Supplier Manager

We are currently recruiting a Supplier Manager to join our Renewals and Logistics team. Within this role, you will be required to expedite supplier purchase orders to ensure the timely delivery of spares, identify and escalate potential problems in the supplier base before they impact service levels.

Ensure orders are placed with our suppliers that are optimised to deliver: Availability of spares & Minimising inventory, and avoiding obsolescence risk.

Prompt action on order exceptions, ensuring the forecast, planned stockholding and ordering profile are all correct. Analysis of data to support reporting for insight into inventory and ordering trends to drive process and system change requests, and act as the first point of contact for internal and external customers, delivering high levels of customer satisfaction.

What you will be doing as a Supplier Manager

• Ensuring all supplier arrears have an up-to-date ETA.
• Deeply understand the causes of availability failure & actively manage performance improvement.
• Prompt resolution of items in Operations and Inbound Problem resolution, working with suppliers to prevent recurrence.
• Prompt resolution of invoice queries from finance, working to prevent recurrence.
• Ensuring all order exceptions are actioned promptly.
• All high-value orders are signed off appropriately and logged.
• Request order pull-forwards where there is a predicted stock out before the next planned delivery.
• Support Data analysis & reporting.
• Manage customer queries and complaints relating to spares job orders/requirements.
• Create and maintain material master data to ensure smooth supply chain operation.
• Ensure the completion of daily tasks by the Supply Chain team, maintaining accountability and a focus on continuous improvement.
• Purchase Order Compliance & Supplier OTIF.
• Availability/Job awaiting spares & non-stocked parts recovery lead time.
• ETA & Comment coverage.
• Job backorder ETA & Comments coverage.

Location – Your base location will be Didcot, Oxfordshire.
Working Hours – Monday to Friday, 36 hours per week.

What you should bring to the role
To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need are:

• Supplier or Inventory management, customer service or master data management experience
• Data analytics to provide business insight and reporting.
• Excel and Microsoft Access skills to support data manipulation.
• Demonstrable problem-solving skills.
• Experience of working closely with other departments and teams, removing all silo activity.
• Strong communication skills.
• Experience of an active role within projects.
• Master data management.
• Data interrogation, analysis and presentation.

What’s in it for you?

• Offering between £40,000 to £42,000 per annum, depending on experience and skills.
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.