Job Description:

Purchasing Administrator

Location: Heywood, Greater Manchester
Salary: Circa £30,000 per annum
Hours: Monday to Thursday, flexible start between 7am–8am | Friday, 7am–12pm
Holidays: 33 days including bank holidays

The Opportunity

We're working with a well-established, growing engineering and manufacturing business based in Heywood who are looking to bring a Purchasing Administrator into their team.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a business that's going through an exciting period of growth, with a genuinely positive working environment and a great mix of experienced staff and younger talent coming through the ranks.

With around 35 people on site, it's a close-knit team where people know each other, hard work is recognised and there's a real emphasis on looking after their staff. Some employees have been with the business for over 40 years, which speaks volumes about the culture they've built.

The business is now looking for somebody to take ownership of their purchasing activities, bringing together responsibilities currently spread across different departments and helping to develop more structured, efficient processes.

What You'll Be Doing

• Taking ownership of day-to-day purchasing requirements across the business.

• Sourcing and ordering materials, components and engineering consumables.

• Managing supplier relationships, pricing, lead times and deliveries.

• Working with the Epicor MRP system to review purchasing requirements, extract information and monitor key data.

• Helping to improve stock management processes, including introducing minimum/maximum stock levels and reorder points.

• Working closely with the design, production and wider operational teams to ensure materials are available when needed.

• Identifying opportunities to streamline and digitise existing purchasing processes.

• Providing occasional basic administrative support to the accounts function, including raising sales orders and preparing invoices.

Materials purchased will include various grades of stainless steel, fasteners, wheels, castors, welding supplies, PPE and general engineering consumables.

What We're Looking For

We're open-minded on experience here.

You might be an ambitious Purchasing Administrator or Purchasing Assistant looking to take that next step and develop your career, or you could be somebody with a more established purchasing background who can come in and take ownership from day one.

Ideally, you'll bring:

• Experience within purchasing, procurement, materials control or a similar administrative role.

• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities.

• Good attention to detail and confidence working with data and systems.

• A proactive approach, with the confidence to challenge existing processes and suggest improvements.

• Good communication skills and the ability to build relationships across different departments.

• An interest in engineering or manufacturing environments.

Experience with MRP/ERP systems would be beneficial, particularly Epicor, although this isn't essential.

An understanding of engineering drawings or bills of materials would also be advantageous, but again, isn't a deal-breaker.

Above all, we're looking for somebody with the right attitude, who wants to get involved, take responsibility and grow with the business.

What's on Offer?

• Salary circa £30,000, depending on experience.

• 33 days' holiday, including bank holidays and a Christmas shutdown.

• Early finish every Friday at 12pm.

• Flexible starting times Monday to Thursday.

• Paid overtime available when required.

• Company pension.

• Discretionary annual bonus, typically around £500, subject to business performance.

• Regular team events, including golf days, BBQs, charity activities and Christmas celebrations.

• A friendly, supportive working environment with an open-door management approach.

• Genuine opportunity to make the role your own and develop alongside a growing business.

Interested?

If you're looking for a purchasing role where you'll have the opportunity to make a real difference, improve processes and become an important part of a close-knit engineering business, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today to find out more.