Procurement Assistant Manager - Essex Procurement Partnership

Procurement Assistant Manager - Essex Procurement Partnership

Fixed Term, 12 months

Full Time, 37 hours per week

£34,266 to £40,313 per annum plus Flexible Working & Local Gov Pension

Location: Chelmsford / Hybrid

Working Style: Anywhere worker - expectation to attend the office (County Hall, Chelmsford) is
typically once to twice per week based on business needs

Closing Date: 24th November 2024

Do you want to make a difference to real people and real lives? Do you
want to be a part of helping to shape the future of our Procurement
service at Essex Procurement Partnership (EPP)?

Did you know that together the five Authorities that make up the Essex
Procurement Partnership spends c£1.4Billion per annum on 3rd party
commissioned services? EPP has been set up as a collaboration between five
authorities as a shared procurement team delivering enhanced procurement
value on behalf of the member Authorities. Working with Essex County
Council you will work alongside the Procurement Team at ECC who are

award winning

and support the organisation to deliver services to 1.4million residents.
We aim to lead the profession on exciting initiatives such as social value,
climate action through procurement and how we use our combined size and
scale to support our Levelling up Agenda.

We are looking for experienced procurement professionals. The initial
focus will be very much on delivering sourcing activity, but working with
ECC the role will develop to incorporate category and contract work, with
the expectation that you will will deal with the full procurement
lifecycle, touching all elements of the process from cradle to grave.

The Opportunity

This role works as part of the Essex Procurement Partnership, undertaking
procurements on behalf of multiple District and Borough Authorities. This
bring a huge amount of variety to this role with no day the same as well as
the opportunity to work at different levels of Local Government with
different stakeholders.

Your focus will be on sourcing and you will undertake a significant number
of procurements across a wide range of categories

You can hear the success stories of some of our employees in our Blog
via the following links

My Procurement Journey – Amanda

My Procurement Journey – Victoria

Jawid – Success Story

For more information on Procurement careers within the Council and the
broader Procurement Service, visit

https://workingforessex.com/careers-in-procurement

Why work with us?

- Make a difference to the local community, and help us transform Districts
and Boroughs as part of Essex to a circular economy as we redefine growth
and focus on positive society-wide benefits.

- EPP is a small close knit team working across all levels at District and
Boroughs. Working with Essex County Council, we form a broader very large
procurement team with circa 120 staff and have seen the department grow by
25% over the last 18 months. Annual Spend of £1.4 billion.

- Working for ECC who are the only CIPS accredited County Council in the
UK.

- We are the largest Local Authority Procurement Team in the UK and have a
national reputation for excellence.

- Work for a high performing team with great team morale and friendly,
helpful, and supportive colleagues.

- Happy to consider Public and Private sector backgrounds

- Great training pathways. Encouragement to all staff for their continual
professional development with full support and guidance towards CIPS /
MCIPS

- Flexible working – with no official start or finish time you can make
your work arrangement work around the other elements of your life offering
a fantastic work / life balance.

- Local Authority Pension Scheme. For more details please visit:

https://www.essexpensionfund.co.uk/

- 27 days annual leave plus bank holiday.

- 37 hour working week.

- Continuous Service – Joining us from another local authority? Then you
could benefit from bringing your time served and benefits with you.

Accountabilities

· Lead the development, maintenance and implementation of category
strategies, ensuring alignment to commissioning objectives.

· Develop and implement innovative approaches and solutions in the delivery
of complex projects to enhance levels of service and minimise costs. This
requires working collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation
and externally, to ensure best practice can be achieved when implementing
new ways of working.

· Collaborate with Senior Managers and Members as to the commercial and
financial viability of differing commercial options for specific projects
within complex and at times, contentious environments.

· Manage suppliers to ensure they consistently achieve the performance
standards set out in contracts and that adequate controls are in place to
protect the Authority’s interests. Take a proactive approach to identifying
and investigating contractual, commercial and market risks to ensure
continuity of supply and protect the Authority’s interests.

· Operate a continuous improvement approach to identify and deliver
on-going changes whilst also leading the negotiation of commercial and
contractual changes to ensure they consistently meet business requirements.

· Lead projects and tenders, ensuring all sourcing activity fully complies
with appropriate legislation and regulation whilst also complying with each
EPP member Authority’s policies.

· Work collaboratively with incumbent suppliers and potential new entrants
to identify gaps in market provision and explore opportunities to close
those gaps.

· Provide support and advice to stakeholders regarding any contractual or
procurement matters.

· Support the adoption of best practice approaches with the aim of ensuring
that the Procurement function is seen as ‘best in class’. Ensure policies,
procedures, documents and workflows are kept up-to-date and remain best in
class.

· Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined
annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

· Educated to A level with a relevant professional qualification such as
MCIPS or working towards such a qualification or equivalent demonstrable
work experience with evidence of continuing professional development.

· Knowledge of category management and experience of using this methodology
in complex commercial environments to deliver significant cost or service
improvements.

· A demonstrable track record of managing strategic contracts in business
critical environments. This should include evidence of defining, measuring
and improving key elements of supplier performance.

· Evidence of some experience of delivering continuous improvements in
strategic arrangements with evidence of generating significant cost and
service benefits.

· Evidence of some knowledge of contract law and legislation relevant to
the specific category / categories within their control and its impact on
market management, finance and contractual arrangements.

· Extensive knowledge of public sector procurement law with an ability to
explain the law to non-procurement staff and find pragmatic solutions to
potential legal difficulties.

· Comprehensive negotiating skills appropriate to multi million pound
contracts and experience of planning and delivering successful
negotiations.

· An awareness of working in a political environment.

For more information on the procurement service and the wider Corporate
Function please visit

https://workingforessex.com/role/corporate-services

Why Essex? Essex County Council
has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from
Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to
the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest
town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right
here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our
major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal
place for your career. To read more please visit:

https://www.workingforessex.com/about-us/

Apply and next steps

Ambitious people really fit in here so if you are a talented Procurement
Assistant Manager then we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the
Working for Essex website, ensuring you upload an up-to-date CV and provide
a supporting statement when prompted.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re
committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under
our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job.
Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments
during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet
the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees
and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities,
blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council,
please join

The Essex Talent Community

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If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further,
please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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