Senior Procurement Manager

Senior Procurement Manager

Date: 5 Jun 2024

Location: Krakow, European Union, PL

Company: British Council

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.
Contract Type: Indefinite Location: Krakow, Poland Vacancies: 2 Closing date: 23rd June 2024 at 23:59 Some of our benefits are:

• Enjoy a standard workday of 7.45 hours and a weekly total of 38.75 hours, allowing for a healthy work-life balance.
• Benefit from additional holidays, including a minimum of 35 days of annual leave per year, which includes public holidays. Our holiday calendar is meticulously crafted based on the public holiday lists for Poland, Belgium, and adheres to the British Council policy.
• Stay active and healthy with our Corporate Sports Card - MultiSport Light 10, which is partially funded by our Social Fund (ZFŚS).
• Avail significant discounts on our English courses and exams for both you and your immediate family members.
• Take advantage of various financial grants and holiday refunds through our Social Fund (ZFŚS), which offers both random and social assistance.
• Access our Employee Assistance Programme, providing confidential psychological support services to ensure your overall wellbeing.
• Explore diverse avenues for professional development and career advancement within our organizational structure

You must have the legal right to work in Poland at the time of application. There is no relocation or sponsorship support. British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service. This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.
About the role: The Senior Procurement Manager is part of the Global Procurement team, The Global Procurement function is split into clusters and this role will report to a Procurement Director delivering procurement requirements within that cluster.
The Senior Procurement Manager will support the Global Procurement strategy and is responsible for supporting cluster initiatives. This role will lead and promote cross-country procurement activities and ensure larger scale collaboration opportunities are considered or undertaken where appropriate. Working with the Global Category Managers, they will deliver the global and cluster approach at country/ cluster level.
Main Responsibilities

• Supports the Cluster Head of procurement in developing the Strategic Sourcing plan for the cluster.
• Plans procurement activity according to spend profile and benefit realisation with the involvement of the Category management team.
• Leads on the delivery of projects contributing to the Strategic Sourcing plan for the cluster.
• Plans the annual benefit target according to project with an updated benefit pipeline.
• Consults closely with internal customers and other stakeholder to understand current and future business needs (likely to be on a quarterly time horizon), and plans work activities accordingly to ensure the services and advice they provide meets those demands
• Builds an in-depth understanding of the procurement opportunities and challenges facing internal customer(s), and of how those relate to wider issues across the broader organisation, to ensure the development of procurement governance and practices based on informed business insight and joined-up thinking
• Supports Procurement Director and other stakeholders in finding solutions to procurement matters raised applying advanced procurement sourcing knowledge to solve a range of complex business issues.
• Identifies and makes recommendations to Deputy CPO for improvements to ways of working that enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the corporate procurement, as well as the operational effectiveness of their internal customers.
• Makes technical/professional recommendations which have a measurable impact on local business performance (e.g., in terms of efficiency, quality, reliability, mitigation of risk, productivity, profitability or customer satisfaction)
• Actively champions and monitors staff compliance with the agreed corporate policies and practices relevant to their area of functional expertise; investigating reasons for non-compliance.
• Seeks to improve business process for the customers benefit, contributing ideas to support the development of discipline-wide and customer-specific business plans and priorities.
• Provides expert professional advice, support and challenge to internal customers and other stakeholders to support the development of high quality, effective and continuously improving business practices within procurement.
• Provides specialist, functional expertise advice or ideas into the development and implementation of corporate or regional change projects.
• Pro-actively pursues an annual cycle of formally recognised Continuing Professional Development to maintain and deepen their professional expertise.
• Using agreed corporate systems and processes, plans and manages the core budget for their area of activity, and for any special initiatives or change projects for which they are responsible.
• Develops sourcing plans short term and long-term plans for each area of significant value aligned to procurement objectives.
• Works closely with Category management team to ensure key benefits are being delivered aligning to the Category strategy and procurement best practices.
• Develops peer/personal networks within and outside the British Council to enhance own knowledge and expertise.
• Develops close relationships with designated SBUs to understand the complex nature of SBU’s needs.
• Provides formal line management to a small team, consisting of staff both within and beyond the local office base.
• Drives change by engaging teams in change, communicating context clearly and modelling change for others, articulating a compelling picture of the future.
• Develops talent and team culture to get the best from the team, encouraging high performers, and managing low performers effectively.

Minimum/essential requirements

• Extensive experience of working in a similar role at a similar level managing procurement projects and managing a team of procurement professionals.
• Experience of managing bundling of existing outsourced initiatives, throughout a complex project for a single stakeholder.
• In-depth understanding of procurement processes and complex competitive bidding.
• Significant understanding of legal and operational risks.
• Good understanding of complex contractual provisions and Supplier Relationship management.
• Good business understanding.
• Undergraduate degree holder or has relevant experience in category Management / procurement.
• Qualified member of a professions body, e.g. CIPS or other relevant body or equivalent experience.
• The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement
The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.
The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.
We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.
Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.
If you have any problems with your application please email askhr@britishcouncil.org
Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our ‘ASK HR’ email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.