Procurement Manager

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Are you an experienced Procurement professional with public sector experience?

Do you want to make a difference to the education sector?

Then we have an exciting role for you to work within a growing charity organisation.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Procurement Manager to join our growing organisation that is a certified "Great Place to Work". Great Place To Work is also proud to recognise Crescent Purchasing Consortium on the following Best Workplaces Lists.

The role is based within the Contracting Team at Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC). CPC is a purchasing consortium, owned and overseen by the Further Education sector. CPC provides purchasing frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and procurement consultancy services for schools, academies, colleges, universities and other educational organisations.

You will join the Contracting Team, which recently restructured into three broad categories, People, Place and Product. You will take responsibility for the People category, overseeing the production of purchasing agreements (frameworks and DPSs, expanding into Dynamic Markets and both Closed and Open Frameworks when the Procurement Act 2023 comes into force in the autumn). CPC aims to make procurement regulations compliant sourcing of supplies, works and services easier for its members.

CPC agreements cover a wide variety of supplies, works and services, and we aim to continue to develop this portfolio in line with our members' needs. CPC currently offers 88 unique agreements to its membership, which recently exceeded 10,000 institutions from across the UK education sector.

Reporting to the Head of Contracting Services, you will deliver efficient and effective framework agreements & related mechanisms to our members. You will be responsible for the delivery of the whole procurement cycle across the People category, from business planning, through pre-market engagement and end-to-end tendering, to contract management, stakeholder engagement and supplier management. In addition, you will also provide procurement support and guidance to our varied member and supplier base, alongside a number of technical colleagues who support our members with procurement advice.

You will also provide day to day management, training, mentoring and support to the Contract Manager, Senior Procurement Officer and Procurement Officer(s) within the People category. Helping to develop, issue, and evaluate all tender documentation in full accordance initially with the 2015 Public Contracts Regulations and from the autumn, the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024.

Person Specification

We seek a candidate who has extensive procurement experience within the public sector. Ideally, you will have a detailed working knowledge of public sector procurement legislation, experience of working in the education sector and experience in managing a small team of direct reports.

You will have broad based procurement experience of a range of procurement categories and services, managing successful high performance commercial agreements. A commercial acumen, including a proven track record of delivering high quality outcomes and added value via the procurement process is essential. Full membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS) is highly desirable but candidates working towards CIPS or demonstrating suitable alternative qualifications and/or experience will be considered.

If you are a skilled and experienced procurement professional with the ability to deliver all aspects of this role, then we would love to hear from you.

Interview Process

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview on 18th and 19th September at CPC's Head Office in Salford. The interview process will comprise of two parts:

1. A 10-15 minute presentation based on a relevant topic which will be advised upon successful shortlisting; followed by a short question/answer session with the interview panel.
2. A traditional panel-based interview, focussing on the job description, person specification and your application.

Salary and benefits

In return for your dedication to the role you will receive a salary between £50,000 - £55,000 FTE, dependant on experience. Additionally, you will be joining a charity which:

• Is owned and overseen by the Further Education sector, with a great charity ethos and a developed programme of 'giving back' to the communities in which it is based and which it supports.
• Offers a discretionary annual bonus of up to £3,500.
• Offers 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays and an additional three days' Christmas period closure).
• Offers the opportunity to join a Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Offers flexible and agile working patterns with homeworking opportunities. The successful candidate must be willing to work 2 days at the Head Office in Salford, with opportunities to reduce this to 1 day a week once they have settled in to the role.
• Free car parking is available within the grounds of the office and the office is a short walk from local transport links
• Provides a comprehensive induction through the initial probationary period, together with support for ongoing training & development, designed to help you be the best you can be
• Provides funding to achieve full MCIPS qualification and ongoing CIPS membership fees payment.
• Offers a comprehensive wellbeing support package, including a fully-funded EAP, mental health first-aid, and annual volunteering opportunities.

Next Steps

If the above sounds interesting, please click through to our careers site for further information about this role at www.thecpc.ac.uk/careers.

For more information on the role, please view the job description:

Procurement_Manager JD.pdf

CPC is an Equal Opportunities Employer and committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at every level. We welcome and encourage all applications and we believe that having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values.

The closing date for written applications is 6th September 2024.