Procurement Manager

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has an important role for an experienced procurement professional to join us as our Procurement Manager.

As Procurement Manager for the Royal Society of Chemistry, you will report to our Finance Director, and will work closely with senior managers and other colleagues across the organisation.  In this newly created role, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining organisational procurement plans and effective procurement and tendering procedures.

As our Procurement Manager, you will be the professional lead for the organisation on all procurement and contract management matters, supporting and advising colleagues through each stage of a contract’s life cycle. You will take personal charge of complex and significant tender procedures, and will take a lead role in negotiations with preferred suppliers, working closely with service managers and legal staff to ensure that contracts provide good value for money to the organisation.

You will also have access to the services and support of a retained independent procurement consultancy, providing access to good practice in other organisations including collaborative procurement opportunities and a library of resources that can be tailored to the RSC’s needs.

This is a permanent full-time (35-hour week) role based at our Science Park Cambridge office, with regular visits to our London office and occasional external meetings.

With over 50,000 members and an international publishing and knowledge business, the Royal Society of Chemistry is the UK’s professional body for chemical scientists, supporting and representing our members and bringing together chemical scientists from all over the world. A charitable company with an annual turnover of £65m, the RSC group includes UK trading subsidiaries and international subsidiary companies registered in India, China, Japan and the USA. Annual spend on supplies and services is circa £32m.

We are looking for: 

Essential:

Advanced knowledge of policies, procedures, applicable law and good practice relevant to procurement and contract management. An understanding of the benefits delivered through procurement planning processes. The ability to work on own initiative and under pressure with minimum supervision, to manage own workload and achieve important deadlines. Ability to deal with a wide range of concurrent projects. Strong negotiation and influencing skills. Experience of participation in contract negotiations and substantial experience of managing contracts, tenders and procurement exercises. Ability to communicate and build effective relationships with internal stakeholders and external partners. Strong interpersonal and team-working skills. Ability to communicate assertively and persuasively when required but maintain good working relationships. Ability to solve problems and provide solutions. Strong literacy, numeracy and commercial acumen. Experience of delivering training to colleagues who are not procurement experts. Desirable:

A good understanding of the regulatory framework in which charities operate. Purchasing experience in a technology-driven organisation is essential and procurement experience in a publishing organisation. Experience of developing organisational-level procurement plans and procedures. Experience of writing and presenting reports on procurement activity to management team, audit committee and similar meetings. Experience of operating an e-procurement system (preferably Netsuite/ERP). Membership of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), or equivalent procurement qualification.  At the Royal Society of Chemistry, we will reward your contribution with excellent benefits.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply before the end of our closing date. If selected, first interviews will be held on 8 or 12 March and second interviews on 20 March 2019.