Procurement Manager (Purchasing Manager)
A Procurement Manager is responsible for ensuring that a company has a clear purchasing strategy when purchasing goods so that they meet budgetary and other operational requirements of the company and that this buying strategy is adhered to. Some companies require suppliers to meet certain standards such as ISO accreditation and the Procurement Manager will be responsible for ensuring that suppliers meet these requirements from a Procurement perspective and an Ethical Compliance perspective.
Typical day to day tasks undertaken by a Procurement Manager might include producing tenders, forecasting future business needs (Opex or Capex) by liaising with internal colleagues, researching potential suppliers, supplier onboarding, developing and maintaining relationships with key suppliers, monitoring the timely delivery of products and services and ensuring all projects meet financial, legal and regulatory compliance. If the Procurement Manager has a team of staff, she/he will also need to manage, motivate and support the team.
Skills & Experience Required for a Career in Procurement
- A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject such as science, business, project management or supply chain
- An additional professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply would be helpful
- Good working knowledge of Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems, for either Capital Expenditure (Capex) or Operational Expenditure (OpEx) and strong general IT skills.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to communicate with influence colleagues, clients and suppliers
- Good negotiating skills to achieve the best price from suppliers.
- Understanding of OpEx / Capex budget management processes
Salary Levels/Career Progression
Although a degree and several years’ experience would typically be required for a Procurement or Purchasing manager position, there are opportunities for non-graduates to have a career in Procurement or Purchasing. Typical entry level roles might include Buyer’s Assistant, Junior Buyer, Buyer, Finance Assistant or Procurement Assistant.
A Procurement Manager in a large organisation may have the opportunity to progress to roles such as Head Buyer, Head of Procurement, Director of Procurement and Purchasing or similar. Salaries of a typical Procurement Manager start in the region of £45k upward dependent on the size of the organisation and location.
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in south East England to the south of London and bordered by the English Channel to the south. Major towns in East Sussex include Brighton and Hove, Lewes, Eastbourne, Rye and Hastings. Transport links in East Sussex are not particularly good as there are no motorways, but this doesn’t stop thousands of people visiting the beautiful coastline, rolling countryside and cosmopolitan Brighton, which means that the tourism industry is a major employer in this area. Other industries that are prominent in East Sussex include Pharmaceuticals, low carbon technologies, publishing, web & app design and Medical Communications. The otherwise quiet town of Lewes hosts the largest bonfire Night celebrations in the UK during which burning crosses and effigies are paraded through the town by 7 separate bonfire societies, watched by crowds of up to 80,000.
East Sussex has a School of Life Science which is a diverse, collaborative community with expertise in areas as varied as cancer biology, drug discovery, neurosciene and biodiversity. The University of Sussex is a leading research-intensive university near Brighton. We have both an international and local outlook, with staff and students from more than 100 countries and frequent engagement in community activities and services.
East Sussex has a small but growing life sciences and healthcare cluster of companies specialising in the research, development and manufacture of medical devices, biotechnology, poharmaceutical products and preparations and natural science and engineering research.
Daval International Ltd in Eastbourne focuses on the development and delivery of new treatments for neuro-degenerative, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Companies also supply specialist services and instruments for life science labs and biotechnology industries. These include temperature monitoring systems (QCBug) and bespoke software solutions (Biomedical Computing Ltd).
Famous people born in East Sussex: Jo Brand, comedienne and Katie Price, “celebrity”
East Sussex is a great place to further your career in life sciences. If you are a looking for pharmaceutical jobs in East Sussex, scientific careers in East Sussex or want to discuss cell therapy, gene therapy, ATMP, medical device, technology, biotech or pharmaceutical job opportunities in East Sussex, give our Next Phase team a call. The East Sussex area is continuing to expand as a centre for jobs in science, process development, technology, software development, project management, informatics, quality, reg affairs and supply chain.
At Next Phase we help people find new jobs in life sciences across the UK, Europe and USA. This page lists some of the job opportunities in East Sussex, and if you give us a call we can also talk to you about other scientific jobs, pharmaceutical career opportunities and the latest updates in cell and gene therapy and ATMP development in the East Sussex area.
