Purchasing Team Manager

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LOCATION:

Banbury

WORK SETUP:

On-site, Full Time

For over 10 years, Live Wire has delivered technology, AV, and immersive experiences across Formula 1 and major live events worldwide. Supporting leading F1 teams and Formula 1 Management across all 24 races, our work spans hospitality suites, paddocks, garages, pit walls, fan zones, and factory environments.

Alongside motorsport, we deliver technical production and live event solutions across concerts, festivals, theatre, conferences, and venues including the Southbank Centre and Barbican. Based in Banbury, we are a fast-growing company working in some of the most demanding and exciting live production environments in the world.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The successful candidate will work closely with the Procurement Manager and multiple teams across Project Management, Operations, Production Management, logistics, and warehouse teams to ensure that the Purchasing Team is operating effectively and fulfilling all purchasing requirements within agreed timeframes and budgets.

You will play a key role in supporting and developing the purchasing team through effective management, purchasing processes, stock control, and operational coordination while maintaining high standards across procurement and logistics activities.

You will take overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of the team, ensuring workloads are well managed, priorities are clear and issues are resolved effectively.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Purchasing Team Management

Lead, motivate and develop the team.
Set clear expectations, objectives and standards.
Manage performance, including regular 1:1s, feedback and development.
Identify strengths, development needs and training requirements, supporting the team through challenges and change.
Delegate effectively and balance workloads across the team to ensure purchasing requirements are dealt with efficiently and on time.
Create accountability while maintaining a supportive team culture.
Monitor team performance and maintain high standards of accuracy and service.
Identify opportunities to improve purchasing processes, systems and ways of working.

Purchasing Management

Oversee the team’s day to day purchasing activity across Formula 1, live events and general business requirements.
Ensure priorities and deadlines are managed effectively.
Maintain appropriate processes, controls and standards.
Monitor team and supplier performance.
Develop sufficient purchasing knowledge to confidently manage and challenge the business function.
Obtain and evaluate supplier quotations, pricing, lead times and availability, working closely with the Procurement Manager.
While the primary focus of the role is to lead and develop the team, there will be times of increased workload or reduced team capacity when a hands-on approach is required by providing practical support to the team.
Manage multiple purchasing requirements across concurrent projects and changing priorities.

Internal Coordination

Build strong relationships with key internal stakeholders.
Understand competing priorities and help the team respond appropriately.
Ensure clear communication between Purchasing and other departments.
Represent the Purchasing Team positively across the business.
Manage expectations and ensure actions are followed through.
Challenge constructively where priorities, processes or responsibilities are unclear.
Work closely with Inventory and Warehouse teams to maintain visibility of available stock and identify upcoming purchasing requirements.
Ensure purchasing activity is aligned with project schedules, build requirements and event deadlines.
Communicate potential delays, shortages or cost issues early and help find practical solutions.

Risk & Problem Solving

Proactively identify purchasing issues before they become significant problems.
Provide direction and support when the team encounters challenges.
Take ownership of escalated issues and work the through to resolution.
Assess priorities and make informed decisions under pressure.
Identify recurring problems and work with the team to address root causes.
Remain calm and solution-focussed when dealing with competing demands.
Find alternative suppliers or purchasing solutions when requirements change.
Manage urgent purchasing requests in a fast-paced live event environment.
Respond quickly to changing project requirements while maintaining accuracy and delivery standards.

REQUIREMENTS

Proven experience managing and developing a team.
Strong organisational skills and excellent attention to detail.
Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively with multiple internal teams.
Ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines and priorities simultaneously within a fast paced environment.
Confident problem-solving approach and ability to remain calm under pressure.
Strong attention to detail and ability to understand processes and performance data.
A genuine passion for continuous improvement, with a proactive approach to identifying better ways of working, improving processes and find practical solutions that make a positive difference to the team and wider business.
Experience managing purchase orders, supplier relationships and purchasing processes (Desirable)
Experience working within a project-based or operational environment with tight deadlines (Desirable)
Knowledge of Google Workspace and project management system (Desirable)

WHAT WE OFFER

The opportunity to work within a key function of the business.
A collaborative and highly skilled working environment.
Opportunities for career progression and professional development.
The chance to play a key role in the continued development of our purchasing operation.