Buyer
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Buyer
£32,000 - £35,000 + 6% Pension + Progression + Training + Company Benefits
South Molton
Are you a Buyer from a manufacturing background or similar, looking to join a well-established company that offers specialist training, long-term progression and excellent company benefits?
On offer is the opportunity to join a growing business supplying engineering, maintenance and manufacturing support solutions to a range of clients. The company is known for investing in its employees through ongoing development and providing clear progression opportunities within a supportive working environment.
In this role, you will be responsible for sourcing and procuring engineering, facility and manufacturing spare parts and services to ensure continuity of production. You will react to purchase requisitions, place purchase orders, expedite deliveries and liaise closely with maintenance and technical teams to resolve supply chain issues. This is a Monday to Friday role, 8:00am - 5:30pm.
This role would suit a Purchasing Assistant, Buyer or similar with experience in a fast-paced manufacturing environment looking to develop their career within a stable and growing company.
The Role:
- Managing purchase requisitions for ad-hoc and inventory-controlled items
- Sourcing and procuring engineering, maintenance and factory consumable products and services
- Placing purchase orders and maintaining accurate purchasing records
- Office based
- Monday to Friday, 8:00am - 5:30pm
The Person:
- Purchasing Assistant, Buyer or similar background
- Experience within manufacturing, engineering or industrial environments
- Strong negotiation and communication skills
- Commutable to South Molton
Reference number: BBBH24772D
Key words: Buyer, Procurement, Purchasing Assistant, Purchasing, Procurement Coordinator, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, Maintenance, Consumables, Logistics, Purchaser, Buying, Engineering Buyer, South Molton, North Molton, Barnstaple
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates. The salary advertised is a guideline for this position. The offered remuneration will be dependent on the extent of your experience, qualifications, and skill set.
Ernest Gordon Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job, you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at our website.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with your manufacturing or engineering procurement background, as the advert explicitly requires experience in manufacturing, engineering or industrial environments.
📊 Quantify your purchasing activity: e.g. 'Managed 150+ purchase orders per month, reducing delivery delays by 22% through proactive expediting.'
🎯 Mirror the advert's exact terminology — use 'purchase requisitions', 'expedite deliveries' and 'factory consumables' in your CV bullet points to pass ATS screening.
🔧 Highlight any experience liaising with maintenance or technical teams, as the role specifically requires cross-functional collaboration to resolve supply chain issues.
🌐 If you have experience with inventory-controlled items or MRP/ERP systems used in manufacturing, name them explicitly — this differentiates you from general purchasing candidates.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Processed 120+ purchase requisitions per month for engineering spare parts and maintenance consumables, maintaining 98% on-time order placement across a 3-site manufacturing operation.
- •Expedited 40 critical deliveries over a 6-month period, preventing 5 production stoppages and saving an estimated £18,000 in downtime costs.
- •Renegotiated terms with 8 key consumables suppliers, achieving an average 7% cost reduction and reducing lead times by 3 days across the engineering category.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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Letter preview — tailored to Ernest Gordon Recruitment Limited
Dear Hiring Manager,
Procuring engineering spare parts and maintenance consumables in a manufacturing environment is where I have built my career — which is precisely why the Buyer position at Ernest Gordon Recruitment's client in South Molton caught my attention. The requirement to manage purchase requisitions, expedite deliveries and liaise with technical teams to maintain production continuity maps directly onto the work I do daily.
My background in manufacturing procurement has given me hands-on experience placing and tracking purchase orders, sourcing engineering and facility consumables from both established and alternative suppliers, and resolving supply chain disruptions under time pressure. I am comfortable working cross-functionally with maintenance and operations teams to prioritise urgent requirements without compromising longer-term inventory planning.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you manage a purchase requisition from receipt to order placement — what systems or processes do you use?
- ›How do you prioritise expediting when multiple deliveries are late simultaneously and production continuity is at risk?
- ›Describe your approach to sourcing engineering spare parts or maintenance consumables when a preferred supplier cannot fulfil an order.
- ›What methods do you use to maintain accurate purchasing records and ensure audit-trail compliance?
- ›How have you used inventory control data to inform your procurement decisions and reduce stock-outs or overstock?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you resolved a critical supply chain issue that threatened production — what did you do and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you successfully negotiated better terms or pricing with a supplier. How did you approach it?
- ›Give an example of when you had to manage competing priorities from different internal teams (e.g. maintenance vs. production). How did you handle it?
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a problem with a supplier's performance and the steps you took to address it.
- ›Describe a time you had to learn a new product category or technical area quickly to fulfil a procurement need. How did you get up to speed?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you resolved a critical supply chain issue that threatened production — what did you do and what was the outcome?
Describe a situation where you successfully negotiated better terms or pricing with a supplier. How did you approach it?