Procurement Specialist in Burgess Hill, West Sussex

Procurement Specialist

Company – Life science biospecimen provider

Location – Burgess Hill (Hybrid; 2-3 days a week onsite)

Salary - £29,000 - £32,000

Contract – Permanent and full time

UK Work Eligibility – Visa sponsorship is not available, applicants must not require future visa sponsorship.

Our client is a biospecimen provider, sourcing, supplying and distributing a vast array of human and animal tissues in disease and non-disease states. The work they do is vital to supporting the research into disease and enabling new treatments across all disease areas.

Due to team expansion, they are seeking an experienced purchasing / procurement / sourcing professional to coordinate the procurement of biospecimen from sister and external organisations to ensure customer orders are fulfilled in full and on time.

This is a full-time and permanent position requiring someone with two years or more experience in sourcing, procurement or purchasing and (ideally) a knowledge of biological sciences.

The Role

As a Procurement Specialist, you will be responsible for:

• Overseeing the sourcing of a wide range of biospecimens from a range of sister and external organisations to fulfil customer orders on time and in full.
• Understanding the portfolio of biospecimens on offer.
• Liaising with clients to provide updates on order status, estimated order completion dates and  solving any issues or queries.
• Acting as the subject matter expert for procurement and biospecimen sourcing enquiries; you will handle escalations and provide solutions to any procurement related issues.
• Contacting suppliers to enquire about pricing, availability and technical specification of products.
• Maintenance and development of strong relationships with internal stakeholders, as well as external suppliers.
• Occasional training of other members of the procurement team.
• Updating key supplier information and liaising with quality assurance to maintain supplier approval.

The Candidate

In order to be successful in this position, the candidate will have:

• 2+ years of experience in a similar procurement or purchasing role. We would also consider those who have 2+ years of experience in proactive order fulfilment where frequent client interactions have been part of the role (essential).
• Extensive experience in problem solving and acting in a proactive manner. You should be able to demonstrate where you have identified potential pinch points which may interfere with order completion and where you have solved these pinch points (essential).
• Strong communication skills (essential), prior experience in communicating order updates with customers (desired).
• Experience in using ERP systems (ideally Sage X3, but others are fine) (essential).
• Prior experience in life sciences or technical understanding of different types of  biological samples, this may have been gained during a degree, further education, or in employment (desired).
• Full right to work in the UK without the need for visa sponsorship now, or in the future (essential – visa sponsorship is NOT available).

The Package

This is a full time and permanent opportunity, on a hybrid basis of 2-3 days a week onsite. Salary will range between £29,000 - £32,000 depending on interview performance and experience, with discretionary bonus, 25 days holiday (+ bank holidays), private healthcare, life assurance, pension contributions and free onsite parking.