Procurement Officer

Location: Totton

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Term: Full time

Primary Responsibilities

1. Production Critical Materials Management (The "Seat")

● TBR Management: Maintain a laser focus on the Production Schedule, specifically the TBR Board. Ensure all material required for the next 300 hours of production is physically in-house. Ensure all materials for the subsequent 300 hours are ordered and tracked for on-time delivery.

● Kanban & Stock Control: Guarantee optimal stock levels for all raw materials, cutting tools, and common consumables. Maintain agreed-upon stock levels for all Kanban items to prevent production stoppages (stockouts) while avoiding unnecessary holding costs (overstock).

● Fast Track Order Management: Process and expedite all Fast-Track material orders within two working days to minimise disruption to high-priority projects.

2. Strategic Sourcing & Supply Chain Resilience

● Supplier Identification & Vetting: Proactively identify and qualify vendors for critical items, including specialist alloys, plastics, and CNC tooling. Selection criteria must rigorously prioritise lead-time consistency and proven reliability over unit cost.

● Resilience Planning: Actively develop and maintain a comprehensive "Plan B" (secondary) supplier list for all critical path materials to mitigate immediate and future supply chain interruptions.

● Forward Ordering Strategy: Negotiate Blanket Orders with deferred Purchase Orders (POs) to lock in favourable pricing and secure capacity at the mill/supplier, thereby guaranteeing future material availability without premature inventory accumulation.

● TCO Focus: Focus negotiations on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Accept a slightly higher material price if the vendor provides added value, such as pre-cut blanks, that save internal process time (e.g., sawing) and labour costs.

3. Purchasing Operations & Financial Control

● Preparing and issuing RFQs

● PO Management & Tracking: Meticulously generate, track, and expedite all Purchase Orders (POs). Flag and communicate any potential delivery delays to the Production and COO teams immediately.

● Invoice & Delivery Vetting: Reconcile goods received against the corresponding POs. Resolve all specification, quantity, or delivery discrepancies immediately to prevent credit holds that could jeopardise future supply.

● Contract Negotiation: Negotiate commercial agreements, pricing, and payment terms to achieve maximum value, maintain strong supplier relationships, and ensure legal and regulatory compliance.

4. Quality Assurance & Compliance

● Specification Assurance: Ensure strict enforcement of technical specifications.

● Certification Control: Guarantee that correct Mill Certifications (certs) are received, validated, and archived for every metal shipment, with records accurately associated with the machined part data.

● Supplier Performance Monitoring: Conduct regular, minimum quarterly reviews of all critical suppliers. Evaluation must be based on two core metrics:

○ Reliability: Did they deliver the correct quantity, on the correct date, as promised?

○ Quality: Did the material meet the agreed technical specifications and certification requirements?

Essential Skills & Experience

● Proven experience as a Procurement Officer or similar role within a manufacturing or engineering environment is mandatory.

● Demonstrable expertise in sourcing raw materials, alloys, and/or CNC tooling.

● Expert-level ability in:

○ Supplier Evaluation and Risk Management.

○ Contract, pricing, terms, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiation.

○ Proactive Supplier Relationship Management.

● Strong practical understanding of logistics, inventory management (JIT/Kanban), and demand planning.

● Exceptional accuracy and meticulous attention to detail, particularly in specification checks and PO tracking.

● Clear, professional, and effective written and verbal communication skills.

● Strong background in IT automation and AI

● A strong background in leveraging IT automation and AI to improve efficiency..