,000 - £37,000, depending on experience.
• A collaborative and supportive working environment.
• The opportunity to influence supplier strategy and product development.
• Career development within a growing business.
• The chance to work with a varied international supplier base and make a genuine impact on business performance.

If you're an experienced Buyer looking for your next challenge and want to be part of a business where your ideas and expertise will be valued, we'd love to hear from you.