Associate Tactical Buyer

Join us at EIT:

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Your Role:

We are looking for an Associate Tactical Buyer to join our Procurement team and support the delivery of an efficient, responsive, and customer-focused procurement service across EIT. In this role, you'll support a variety of procurement activities, including raising purchase orders, liaising with suppliers, tracking orders, resolving invoice queries, and providing day-to-day support to stakeholders across the business.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is organised, proactive, and eager to develop their skills in procurement, supplier management, and purchasing operations. You'll gain valuable hands-on experience and benefit from excellent learning and development opportunities as part of a collaborative and growing team.

Your Responsibilities:

Procurement Administration & Purchasing Support

• Support the end-to-end procurement process from requisition through to payment.
• Create and process purchase requisitions and purchase orders accurately and in a timely manner.
• Assist with issuing purchase orders and obtaining supplier confirmations.
• Support goods receipt activities and invoice processing.
• Maintain accurate procurement records and documentation.

Stakeholder Support

• Act as a first point of contact for routine procurement queries.
• Provide guidance on purchasing processes and procurement procedures.
• Support internal stakeholders in raising purchase requests and following procurement policies.
• Escalate complex issues to senior procurement team members when required.

Supplier & Order Management

• Assist with supplier communications regarding orders, deliveries, and documentation.
• Monitor order progress and provide updates to stakeholders.
• Help ensure deliveries are completed in line with agreed timelines.
• Maintain positive and professional relationships with suppliers.

Supplier Onboarding Support

• Support supplier onboarding activities and document collection.
• Help track onboarding progress and follow up on outstanding requirements.
• Work with Procurement, Finance, and suppliers to ensure completion of timely onboarding.

Invoice and Query Resolution

• Assist in resolving purchase order, invoice, and receipt discrepancies.
• Liaise with Finance and suppliers to address transactional issues.
• Support efforts to minimise payment delays and operational disruption.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve procurement processes and administration.
• Support implementation of new procedures, templates, and ways of working.
• Contribute to initiatives that improve stakeholder experience and procurement efficiency.

Requirements

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Previous experience in an administrative, procurement, purchasing, supply chain, or customer service environment.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities effectively.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel and Outlook.
• Positive, proactive attitude with a willingness to learn.
• Strong customer-service mindset and ability to build relationships with stakeholders.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience working within a procurement or purchasing team.
• Exposure to purchase order processing or supplier administration.
• Familiarity with ERP systems such as Oracle Fusion.
• Experience in a scientific, laboratory, research, or higher education environment.
• Studying towards CIPS, or interest in pursuing a procurement qualification.

Benefits

We offer the following benefits:

• Enhanced holiday. Our annual leave allowance is 25 days plus 8 bank holidays and an additional 3 days between Christmas and New Year. You will also have the opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days annual leave in January and July.
• Pension - Employer contribution 7.5%, minimum employee contribution 5%
• Life Assurance.
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance as standard for you, your partner and any dependents. Including hospital Cash Plan
• Employee discounts
• Electric car scheme
• Nursery Salary Sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Family Planning
• Neurodiversity support including advise and assessments
• Coaching & Therapy services

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).