Procurement Specialist

We’re looking for someone who is commercially minded and ready for a new and exciting opportunity, one that offers strong career prospects and the chance to make a real difference to the City of Brighton & Hove.

Interview date: To be confirmed

There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact James Breen, Strategic Procurement Manager, at James.Breen@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

About Us

Brighton & Hove City Council is a unitary authority. We manage around £0.5 billion in external supplier spend—from software and social care services to cleaning products and sports equipment.

The Procurement team provides expert advice to Brighton & Hove City Council officers responsible for purchasing goods, works, and services for the city. We support colleagues throughout the tendering process, helping them achieve savings and deliver wider benefits such as environmental sustainability and social value.

Our team plays a vital role in ensuring the Council secures best value for its purchases.

About the Role

You will be a self-motivated and hard-working individual who has excellent communication and problem-solving skills accompanied with good numerical skills. Ideally you will have some commercial experience which could include contract management, procurement or finance. Experience in project management or business administration could also be beneficial.

What you will do:

• Undertake tendering activity with support from senior procurement officers
• Support Council officers with contract modifications
• Respond to procurement queries from officers across the council
• Liaise with the legal, insurance and finance teams to ensure goods and services are purchased compliantly.
• Maintain and update procurement systems

The role is varied and will give you the opportunity to support a range of procurement activities across the Council.

About You

We welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds and encourage diversity in our team. Some prior procurement experience is desirable, along with an understanding of how public sector delivery influences purchasing strategies and practices.

We are looking for someone who:

• Is self-motivated, proactive, and a creative problem-solver
• Has strong communication and stakeholders management skills
• Ideally has procurement/buying experience
• Can plan and organise effectively and is comfortable working to tight deadlines, even under pressure.
• Has good numerical skills
• Can work independently, taking ownership and responsibility for their workload.

What We Offer

• Professional development through fully funded CIPS qualifications, available via self-study or apprenticeship schemes (where available).
• Flexible working arrangements including Hybrid working.
• Paid annual leave
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on the community.
• Travel-related benefits, including cycle to work, travel loans, free bus travel for new starters and a public transport discount card.
• Generous Local Government Pensions Scheme (including Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contribution Scheme)
• Discounts through Perkbox.

We’re a collaborative and inclusive team that values flexibility and individuality. Whether you're balancing work with family life, pursuing personal interests, or simply looking for a supportive environment, we’d love you to join us.

Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

Recruitment scam alert

Some third-party websites may be using details from our vacancies to advertise roles that are not authorised by us. To protect your personal information, please ensure you verify the job details and application route through the Brighton & Hove City Council jobs board.

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