Purchasing Controller

Larbert, Stirlingshire
Alexander Dennis
Purchasing Controller

Location: Larbert

Competitive package + half day on Fridays

More than half of the buses that you see on the roads in the UK are made by Alexander Dennis. Globally, there’s over 25,000 people every minute, of every day using our products. That’s a lot of responsibility we have for keeping the world moving.

At Alexander Dennis we design, engineer, build and support the widest range of market leading buses and coaches using low, ultra-low and zero emission technologies. We have extensive experience in vehicle supply and support across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, with a near 50:50 revenue split between UK and international markets.

We are excited about the opportunities arising from the global push for lower pollution and better air quality. The UK Government as well as many others around the world have committed to aggressive but achievable decarbonisation agendas and at Alexander Dennis, we are ready to deliver the green buses needed to transition to cleaner transport.

Each year we spend several hundred million pounds with our suppliers on everything from nuts and bolts, through to engines, gearboxes, Electric Vehicle batteries and everything in-between. The Procurement team are responsible for ensuring that we have effective strategies and capabilities in place to deliver value to Alexander Dennis and our customers.

We are looking for a highly driven Purchasing Controller to join our established Procurement team. In position, you will help identify the products that are to be purchased as well as maintaining the system pricing and most appropriate supplier for a range of commodities. Ensuring a high level of data integrity is essential in this role. This role reports into the Head of Procurement.

Why join:

You’ll have an interesting and technically challenging workload from day one, where you will have the opportunity to work alongside and learn from an experienced and established team.
It’s a dynamic, fast paced environment where no two days are the same with significant daily challenges for you to overcome. As part of this, you’ll get to contribute to continuous improvement activities across both systems and processes.
We’re at the forefront of automotive technology, with extensive experience of producing low, ultra-low and zero emission vehicles, meaning that you will be helping to contribute towards the de-carbonisation of the environment.
You’ll take great pleasure in being able to see the vehicles that you and the team have worked on become finished vehicles on the streets in your local community.
Career development is not necessarily linear – you’ll have plenty of opportunities available to you. As part of the USD $2.9bn NFI Group, you could consider new roles or secondments in the UK or any one of our global locations around the world, including Toronto, Hong Kong or Auckland.
On top of a competitive base salary, pension and life assurance cover, you will also receive a generous annual leave entitlement that increases with tenure. We also operate a half day on Fridays, giving you that much needed work-life-balance.

About you:

To be successful, you will have demonstrable experience in a similar role, with full responsibility for day-to-day purchasing activities.
You will be experienced in database management, with the ability to analyse and report data regarding any issues or trends.
It is essential you have excellent communication and interpersonal skills for this position as you will be liaising with suppliers and other areas of Alexander Dennis on a regular basis.
You will have strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to multi-task and exercise independent judgement.
It is crucial you are able to demonstrate flexibility and the ability to react effectively to changing demands/environment.
Demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft packages, particularly Excel, Outlook and Word.

What you will be doing in your new role:

Supporting the Commodity Buyers is your number one priority in this role – assisting with the issues and collation of RFQ’s as appropriate.
You will ensure a high level of data integrity at all times – ensuring the system is up to date with supplier, price, MOQ, lead-time and weights.
Promptly resolve any issues with blocked invoices in relation to price for site.
You will regularly liaise with other sites to provide information of parts, such as weight, unit cost and supplier contacts.
Process improvement will be a key part of this role; reducing and eliminating non-value adding activity in relation to systems wherever possible.
You will generate and publish reports for the Procurement team on a weekly basis.

What next:

If this sounds like you, and you’re interested in coming ‘aboard’, then we would love to hear from you. Alongside uploading your CV, please share a short covering letter detailing why you’re interested and why we should hire you!

Recommend a Friend is applicable for this role.

If you are an internal applicant, you have a responsibility to inform your current line/department manager and local human resources representative before applying for the role.

We care deeply about being inclusive and we encourage applications from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Due to the volume of vacancies and applications, we would prefer that you submit your application online. If however, you require an alternative method of applying, please give us call on or send an email to

As this role is unlikely to meet UKVI criteria for sponsorship under the skilled worker route, you will be required to have the right to work in the UK from the proposed commencement date.