Purchasing Director - Oxford

Purchasing Director jobs

A leader in the procurement department of a business, the Purchasing Director is responsible for ensuring that the goods and services a company acquires adhere to the relevant quality expectations, budgetary requirements and time scales.

Depending on the nature of the business, a Purchasing Director will oversee the procurement of assets like raw materials, consumer goods or components. They will work closely with colleagues to create a buying strategy and implement policies as appropriate.

In addition, Purchasing Directors will need to continuously monitor supplies, procedures and contracts, as well as customer buying trends in order to identify places for improvement and instigate effective changes that will benefit the company.

The skills required

Every decision that a Purchasing Director makes will ultimately affect the company's bottom line, not to mention customer satisfaction, so Purchasing Directors will need to be confident in their choices. Meanwhile, keen negotiation skills and a strong understanding of the market will be essential.

Successful candidates should have significant experience and organisation skills are a must. So is an ability to build strong relationships with suppliers and stakeholders.

You will also need to demonstrate your effectiveness as a leader - after all, it is likely that you will be heading up a team. Therefore, duties will include recruitment, training and development.

Purchasing Director Jobs in Oxford

The county town of Oxford and famous throughout the world for its university, Oxford is actually a thriving, self-contained city with a diversity of industries not directly related to its county status or education sector. It has been a successful city for so long that its architecture spans the millennia, and since much of the most important buildings were churches, it got the name “city of dreaming spires”.

Without doubt the university and its related activities (bars, cafes, hotels, shops, theatres etc.) is the key single employer of the city, and the university heritage also plays into its thriving tourism industry. All this contributes to the thriving nature of the city, which is busy all the year round.

But a major industry just to the south east of the city centre is car manufacturing, at the Cowley BMW plant, home of the new Mini. The plant used to be the Morris Motors plant during the First World War, and this attracted a railway and other communications to serve it. During World War Two the plant made training planes for the RAF. After the war mergers and acquisitions changed the company to BMC, then British Leyland, Austin Rover, the Rover Group and finally BMW (but locals still call the factory Morris’s).

With a thriving, ever changing population and various high-tech and heavy industries, Oxford often throws up Purchasing Director positions to help oil the wheels of commerce. It’s certainly an exciting place to live and work.

Popular locations

Search for Purchasing Director opportunities with Cast UK

As one of the UK's leading recruitment firms for procurement, logistics and supply chain jobs, the recruitment specialists at Cast UK endeavour to get to know our clients and candidates on an individual level. This helps us to understand the particular objectives and qualifications of each person and enables us to make the best matches for each vacancy.

What's more, we have extensive experience in our areas of expertise. In fact, all members of our team have worked in the industry themselves, so they have a good understanding of what makes the right candidate for each role.

So if you're ready to take your next step on the career ladder, look no further than Cast UK. To find out more about how Cast UK can help you recruit a Purchasing Director for your business or find you a job as a Purchasing Director then contact one of our consultant team on 0333 121 3345.

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