Senior Category Buyer

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

There's never been a more exciting time to join National Grid's Global Procurement function. With a spend of c.$4 billion worth of contracts to be awarded per annum in the UK & US, we are a strong team of talented professionals with a clear mission: to enable a clean, fair, and affordable energy future through commercial, responsible, and innovative supply chain leadership.

Working as a Senior Buyer you will be responsible for developing, implementing robust Category Strategies that are vital to the business. This will involve engaging and building strong working relationships with stakeholders to identify business needs and then ensuring we understand the supply chains so we can offer the best solutions for National Grid.

You will play a key part within the Global Direct Team focused on a variety of direct buying activities. Day to day, you'll be working within the US & UK global procurement team, playing a key part in helping our business towards our Net Zero targets.

This is a global role where you will be working across various National Grid locations within the US and the UK and will therefore involve international travel, and would be ideal for any candidate with procurement, commercial or contract management experience.

* Comfortable working in a global function and managing global suppliers
* Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to manage contracts end to end, from conception through to completion, identifying risks early, implementing mitigation plans, and maximising opportunities to drive value.
* Strengthening relationships, influencing external stakeholders and enhancing National Grid's reputation.
* Role model excellence in procurement standards, taking a proactive role in mentoring / providing guidance to Buyers and Associate Buyers where needed to ensure best-in-class methodologies are adopted and utilised across National Grid Global Procurement and system knowledge is shared.
* Act as the commercial lead on supplier contracts, providing expert commercial leadership across a diverse portfolio to maximise contract efficiency, performance and value
* Proactively build, develop and maintain strong strategic partnerships with suppliers and contractors
* Partner with and coach suppliers to encourage new market entrants, supporting the availability of equipment that meets required standards of quality, cost and performance.
* Lead the implementation of Supplier and Contractor Performance Management processes, monitoring contract delivery, reporting on performance, with the ability to analyse KPIs and contract data, to support commercial decision making and escalating issues where required.

* Procurement experience within large similar organisations
* Experience of strategic sourcing and category management.
* An understanding of project management principles and ideally evidence of managing multiple projects and consistently delivering outstanding results.
* Experience of contract development, negotiating and managing supplier contractual arrangements, including the ability to make recommendations and amendments to existing contracts as well as drafting new ones.
* Ability to manage stakeholder communications independently at all levels.
* Ability to build and manage complex commercial assessment models
* Strong interpersonal and communication skills, capable of leading and influencing a large, devolved team.
* Understanding of switchgear or related category would be beneficial

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