Buyer
Itsu Grocery · London
Our estimate of how close this job is to decisions about what protein a business sources, specifies, buys and serves. How we score
Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
Buyers who own ambient and frozen categories decide who supplies the ingredients behind products like gyoza and broth, and what standards those suppliers have to meet to keep the contract. If animal-derived ingredients sit anywhere in this range, this is the desk where supplier codes of conduct, certification requirements and sourcing policies actually get written and enforced, not just referenced. The role as described focuses on cost, negotiation and NPD delivery, but the sourcing-policy and supplier-documentation ownership it holds is exactly the mechanism through which sourcing standards, including welfare requirements where they apply, would ever become contractual rather than aspirational. Two or three years in a seat like this builds the commodity knowledge, supplier relationships and procurement fluency that category and sourcing roles further up the chain require, sharpening your eye for where sourcing standards could sit inside a supplier contract, and for how the ingredient mix behind a range like this affects resilience, cost and the standards suppliers are held to.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
What you'd build
- Category procurement strategy
- Commercial negotiation and cost management
- NPD supplier sourcing
- Supplier documentation and compliance ownership
- Business continuity and risk planning
Where it can lead
- Senior Buyer
- Category Manager
- Head of Procurement
Senior buying and category management seats hold greater sign-off over which suppliers and standards a growing food brand's range is built on, including any animal-derived ingredients within it.
About the role
Itsu Grocery is recruiting a Buyer to lead procurement and supplier management across its ambient and frozen product categories, working closely with Product Development, Operations and the Head of Procurement. The role owns supplier selection, onboarding, performance management and contracts, and leads commercial negotiations, tenders, commodity and market analysis, and cost-saving initiatives to manage COGS and mitigate cost price increases. The postholder will develop and implement procurement category strategies supporting existing product portfolios and future growth, work with Product Development to source new suppliers and support NPD and EPD projects, and manage end-to-end NPD costings and COGS models while maintaining accurate product master data. They will collaborate with Operations and Quality teams to ensure suppliers meet sourcing policies, certification requirements and compliance standards, and own supplier documentation including contracts, supplier handbooks and codes of conduct. The role also supports business continuity planning (BCP), risk mitigation and contingency sourcing strategies. Itsu is looking for candidates with 3-5+ years' experience in Buying, Procurement, Category Management or Product roles, ideally within FMCG, food manufacturing, retail or consumer goods, with strong commercial acumen, a track record in supplier negotiations and contracts, experience supporting product development, strong analytical skills, and strong communication and stakeholder management skills. The level of the role will be adjusted according to the successful candidate's experience, ranging from Buyer to Senior Buyer. Benefits include a competitive bonus scheme, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, health insurance, company pension, a hybrid working model (varying by department between 3-day and 4-day onsite patterns), two weeks a year working from abroad, 50% employee discount, free daily lunch, retailer discounts, and salary sacrifice cycle and electric vehicle schemes.
We added this one ourselves, from the employer's own advert.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- procurement strategy
- supplier management
- supplier negotiations
- commercial negotiation
- tender management
- commodity market analysis
- cost-saving initiatives
- COGS management
- new product development support
- product costings
- supplier onboarding
- contract management
- business continuity planning
- risk mitigation
- supplier relationship management
- stakeholder management
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Frame your interest around supply-chain resilience and cost risk: sourcing policies and supplier compliance requirements reduce the chance of a supplier failure disrupting NPD launches or driving up COGS, which is language this business already uses. Build procurement vocabulary (CIPS) and familiarity with supplier certification and ethical-audit frameworks, since the advert names "compliance standards" and "certification requirements" as part of the remit, and demonstrating fluency there will strengthen your case for owning more of the supplier-standards side of the role.
You apply directly with the employer. We just link you to their advert, and we don't see anything you send them.