Stuart Easterbrook - Senior Category Manager, Core Products (UK)
My team in procurement is responsible for buying most of the major components we use in National Grid. I have a team that buys gas and electric meters for our metering businesses, I have a team that buys transformers and cables and a team that buys pipes, valves and fitting for our distribution and transmission business.
The role of procurement in National Grid is an increasingly important one - we have to show how we are delivering value, both to our shareholders and to our regulator. And having a robust procurement process, when we're spending billions and billions of pounds is absolutely key to National Grid's success.
The best thing about the National Grid working environment is that it's very open, very friendly and I've worked in a number of different locations - they're each different and even in the same building you can have different cultures just by walking across the different parts of the office and I think that's great. It's different, it's diverse, everyone's very very helpful but there's also lots of challenges and that's what creates a company wide team spirit that you all know what you're doing, what the end result is, what you're working towards.
I like working for National Grid - well I've worked here for 20 years but that's been in lots of different jobs. The options to move around the company and work in some very different areas - that is very attractive and I've used that. Within procurement, my current role, because of the nature of the job with very clear objectives in terms of delivering value for money and meeting business requirements - you know when you've succeeded, you know when you've delivered - and I find that very satisfying as well, I know what I need to do.