About the Role
Procure smarter. Invest in brighter futures.
As Procurement Lead at EKC Group, you'll help ensure every pound spent delivers maximum value for our students, staff, and communities. Working closely with the Group Finance Director, you'll shape procurement strategies that support the Group's ambitions, balancing commercial thinking with a commitment to educational excellence.
You will lead strategic sourcing initiatives across a diverse range of categories, managing the full procurement lifecycle from market engagement and tendering through to contract award and supplier relationship management. Using spend analysis and market intelligence, you'll identify opportunities to drive efficiencies, secure value for money, and deliver sustainable savings that can be reinvested into teaching and learning.
Partnering with Finance and colleagues across the Group, you'll contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and cost management, ensuring procurement decisions align with financial objectives and long‑term planning. You'll also champion compliant purchasing practices, robust contract management, and strong stakeholder engagement, building trusted relationships with suppliers and internal teams alike.
Benefits
- Generous annual leave allowance – 38 days per annum
- Flexible Personal Leave – Time off for your child's first day at nursery or school, moving homes and for interviews
- Exclusive Discounts & Perks – Inc. restaurant, grocery, retail and holidays discounts as well as car leasing and tech purchasing schemes, on‑site nursery
- Wellbeing and Health Support – Generous sick pay, counselling services, discounted gym membership at Canterbury College, free eye tests and glasses vouchers, flexible support for medical appointments and return‑to‑work transitions
- Competitive Pension Scheme – 28% company contribution
- Culture and Recognition – Being part of Community Days, an Annual Staff Celebration Day, and an eco‑friendly organisation dedicated to reaching net‑zero by 2030
About You
As Procurement Lead, you'll be a commercially astute professional with a proven track record of developing and delivering procurement strategies that drive value for money, reduce risk, and support organisational objectives. You'll be confident leading complex procurement exercises, from market engagement and competitive tendering through to contract award, negotiation, and ongoing supplier performance management.
You will bring experience of category management, strategic sourcing, spend analysis, and contract management, using your commercial expertise to identify cost‑saving opportunities while maintaining quality and service standards. A strong understanding of procurement legislation, governance, and best practice will enable you to ensure compliance and promote transparent, ethical, and sustainable purchasing across the Group.
Success in this role will require you to build effective relationships with colleagues, suppliers, and senior stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on procurement matters and influencing decision‑making at all levels. You'll be equally comfortable working independently to manage multiple priorities and collaborating across departments to deliver procurement solutions that support teaching, learning, and the wider strategic goals of the Group.
Commitment to Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.
As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self‑declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.
It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.
If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.
Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.
We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health need or disability.
Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the essential criteria and who have declared this on their application.
We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.
We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in‑house recruitment team.
Contact: jobs@ekcgroup.ac.uk
