Agilia Infrastructure Partners is a specialist infrastructure consultancy established in 2016. We support some of the UK's most complex and high-value infrastructure programmes across the water, energy, transport and defence sectors, providing expert advisory and delivery support to clients navigating the most demanding regulatory and commercial environments in the UK.
Our Procurement Service Line plays a leading role in helping clients deliver best-in‑class procurement outcomes. We collaborate with contracting authorities and regulated utilities at every stage of the procurement lifecycle – from strategy development through to contract award – bringing deep regulatory expertise and genuine delivery experience to every engagement.
ROLE:
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced procurement professional to join Agilia at Associate Project Director level. We are looking for someone who has not only advised on procurement but delivered it. You will bring hands‑on experience of delivering complex, high‑value procurements in regulated environments: having sat on the client side or in a deeply embedded delivery role, managed live tender processes, chaired evaluation panels, navigated regulatory risk in real time, and driven programmes through to compliant contract award.
Working closely with the Procurement Director, you will lead client‑facing procurement delivery, grow the Procurement Service Line, and act as a credible senior practitioner across the public sector and regulated utility procurement. You will be an active contributor to a collaborative, high‑performing team – mentoring colleagues, sharing knowledge openly, and taking genuine satisfaction in seeing others develop alongside you. You will help build our tools and frameworks, contribute to Agilia’s market presence, and bring an enthusiasm for procurement as a strategic profession that is visible to clients and colleagues alike.
You will understand the practical pressures our clients face: constrained internal capacity, political and regulatory scrutiny, affordability challenges, and legacy commercial frameworks. You will model best‑in‑class procurement practice – grounded in real delivery experience – and help build a high‑performing team capable of executing complex, high‑value procurements for some of the UK's most significant infrastructure projects.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Procurement Strategy Development – Lead the development and implementation of robust, compliant procurement strategies for complex infrastructure programmes. Draw on direct delivery experience to ensure strategies are not only technically sound at the approval stage, but workable in execution – reflecting the practical realities of live procurement management, supplier behaviour, and regulatory risk.
Procurement Execution and Management: Lead the day‑to‑day delivery of live procurement processes, including managing tender portals, issuing tender documentation, coordinating and chairing evaluation panels, managing bidder communications and clarifications, overseeing moderation, and ensuring compliant standstill and award processes. Identify and manage procedural risk in real time and know how to recover when things do not go to plan.
Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management: Draw on direct, firsthand experience of operating under the Procurement Act 2023, or its predecessor regimes to guide clients through their compliance obligations. This means practical application – having structured procurements, drafted compliant notices, managed standstill periods, and navigated challenges or complaints. Ensure clients understand their obligations and risks at each stage with clear, actionable guidance.
Route‑to‑Market: Identify and recommend appropriate procurement routes working closely with legal, commercial, and technical advisors to build well‑evidenced business cases. Candidates should be able to demonstrate having recommended and subsequently delivered across more than one procurement route.
Market Engagement: Design and lead structured market engagement activities, including market soundings, supplier days and pre‑qualification processes, to inform procurement decisions and build competitive supply chains.
Stakeholder Management: Function as a trusted senior adviser to client procurement and commercial leads, programme directors and executive stakeholders. Understand the specific pressures faced by public sector and regulated utility clients – including constrained internal procurement capacity, political and regulatory scrutiny, affordability challenges, and legacy commercial frameworks and provide pragmatic guidance that is workable within those constraints, not just technically correct.
Assurance and Governance: Support internal and external procurement assurance reviews, preparing high‑quality documentation including procurement business cases, strategy papers, evaluation frameworks and approval submissions. Bring direct experience of presenting procurement decisions to senior governance boards and defending those decisions under scrutiny.
Team Leadership: Provide direction and mentoring to junior members of the procurement workstream, supporting their professional development, and ensuring quality of output across the team.
Thought Leadership: Contribute to Agilia's capability development by sharing insights on regulatory developments, market trends, and best practice procurement approaches within regulated infrastructure sectors.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS:
Hands‑on Procurement Delivery: Demonstrable, end‑to‑end experience of managing and delivering complex, high‑value procurements on major public sector infrastructure or capital programmes – from strategy development and route‑to‑market through tender management to compliant contract award. Strong theoretical knowledge alone is not sufficient; we are looking for people who have done this.
Procurement Legislation: Direct experience of delivering procurements under PA23 and/or Procurement Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15) Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (UCR16) and The Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (DSPCR11), including structuring compliant processes, drafting or reviewing compliant notices, managing standstill periods, and steering programmes through to award. Understanding of Utilities and/or Defence regulations, including familiarity with qualification, tender procedures, regulatory constraints, and for defence security and single source considerations.
Client‑Side or Embedded Delivery Experience: Experience of working within, or in a deeply embedded capacity alongside, public sector contracting authorities or regulated utilities – whether through direct employment, secondment, or sustained consultancy roles where you held functional accountability for procurement decisions and governance submissions.
Procurement Execution: Proven record of managing live procurement processes end‑to‑end, including tender documentation preparation, supplier communication management, evaluation coordination and moderation, and compliant award processes. Ability to identify and manage procedural risk in real time during live procurements.
Route‑to‑Market: Proven ability to develop procurement strategies and route‑to‑market recommendations in complex technical, commercial, and stakeholder environments, and to have subsequently delivered against those strategies. Candidates should understand where well‑crafted strategies can break down in execution and how to mitigate that risk.
Governance and Approvals: Experience preparing and presenting procurement documentation to senior governance boards, securing approvals at programme gates, and defending procurement decisions under scrutiny.
Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a clear ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into actionable guidance for non‑specialist audiences, and to present confidently at executive and board level.
ADDITIONAL SKILLS:
Membership of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (MCIPS) or Equivalent
Consultancy Experience, supporting multiple clients concurrently across different sectors and regulatory frameworks
Cross‑Sector Exposure, across more than one regulated sector (e.g. water and energy, or energy and defence)
NEC and Infrastructure Contract Forms, in a pre‑award procurement context
Public Sector Investment Appraisal, including familiarity with HM Treasury’s Green Book or IPA frameworks
Procurement Legal Challenge, having managed or supported a challenge, or operated in environments with heightened challenge risk
Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs), particularly those relating to social value, net zero, and transparency requirements under PA23
Net Zero and Social Value, including embedding sustainability requirements within procurement strategies and evaluation frameworks.
e‑Procurement Portals (e.g. Jaggaer, Bravo, Delta eSourcing), used in a live delivery capacity
LOCATION:
- You will be based from our London office (Third floor, 11 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3LT) and will be expected to travel to client site.
Contact Details:
Agilia Infrastructure Partners Recruitment Team
