Senior Buyer

The EPO's Procurement and Vendor Management unit plays an instrumental role in the day-to-day functioning of the organisation, influencing its long-term financial sustainability by ensuring value-for-money spending on services and products. Effective procurement operations are critical to ensure compliance with relevant policies and regulatory requirements in view of the EPO's prominent role as a leading European public administration organisation.

We successfully partner with our internal and external stakeholders via business-focused teams built around critical market categories: information technology, professional services, facility management and real estate.

Not only do we support the EPO's strategic direction, but we also have a key role to play in a major transformation programme called Finance 360, in close collaboration with the corporate finance area. It aims to strengthen our role as a business partner for the entire organisation by optimising existing processes, technology and organisational matters. In that context, we have a range of projects to deliver in the source-to-pay (S2P) process, supporting the overall goal of increasing effectiveness, efficiency and transparency.

You will add critical skills and bring profound market knowledge to our team. Drawing on your expertise in procurement tools and processes, you will help us to deliver better value for the EPO in its acquisition of goods and services.

Join us now!

With us you will:

• team up with category managers in your assigned main category in preparation for all sourcing projects
  - to provide operational expert knowledge and technical expertise
  - to propose operational solutions to ensure the smooth execution of future framework contracts regarding sourcing and buying   channels, GRSR handling, invoicing, etc.
  - to contribute to analysis and lessons-learned on operational procurement topics
• manage sourcing requests and standard procurement procedures (competitive direct placement, RfQ with framework contracts or direct placements) with a focus on one main category but providing support in other categories as needed
• interact with suppliers to follow up on quotations, purchase orders or delivery-related matters
• monitor suppliers' delivery reliability and service (where applicable)
• follow up in a timely and proactive manner on all procurement-related activities with suppliers and/or business units (planning, problem solving, exception handling, master data)
• handle procurement queries and complaints
• ensure compliance with the relevant working instructions and working practices in the procurement area and perform regular quality checks on own work

Apply if you have:

• proficiency in using procurement platforms such as Ivalua
• several years' experience in a similar role and covering the entire S2P task portfolio
• an understanding of the processing of sourcing requests and the ability to execute them
• the ability to conduct commercial offer evaluations in a structured manner
• the ability to process and monitor purchase orders in collaboration with the suppliers and the business areas of the category assigned
• an in-depth understanding of technical procurement aspects (i.e. payment terms, INCO terms, handling of retentions, bank guarantees, indexation, etc.) and the ability to apply and/or use them
• the ability to communicate in a professional manner with external and internal stakeholders
• an understanding of different contract types and their respective legal consequences for procurement
• the ability to work in a project environment and contribute to the implementation of a new procurement platform
• the ability to use MS Office applications (Outlook, MS Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) in day-to- day business

Minimum requirements:

• Diploma of completed studies at bachelor's level or equivalent or – in exceptional cases – equivalent professional experience.
• Working knowledge of two official languages. Alternatively, working knowledge of one official language and the willingness to learn a second official language to B2 level within a set time frame.

• Citizenship of one of the member states of the European Patent Organisation.