Senior Buyer
The closing date is 04 March 2026
Base: Building 4000, Lakeside, North Harbour, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3EN
Are you an experienced Buyer looking to step up, lead a team, and make a real impact? We’re looking for a motivated and people focused Senior Buyer to join our Procurement & Supply Chain Team as part of our shared service across Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) and Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IWT).
Main duties of the job
If you’re passionate about driving value, improving services, and helping develop others - this could be the perfect next step in your procurement career. As a Senior Buyer, you’ll play an important leadership role in a team that’s known for providing a professional, supportive and customer focused service. You’ll help shape purchasing activity across varied categories, identifying savings while maintaining quality and supporting the wider mission of improving patient care.
Every purchasing decision influences service quality, staff experience and ultimately the care delivered to our patients. This role is your opportunity to lead a team and make a meaningful contribution within an organisation driven by purpose and values.
About us
Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this.
The vision for our single corporate services is to:
* Be an employer of choice for corporate talent, attracting and retaining people who share our values for excellence in care and welcome the opportunity to benefit from the broad range of flexible career and development opportunities we can offer.
* Improve efficiency through simplified and standardised policies, processes, and systems, drawing on the best from both Trusts.
* Do things once and reduce any duplication on transactional tasks giving corporate staff the ability to focus on higher value and more diverse activities.
* Improve learning and development opportunities and sharing best practice, upskilling both Trusts.
* Co-locate teams in purpose-built facilities on the Island and in Portsmouth to enable closer working and sharing.
* Build resilience for individuals and our teams.
The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.
Job responsibilities
* A friendly team environment
* A role with real responsibility and visibility
* Opportunities to develop your leadership and procurement expertise
* NHS employment benefits, pension, and staff discounts
* A role where every purchasing decision contributes to better patient outcomes
This is a hands on leadership role with plenty of variety and responsibility. You will:
* Lead, support and develop a team of Operational Buyers
* Manage the end to end purchasing of goods and services across multiple categories
* Keep procurement systems, work plans, and catalogues accurate and up to date
* Work with Finance and Accounts Payable colleagues to resolve invoice queries
* Promote sustainability and social value in all procurement activity
* Help deliver a professional, customer focused procurement service
* Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and suppliers
* Provide guidance, advice and training to support the teams development
What Were Looking For
We’re seeking someone who is:
* A confident communicator and natural team leader
* Skilled in purchasing or procurement activity
* Able to influence, negotiate and build strong working relationships
* Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines
* Comfortable with systems, spreadsheets and data-driven decision making
* Passionate about delivering a high quality service
* Motivated to support sustainability and innovative ways of working
Whether you come from the NHS, wider public sector or commercial procurement, your experience will be valued.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Good general standard of education including Mathematics and English Language to NVQ 4 or relevant equivalent.
* Be prepared to work towards the completion of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) or equivalent.
Experience
* Experience of persuading and influencing others to lead change. Experience of negotiating prices or conditions of contract. Experience of competitive quotations. Experience of a customer service environment. Experience of working within the public sector.
Knowledge
* Procurement knowledge.
* Competent with Word, Excel, and Access.
* Interpersonal, able to work and lead a team of 4-Operational Buyers.
* Able to use initiative and work independently as well as part of the team.
* Well organised, able to prioritise workload.
* Clearly manage priorities in order to meet specific deadlines.
* Express ideas clearly both orally and in writing and listen actively.
* Create, develop and maintain working relationships with finance and Trust managers to achieve corporate and team objectives.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
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