At Air Products, our purpose is to bring people together to reimagine what’s possible, collaborate and innovate solutions to the world’s most significant energy and environmental sustainability challenges. Grow with us as we embark on building tomorrow together by being the safest, most diverse and most profitable industrial gas company in the world.  

Reimagine What’s Possible 

Buyer

You will be responsible for managing supplier risks and costs for the procurement of commodities for both materials and services predominantly related to the facilities management and corporate commodity tail spend for the United Kingdom and Ireland Industrial Gases Business. The role will support our different business areas of production Air Separation Units, our Merchant Business for the customer engineering and packaged gases business units and support tail spend for commodities in these business areas as required/instructed. You will act as a relationship manager with certain  business  groups  and  stakeholders  to  ensure  that  procurement  is  fully  engaged  with  the business and service levels are maintained. Your role supports related commercial activities, in particular those focused on our suppliers and working with key suppliers to build a collaborative relationship. The role will be a split of tactical and strategic procurement. The aim is to deliver in the most efficient and effective manner to support our internal customers to enable the business to deliver to our customers.

What you will do:

•Analyse total spend on Procurement cards, and others spend that is managed outside the ERP system. Find opportunities to divert the spend to the current preferred supplier and/or put a framework agreement in place.

• Negotiate price, agree terms and conditions of purchase and process purchase order

•Identify trends within the tail end spend such as repeat purchases with the same suppliers, take action to consolidate the spend and where possible create framework agreements

.•Provide regular updates/reports to track progress.

•Reduce number of tail end spend suppliers in the UK/IE through consolidation, this will be one of the main KPI’s for the role

•Minimise supply risks by proactively identify high risk suppliers and deploying a risk mitigation plan.

•Raise  procurement’s  profile  with  the  organisation  by  effectively  communicating  with  stakeholders  and sharing successes stories.

•Drive  supplier  relation  management  initiatives  with  critical  suppliers  to  extract  the  best  value  through partnership and driving supplier innovation.

•Develop  category  plans  and  drive  execution  of  the  plan  for  cost  reduction,  risk  reduction  and  process improvement.

•Develop and implement sourcing strategies for the respective commodities within the deadlines.

•Develop and manage relationship with internal stakeholders, share and communicate the tail end spend category plan and provide regular updates.

•Participate in  service  level  review  agreements  for  the  major  contracts  with  suppliers  and  resolve commercial issues

•Identify  areas  for  improvement  in  procurement  to  pay  process  or  any  other  process  related  to  specific business units or commodities, propose, agree and implement the required change for improvements.

•Manage and resolve any conflicts / non-conformance with suppliers related to performance or other issues such as invoice discrepancy.

•Review terms and conditions for new contracts, work with legal team to ensure that all commercial and legal risks are mitigated through appropriate commercial and legal clauses.

Develop  relationship  with  stakeholders  to  understand  their  requirements  and  ensuring  procurement  is engaged early in the buying process

Drive change management projects and process standardisation across the region and take initiatives to eliminate waste by automating or digitalising the process where applicable.

Key skills and experience required:

•Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain or other discipline would be preferred.

•Experience within a supply chain related discipline preferred.

•SAP knowledge would be advantageous but not essential.

•Self-disciplined, self-motivated, demonstrated ability to work effectively with minimal direction, and good analytical skills

•“Hands on” working mentality.

•Demonstrate prioritization, planning, and follow-up skills in a multi-tasking environment.

•Excellent communication skills with ability to manage relationships at all levels in the organisation.

•Understanding of commercial terms and conditions •Capable of handling detailed contract negotiations

•Experience in leading and developing sourcing strategies.

We are the world’s largest hydrogen producer with over 80 years of industrial gas experience. We are hydrogen and industrial gas experts delivering safe, end-to-end solutions, investing in real, clean energy projects at scale, and driving the industry forward to generate a cleaner future. 

At Air Products, we work in an environment where we put safety first, diversity is essential, inclusion is our culture, and each person knows they belong and matter. To learn more, visit About Air Products.