Senior Buyer, Purchasing

Entity: Aga Khan University

Location: Karachi

Introduction to the Aga Khan University: 

Chartered in 1983, Aga Khan University (AKU) is a private, autonomous and self-governing international university with 13 teaching sites in 6 countries distributed across three continents. As an integral part of the Aga Khan Development Network, AKU provides higher education in several disciplines, carries out research pertinent to the countries in which it exists and has campuses, programmes and/or teaching hospitals in Afghanistan, Kenya, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda and the UK. As an international institution, AKU operates on the core principles of quality, relevance, impact and access; and AKU is a model of academic excellence and an agent of social change.

AKU is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to safeguarding and aims to adopt appropriate standards for safeguarding and promoting a respectful relationship with and between all faculty, staff, trainees, volunteers, beneficiaries, wider communities, and other stakeholders with whom it works, including children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees/trainees and partners to share this commitment.

Job Role / Responsibilities:Ensure timely availability of products by exercising 04-R’s approach (right product, right price, right quality and right time). Carry out market surveys, market intelligence studies to recommend effective purchasing decisions and resolve day-to-day supply chain issues. 

Specifically, you will be responsible to:

• regularly monitor purchase requisitions and make purchase orders within the stipulated time and ensure timely delivery of ordered goods
• obtain quotations from suppliers and analyse & evaluate them to make an effective purchasing decision. Preparing recommendations based on price, quality, delivery, and service
• undertake market surveys and market intelligence studies to enable/recommend effective purchasing decisions. This can be achieved by meeting people, reading newspapers, magazines, purchasing journals and using the internet
• make effective negotiations with suppliers for obtaining competitive prices
• meet with suppliers regularly to strengthen the business relationship; understand market trends, the introduction of new products and resolve day to day issues
• meet with end-users to ensure customer satisfaction and resolve their issues and queries
• strive to improve the satisfaction level of internal users/ departments 
• strive to improve the turnaround time of purchasing activities
• develop and implement appropriate sourcing partnership strategies to enable reliable supply chain performance in an adverse environment at a fair price to the institution
• review and control freight cost through informed decision
• ensure utilization of capital budget within the stipulated time of its release
• rationalize and optimize inventory levels by reviewing stock reordering and replenishment processes to achieve turnover
• ensure that the requirements of participating organizations of AKDN, P Group Purchase Program are fulfilled in timely and cost-effective manner.

Eligibility Criteria / Requirements:

• Masters degree preferably in Supply Chain or equivalent
• Degree / Diploma / Certifications in Supply Chain will be considered as an added advantage 
• 2-3 years of experience in procurement and supply chain fields
• knowledge/ Experience of medical procurement will be preferable 
• hands on knowledge of working on ERP systems is required
• expert level knowledge of computer software specifically command over MS Office especially Excel is required
• excellent interpersonal and analytical skills
• excellent communication skills (Oral & Written)
• able to analyse things critically
• negotiation and presentation skills
• ability to do effective liaison with management, customer and staff.

Comprehensive employment reference checks will be conducted.