Senior Procurement Specialist

About the roleAs a Senior Procurement Specialist, you will bring your commerciality and negotiation expertise to the forefront, working collaboratively to reduce Goods Not For Resale (GNFR) spend and mitigate third-party risk. You will take the lead on sourcing, category planning, and supplier management, confidently navigating multi-layered stakeholder relationships to deliver measurable commercial benefits. If you are a strong communicator with a continuous improvement mindset and a passion for customer obsession, this is your opportunity to shape our procurement strategy, champion our ethics and sustainability goals, and create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their potential.

You will lead procurement sourcing activities, specifically focusing on: Construction, Engineering and elements of Facilities and Energy categories

Salary - £49,800 - £74,700

Contract type - This position is a Permanent contract.

Working pattern/flexible working- The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The team aims for around 2 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.

Key responsibilities

• You will partner with stakeholders to influence cost allocation, spend and supplier management, with a focus on reducing overall Goods Not For Resale (GNFR) expenditure and mitigating third-party risk for the Partnership. As part of a highly engaged team, you will deliver best value Procurement through leverage your sourcing and negotiation expertise to maximise value for the Partnership. 

• Working alongside Finance, Legal, and the broader Procurement team, you will deliver value through effective source-to-contract activities. Success in this role requires the ability to engage diverse stakeholders, prioritise complex activities, and support strategic category planning.

You will be responsible for a number of activities, including:

• Negotiate commercial and contractual terms to deliver optimal benefits

• Lead or support end-to-end tender activities

• Facilitate key stakeholder and supplier meetings

• Analyse data and review with stakeholders to identify and implement improvement opportunities

• Develop and execute strategic category plans

• We are seeking candidates with enthusiasm for John Lewis Partnership Procurement, and who are prepared to provide robust challenges at all stages of the cost cycle to ensure consistent delivery of commercial benefit.

• We will support your development with mentoring, opportunities to undertake professional training and networking and providing access to a range of projects and stakeholders to broaden your experience.

Essential skills/ experience you’ll need

• Skilled at sourcing and negotiation with significant commercial experience in a Procurement function or suitable equivalent

• Good understanding of procurement process and systems

• Category planning and sourcing strategy experience

• Supplier management experience

• Strong stakeholder management skills, with a track record of building relationships internally and externally to drive the Procurement GNFR agenda.

• Ability to analyse data sets such as baseline spend and tender responses

• Exposure to/ experience in reviewing and negotiating contracts

Desirable skills/ experience you may have

• MCIPS qualified or working towards

• A deep understanding of Procurement strategy and policy

• Relevant procurement experience in Property

About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.  

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.   

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect. 

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.