Procurement Manager

Job Description

About the Job

West Sussex County Council is seeking a Procurement Manager to oversee procurement activities, supporting the delivery of services to our residents and ensure a better quality of life.

Salary: £49,817 to £53,051per annum.

Working Pattern: Full-time (37 hours per week) and part-time hours considered.

Contract Length: Permanent.

Location: County Hall, Chichester with hybrid working options. As part of the teams working arrangements, colleagues are expected to attend the office one day per week. The allocated office day for this team is Monday.

Interviews: Week commencing 7th December either in person at County Hall, Chichester or Microsoft Teams

Are you a multi-tasker and able to handle a varied workload?

Are you a good communicator with drive to make positive changes?

Looking for the next step in your Procurement career?

If so, this could be your next role.

As a Procurement Manager within our Resources team, you will be responsible for delivering and implementing comprehensive sub-category strategies for the Resources category that optimise performance for the organisation in terms of cost, quality, delivery, and responsiveness. You will provide guidance for the procurement of categories relating to corporate support such as HR, IT, Finance, Fleet and Consultancy.

Focusing on >£100k contracts, you will support stakeholders throughout the entire procurement lifecycle, including managing tenders through e-Sourcing portals, ensuring that value for money is achieved through effective and compliant procurement processes.

Additionally, you will assist in developing and executing robust sub-category strategies to enhance organisational performance. You will also manage and support projects and sub-categories, contributing to the overall effectiveness of category management.

Background - Team structure/reporting lines;

Head of Procurement & Contract Management

Category Lead (ownership of whole category groups: People, Place, Resources)

Category Manager (ownership of categories within People -Resources) and line management responsibility for the Procurement Manager role)

Procurement Manager (delivery/implementation lead of category plans and competitive tenders)

Procurement Officer (supporting delivery/implementation of category plans and competitive tenders)

Good to know! - The Council’s e-sourcing portal is Atamis and the finance and procurement system is Oracle Fusion

We would be interested to hear from you if you have:

• Communication: Communicates clearly and adapts communication styles appropriately to suit the audience.

• Negotiation: Demonstrates a comprehensive range of negotiation skills and knows when to apply them effectively.

• Stakeholder Management: Exhibits strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to interact effectively across multiple levels.

• Managing Procurement Processes: Strong organisational skills with good (and demonstrable) experience in managing multiple small to medium-sized projects, including overseeing and facilitating tenders in a fast-paced environment

• Contract Knowledge: Have good understanding of various routes to market and contract types and agreements, such as consultancy, service, grant funding, and concession contracts.

• Category Sourcing: Experienced in delivering and implementing category sourcing strategies, including strategies for various sub-categories.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• CIPS qualified and working towards MCIPS would be preferable, or equivalent qualification or experience.

• Knowledge and experience of public procurement regulations and processes Procurement Act 2023, PCR15, Provider Selection Regime), using Government procurement frameworks and leading competitive tenders.

• Current experience in managing a tender process in a public sector setting including market engagement, drafting documents, developing evaluation approach

• Good understanding of commercial risks and exposures and can demonstrate their application.

• Able to work effectively and efficiently within a corporate governance structure

• Understanding of sub-category sectors – shares knowledge where appropriate.

• Demonstrable experience of delivering total cost of ownership savings.

• Experience of delivering and implementing category and sourcing strategies, supporting the delivery of multiple strategies for various sub-categories.

• Developing project leadership and management capabilities and experience,

• Adept at managing multiple medium sized projects.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme

• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)

• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role

• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave

• volunteering opportunities

• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring

• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see ourStaff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)

• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is 300

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact: James Skilling

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

To apply, upload your CV and application form explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!