Assistant Strategic Buyer

About us

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company based in Cologne. With around 14,300 employees in 33 countries, we are an established company on the global market. Our primary expertise lies in producing, developing, and marketing chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals, and plastics.

We are pleased that you are interested in a career at LANXESS, one of the leading global specialty chemicals companies.

The primary responsibility of this role is to provide procurement support for the Indirects categories to the UK sites and optimise value for Lanxess

Responsibilities;

• Working in collaboration with the Strategic Buying team provide support to develop and execute commercial sourcing strategies balancing cost, quality and risk.
• Prepare, review and manage content of various purchasing agreements in SAP and Ariba catalogues etc., for indirect goods and services from an established range of suppliers.
• Source and develop alternative suppliers / service providers to ensure compliance with corporate governance policies using various methods including RFP’s.
• Actively identify and propose purchasing savings/gains by carrying out economic/spend analysis, market/competition analysis, and supplier analysis
• Work cross-functionally with other parts of the business establishing effective relationships with relevant stakeholders at the site, be the interface to the centralized operational procurement team in Germany and the GPL organization.
• With the support of the Strategic Buyers, confidently deal with difficult conversations and negotiations with suppliers and stakeholders alike.
• Help your stakeholders manage the risk and operational performance of their suppliers as is necessary
• Resolve price/ invoice discrepancies as required with plants, accounts payable, and vendors.
• Monitor supplier performance (e.g., through SAP and other reports) and expedite and resolve issues as necessary to ensure the effective supply of all agreed services to internal customers at the required standards.

Experience Required;

• CIPS level 4 preferred but not essential
• 3 - 5 years of Generalist indirect procurement experience across as broad a spend as possible and being able to work autonomously.
• Have been involved in several parts of the procurement process at some points in career.
• Proven experience in creating benefits from negotiating commercials with suppliers and respective analytics.
• ERP system experience (SAP + similar)

Benefits:

• Private Medical Insurance
• Hybrid/Flexi Working
• Life Assurance
• Pension
• Income Protection Insurance
• 25 days per annum plus public/bank holidays
• Onsite Gym
• Annual Bonus