Senior Buyer - Sourcing Specialist - London, Greater LondonEveryone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.SummaryM&S Food is changing, and fast! We are undergoing one of the biggest transformations in retailing today to build a bigger, better, fresher food business. From Percy Pig to the freshest M&S Select Farms produce, we grow, source, and develop our own products to give our customers family-ready food thats unbeatable on flavour and innovation. We need motivated people who are ready to bring their whole self to work and give it their all in a fast-paced team committed to being the best. After all, this is not just food… This is M&S Food.All the detailsAre you a strategic thinker with deep procurement experience and a passion for food? M&S Food is looking for a forward-thinking, commercially minded Senior Buyer to drive our raw material sourcing strategyWe’re looking for an experienced Senior Buyer to join our high performing Raw Materials team at M&S Food. In this pivotal role, you’ll lead the centralised sourcing strategy for a selection of key raw materials across the business, develop supplier relationships that drive mutual value, and contribute to our mission of delivering quality, availability, innovation and value to every M&S customer. You’ll work cross-functionally across all M&S Food categories to ensure our sourcing plans are commercially robust, future fit, and aligned with our broader business objectives.To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.What’s in it for youBeing a part of M&S is exactly that – playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special…After completing your probationary period, you’ll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your householdCompetitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a businessA generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life AssuranceA dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skillsAmazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeingIndustry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your familyAccess to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your familyA charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause youre passionate about through a dedicated day away from workKey Responsibilities:Define and execute the category strategy for your selected raw materialsLead all aspects of contract and benchmarking negotiations for your selected categoriesIdentify and mitigate supply chain risks, including single points of failureMap capacity across our supply base to ensure M&S can grow in line with our business forecast over the coming yearsBuild and maintain strong supplier relationships based on collaboration, innovation and valueAct as a key link between Raw Materials and commercial category teams, driving stakeholder alignment and cross-functional project delivery across M&S FoodDrive cost out initiatives through a robust Value Optimisation programmeSupport Plan A (sustainability) projects that sit within your selected raw materialsAbout You:Proven experience in strategic sourcing or procurement within food or FMCGStrong commercial acumen and negotiation skillsDeep understanding of raw material markets and supply chain dynamicsA track record of delivering cost savings and strategic category plansExcellent stakeholder engagement and communication skillsEveryone’s welcomeWe are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen. We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together. If you feel youd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.#LI-Hybrid