About the job

Job summary

As a Procurement Manager, you will play a crucial role in optimising our procurement practices and managing supplier contracts. Your expertise will directly impact our organisation’s success.

In this role, you will collaborate with Senior Procurement Partners to understand current and future procurement needs providing expert advice and support throughout the procurement process. You will also ensure compliance with regulations and best practices as well as maintaining accurate records. As a Procurement Manager you’ll educate managers on effective procurement approaches and instil value for money awareness and identify risks and propose effective measures to address them, including legal risks.

From a contract management perspective, your responsibilities will also include creating and managing segmentation processes and management information (MI) for supplier and contract performance optimisation. You’ll be reviewing spend and service against contracts, addressing anomalies and performance issues plus conducting thorough reviews of specific contracts, identifying areas for improvement.

To excel in this role, you should have qualified CIPS membership, Proven experience in procurement and contract management. You’ll also have strong knowledge of procurement regulations and best practices, excellent analytical and negotiation skills plus the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

Job description

Ofgem is a non-ministerial government department and an independent National Regulatory Authority. Our principal objective is to protect the interests of existing and future electricity and gas consumers. We do this by promoting value for money, promoting security of supply and sustainability, for present and future generations of consumers, domestic and industrial users, the supervision and development of markets and competition, regulation and the delivery of government schemes. We work effectively with, but are independent of, government, the energy industry and other stakeholders within a legal framework determined by the UK government and the European Union.

The purpose of the procurement manager role is to partner with specific directorates (at senior management level and supporting their teams) to ensure robust, compliant procurement activity, deliver training on contract management, and support planning and execution of efficient, effective procurement and contract management practices across the directorate.  Collectively, the Procurement team will transform the quality of procurement activity across Ofgem to ensure efficiency, maximum compliance and robust supplier/ contract performance management, as well as delivering high value for money outcomes – this post is instrumental to these objectives being achieved.

Key Responsibilities

Procurement

• Working closely with Senior Procurement Partners to help support directorate Directors and their SMTs to understand current and future procurement requirements to create a medium to long term plan.
• Provide advice, support and manage the procurement process for relevant contracts, ensuring value for money achieved.
• Manage and execute all procurement activities in line with required regulations and controls, ensuring best practice is adopted.
• Maintain precise procurement records maximising opportunities to digitise, standardise and automate data, to both insight, inform reporting and advice.
• Provide guidance and education to inform managers of effective approaches to procurement (process, policy, regulations), instilling value for money awareness.
• Identify risks and issues and present papers, proposals on effective measures to address, implementing changes as agreed. In particular, ensure legal risks on procurement activity are understood and mitigated using OGC advice.

Contract Management 

• Support the creation of and manage appropriate segmentation processes and MI to allow Ofgem staff to optimise their management of supplier and contract performance.
• Support directorates with reviewing spend and service against contracts, liaising with suppliers on any anomalies, performance issues, escalating and resolving as appropriate.
• Undertake reviews of spend and services against specific contracts, identifying issues, and taking corrective action as necessary.
• Analyse supplier suitability, contract terms and negotiate where appropriate to drive better performance or value for money.
• Take a lead in supporting supplier review meetings (tenders, performance reviews), to ensure appropriate services and terms are agreed to support directorate requirements.

Development

• Work on specific projects and reviews, as directed by the Head of Procurement to support the development of new processes, systems, to enhance the procurement and contract management function.
• Mentor the procurement officer for your directorate areas.
• Deliver a rolling programme of procurement and contract management training across Ofgem to maximise procurement compliance and contract performance management best practice across the organisation.

More information about the role and the application process can be found in the application pack and role profile below.

Person specification

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below. 

Essential

• Experience running tenders independently. (Lead criteria)
• Experience in best practice procurement, tendering and contract management (Lead criteria)
• Achieved level 4 (or working towards) full member of CIPS professional body.
• A good understanding of prevailing procurement regulations and experience of applying effectively these across a wide range of activities (size, scope, complexity).
• Excellent business understanding with ability to communicate effectively, negotiate and influence.
• Ability to plan and prioritise effectively according to business needs as well as enhanced commercial acumen and financially aware.
• Strong all round communication skills, influencing ability, confidence and resilience with excellent IT skills, including Excel and Word

Desirable

• Experience of working in public sector procurement.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,498, OFGEM contributes £8,774 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.