The benefits of employee ownership just got real

Just Recruitment is working with a growing manufacturing business based on the outskirts of Sudbury, in the search for a talented Procurement Manager to join their expanding team.

Required skills and qualifications:

• CIPS Qualified - min level 5.
• Substantial experience in a procurement leadership role within the food, ingredients, manufacturing, or FMCG sectors.
• Experience in leading and developing high-performance teams.
• Strong Negotiation and Supplier Management skills.

The key purpose of this role is to lead the delivery of greater strategic and operational value of the procurement function and help to deliver business-critical goals.

This is a hands-on, strategic, and operational role that requires a confident leader with deep procurement expertise and the ability to inspire and develop a team.

You will work closely with the Supply Chain Manager to shape and implement a fit-for-purpose procurement strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals across quality, cost, sustainability, and risk management. This role is pivotal in maintaining robust and value-driven supplier relationships while enabling continuous improvement in all procurement activities.

You will also oversee raw material planning and call-offs, ensuring that the business maintains the right balance between availability and inventory control — essential for production continuity and working capital efficiency.

This role includes direct line management of a Procurement Specialist, supporting their development and day-to-day activity management.

Key duties include:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive procurement strategy aligned with business objectives, operational needs, and sustainability goals.
• Identify, evaluate, and manage suppliers across raw materials, packaging, and indirect categories to ensure quality, continuity and cost-effectiveness.
• Collaborate with the Supply Chain Manager and other departments to align procurement with broader supply chain goals and business plans.
• Contribute to the company’s sustainability, traceability and ethical sourcing commitments through strategic supplier partnerships.
• Oversee the procurement of raw materials, packaging, indirect goods and services, and CAPEX items, ensuring optimal quality, cost and delivery performance.
• Manage tendering processes, contract negotiation and supplier onboarding activities.
• Ensure the ERP system is updated and used effectively for procurement activities and reporting.
• Monitor and report on procurement KPIs, savings and supplier performance metrics.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers and service providers, driving continuous improvement and innovation.
• Lead supplier performance reviews, audits and corrective action processes.
• Identify and assess risks within the supply base and implement mitigation strategies to ensure business continuity.
• Lead, mentor and develop the procurement team to achieve high levels of engagement, performance and professional growth.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous learning within the team.
• Support the wider Supply Chain team by contributing to cross-functional initiatives and projects.
• Ensure adherence to company procurement policies, financial controls and ethical standards.
• Support internal and external audits with relevant documentation and compliance reporting.
• Drive process improvement initiatives and embed best practices across the procurement function.

Build and nurture key working relationships with Production, Quality Assurance, Finance, Warehousing, Sales and Commercial Teams, Suppliers, Logistics Providers and Regulatory Bodies.

This is an excellent opportunity to drive change within a business — offering a great working environment.

Working hours for this role are Monday to Friday, 8am - 5pm, although some flexibility is required.

Please note that due to the location of the business, you must have access to your own transport.

Just Recruitment acts as an employment agency for permanent roles.
We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates.

Just Recruitment is partnering with a growing, industry-leading organisation in Ipswich to recruit a Purchasing Supervisor.

Working collaboratively within a fast-paced, team-oriented purchasing function, you will take responsibility for taking the highly successful Purchasing Team to the next level of procurement. Reporting to the Purchasing Manager, the emphasis of the role is to work with existing team members to build key skills and to improve current processes. It will involve resolving daily issues, building and maintaining supplier relationships and helping to build the future purchasing team.

Duties include:

• Primary responsibility for the daily management of specific team members.
• Provide structured training and guidance to proactively encourage individual and team development, ensuring team succession planning.
• Empower the team to take ownership of their roles/responsibilities.
• Responsible for managing up and organising updates/meetings with the Team Manager.
• Actively work with other supervisors and management to ensure a consistent approach within the department.
• Resolution of daily issues—including data collation of issues.
• Manage supplier relationships and performance.
• Lead on supplier lead time reviews and relevant internal updates.
• Present data on monthly spend and KPIs, and non-conformance tracking.
• Lead on-demand planning, working with the external Sales Team and suppliers to provide forecasting.
• Participate in pricing reviews.
• Deliver guidance and training daily to the team.
• Proactively work on team engagement through coaching, mentoring and regular 1-2-1s.

Key skills/qualifications required include:

• CIPS level 4 achieved or prepared to undertake.
• Leadership skills.
• Ability to develop and maintain commercial awareness, internally and industry-wide.
• A proactive approach with a “can-do” attitude and the ability to motivate others.
• Analytical skills with strong problem-solving ability.
• Proven negotiation skills.
• Good understanding of supply chain procedures.
• Proven advanced level of Computer literacy - Microsoft Excel/Word/Access.
• Sound Administrative experience. Knowledge of ERP.

Hybrid working will be available after successful completion of the probationary period (min. of 3 days in the office, up to 2 days at home).

Just Recruitment acts as an employment agency for permanent roles.
We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates.

Just Recruitment is delighted to be supporting a well-regarded business based in Braintree who are recruiting for a Brand Coordinator to add to their team.

As a Brand Coordinator, you will manage the entire process from product development to customer delivery, including:

• Product development and follow-up in collaboration with customers, Sales and Business Development Managers, and your international colleagues
• Daily contact with customers
• Daily communication with colleagues across multiple production sites
• Creating and maintaining master data
• Inventory planning
• Monitoring KPIs such as delivery times and coverage

Role requirements include:

• Strong commercial skills
• Proactive, action-oriented and self-motivated
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and maintain an overview
• Service-minded and skilled at building and maintaining good relationships
• Working systematically and structured
• Desire to advance your career within the company and build long-term relationships with customers and colleagues
• Have more than 2 years of experience in purchasing or as a purchasing assistant

Working hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am - 5.00pm

Just Recruitment acts as an employment agency for permanent roles.
We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates.

Just Recruitment is recruiting for a Sales Office Coordinator to join a well-established company based in Ipswich.

You’ll be working within a busy, fast-paced, team-oriented, customer-focused Sales Office. The main emphasis of the role is to manage customer expectations by organising the pricing of materials to meet project deadlines. Previous experience in processing quotes, sales, purchase orders, and invoices is preferred.

The ability to problem solve and seek solutions is essential, as is the ability to control workload with varying demands, whilst applying attention to detail with a diplomatic and proactive approach. You will possess previous experience within a similar role.

Duties include:

• Preparing project quotations.
• Processing sales and purchase orders.
• Preparing/checking customers' invoices.
• Data validation/attention to detail checking customer purchase orders/project information.
• Proactively managing customer relations with both approved contractors, suppliers and external sales teams.
• Managing inter-departmental communications relating to project quotes/orders/deliveries/invoicing.
• Co-ordination of project pricing, deliveries and problem-solving customer queries.
• Ability to adapt communication style/approach to manage a diverse range of tasks throughout the project process.

Key experience required includes:

• Previous experience in high-level administration, with strong attention to detail and excellent customer service skills
• Experience within a sales support function would be advantageous.
• A proactive approach to workload, rather than reactive.

Hybrid working is available after successful completion of the probationary period — a minimum of 3 days in the office and up to 2 days working from home

Hours: Monday – Friday (9:00am - 5:00pm).

Just Recruitment acts as an employment agency for permanent roles.
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates.