Senior Buyer - Nuclear & Standard Valves

Senior Buyer – Nuclear & Standard Valves

Location: Hybrid, based from Derby, Manchester or Warrington

Salary: £44,600 – £55,125 dependent on experience + bonus + excellent benefits

Rolls Royce SMR is on a mission to deliver clean, affordable energy for all. As a UK designed and manufactured solution to a global energy challenge, Small Modular Reactors represent one of the country’s most significant green export opportunities.

Our Procurement function is critical in establishing the commercial and supply chain foundations needed to deliver our first SMR and future fleet. At the heart of this is the Nuclear & Standard Valves category — covering safety critical nuclear valves, high integrity components, specialist materials, and a wide range of industrial valves essential to plant operation, safety and system performance.

To support this, we are recruiting a Senior Buyer – Nuclear & Standard Valves to lead sourcing activity, develop category strategies, and manage strategic supplier relationships across the global valves supply chain. Reporting into the Procurement Manager, this role will influence specification, design integration, quality expectations and commercial strategy in one of the most technically significant categories in our programme.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Develop and deliver category and sourcing strategies for Nuclear & Standard Valves, ensuring alignment with technical, safety and programme requirements.
• Manage endtoend procurement activity including PQQs, RFQs, RFPs, tender evaluations, negotiation, contract drafting and award recommendations.
• Shape the valves supply chain—identifying risks, bottlenecks, cost drivers, and capability gaps across nuclear grade, high integrity and industrial valve products.
• Work closely with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Programme Delivery, Safety, Finance and Legal to influence early decision making and ensure procurement is integrated into technical planning.
• Interpret complex technical specifications, regulatory requirements and supplier data into clear commercial insights for senior stakeholders.
• Ensure robust commercial governance, compliance, documentation and supplier performance management across the lifecycle.
• Drive continuous improvement across processes, templates, cost analysis, supply chain maturity and contract management.
  
  

This is a critical role supporting the safe and efficient delivery of our technology. You’ll bring strong commercial judgement, technical curiosity, and a proactive approach to operating in a fast paced and highly regulated environment.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience purchasing valves or similar engineered components (valves, pumps, high integrity components, pressure boundary equipment or mechanical engineered items).
• Experience within nuclear, energy, oil & gas, power generation, chemical, defence, aerospace, or other regulated/safety critical sectors.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience running competitive tenders, managing complex negotiations and awarding contracts.
• Confidence working with cost models, technical specifications, supplier capability assessments and market analysis.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to influence engineers, technical specialists and senior management.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to present complex information clearly.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Word.
• MCIPS (or working towards) is desirable but not required.
  
  

Location & Ways of Working

This role can be based from our Derby, Manchester or Warrington office.

Hybrid working is standard, with regular weekly office attendance expected.

Some travel may be required depending on supplier or programme needs.

What’s in it for you?

Salary: £44,600 – £55,125 depending on experience.

Benefits Include

• Bonus – up to 12.5% performance related
• Benefits Allowance – £2,200 for a bespoke package
• Pension – 12% employer, 6% employee
• Holidays – 28 days + public holidays (option to buy/sell 4 days)
• Private Medical Insurance – BUPA
• Life Assurance – 6× pensionable pay
• £250 one-off payment for home office setup
  
  

You’ll join a forward thinking organisation that values transparency, fairness and innovation, offering:

• A flexible, inclusive and supportive environment
• Opportunities for career growth in a scaling business
• A culture that values diversity, innovation and continuous learning
  
  

Why Join Us?

You’ll be joining a forward-thinking organisation that values transparency, fairness, and innovation. We offer:

• A flexible, inclusive, and supportive working environment.
• Opportunities for career growth in a rapidly scaling business.
• A culture that values diversity, innovation, and continuous learning.
  
  

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds. Inclusivity is important to us, and as a Disability Confident organisation, we are committed to fair, supportive, and continually improving recruitment practices that ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But we'll let you in on a secret: there's no such thing as a 'perfect' candidate. If you feel you meet 75% of the requirements for this role, we would love to hear from you.

Also, if you are considering a career move or a sector-jump, please get in touch – we welcome applications from people with transferable skills.

Our Application Process

Due to the safety regulations within the nuclear industry, applicants will be required to participate in additional screening. These are:

• Obtaining Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance
• Satisfactory completion of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
• Satisfactory completion of a basic financial probity check