Purchasing & Supplier Manager
Employment Type: Permanent Full Time
Job Functions
The Purchasing & Supplier Manager (Head of Department) is accountable for strategic leadership, operational performance, and commercial outcomes across Edunet and SolutionOne. The Manager ensures a reliable, cost‐effective, and scalable supply chain that meets the demands of the business and its school and education‐sector customers. This includes building and maintaining strong relationships with key vendors and distributors, ensuring optimal stock availability, managing end‐to‐end ordering and fulfillment, and overseeing portal management across all active programs and customer commitments.
Drawing on Edunet's position as an education‐specialist technology provider, the Manager aligns procurement activities with broader business goals. He or she supports the sales function through accurate stock intelligence, contributes to margin performance, and enables on‐time, on‐full customer fulfillment. Responsibilities also cover forecasting and stock level management, ordering systems and data integrity, portal fulfilment, and coordination with internal teams including Sales, Finance, Warehouse, and Service.
Qualifications, Experience and Attributes
* Experience managing high transactional volume environments with a strong focus on data integrity, accuracy, and process compliance.
* Strong stakeholder‐management skills, collaborating across internal departments and with external partners.
* Highly responsive, organised, and able to adapt to meet deadlines in a fast‐paced environment.
* Proficiency in systems, with a commitment to continuous process improvement.
Key Responsibilities
* Set the strategic direction for the Procurement function and establish procurement governance frameworks aligned with business objectives.
* Champion a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and cross‐functional collaboration.
* Mentor and develop team members, fostering an inclusive, high‐performance environment.
* Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers and distributors, acting as senior commercial and escalation point.
* Negotiate favourable pricing, improved terms and preferential stock access, and monitor performance for continuous improvement.
* Collaborate with leadership to forecast required stock levels, maintain SKU visibility, and communicate risks or shortfalls.
* Advise on supply‐chain interruptions, delays or availability constraints, providing recommended mitigation strategies.
* Analyse procurement data and market trends to identify cost‐savings, improved availability and process efficiency opportunities.
* Oversee order placement ensuring accuracy, timeliness and data integrity within the CRM and Jim2.
* Drive continuous improvement of ordering systems, workflows and procedures to reduce errors and support business scalability.
* Provide back‐order and delivery updates to Sales; serve as escalation point for freight, delivery and fulfillment issues.
* Coordinate with Warehouse, Service and other teams to ensure seamless inbound and outbound processes and minimise delays.
* Manage end‐to‐end customer portals, including order initiation, fulfilment and payment reminders.
* Support the Service Department in procurement‐related activities and warranty registrations.
* Collaborate with the Warehouse Supervisor on efficient procedures, act as escalation point for major warehouse issues, and coordinate stock‐take procedures with Finance.
* Provide day‐to‐day management of offshore resources, ensuring clarity of tasks, quality standards, performance expectations and coaching.
* Contribute to financial performance through disciplined cost management, margin awareness and identification of savings opportunities.
* Prepare insights, reporting and supply‐chain KPIs to inform business decision‐making.
What to Bring to the Role
* Clear alignment with Solution One values and culture.
* Ability to manage supplier relationships and drive supply‐chain performance.
* Capability to lead, develop and retain a team with clear accountability and performance expectations.
* Strong analytical and commercial acumen.
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