Procurement Manager in Chorley

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Shared Procurement Team serving both Chorley Council and South Ribble Borough Council. We are seeking an experienced, motivated, and forward-thinking Procurement Manager to lead a dedicated team committed to delivering a high-quality, customer-focused, and proactive procurement service. Procurement plays a critical role in supporting the successful delivery of key strategic priorities and projects across both councils, ensuring compliance, value for money, and positive outcomes for our communities.

The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic, positive and confident leader with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of building effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels. You will be expected to provide professional advice, challenge constructively where appropriate, and drive continuous improvement across procurement activities.

Who we’re looking for:

• You will hold a degree or formal management qualification.
• You will hold a CIPS Diploma.
• You will have a minimum of 3 years relevant experience.
• You will have experience of working within a local authority/public sector setting.
• You will have excellent oral communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a team to deliver excellent services.

What you will be getting up to:

In this pivotal leadership role, you will lead and oversee end-to-end procurement activity across both Councils, driving strategic sourcing, commercial excellence, and continuous improvement while strengthening supplier relationships and contract management practices across the organisation. You will play a key role in shaping and delivering a modern, forward-thinking procurement service, developing procurement strategy, systems, policies, and training programmes, and leading a high-performing Corporate Procurement Team recognised as a centre of excellence.

With overall responsibility for procurement governance, legislative compliance, and professional standards, you will ensure that all procurement activity is solution-focused, delivers best value, and complies with relevant legislative, regulatory, and constitutional requirements. You will provide professional assurance, advice, and accountability to the Senior Management Team and Elected Members.

You will lead the development and embedding of effective contract management practices across both Councils, working collaboratively with all Directorates to maximise contract performance, realise benefits, manage risk, and secure value throughout the contract lifecycle. The role also includes representing the Councils at regional and national forums, partnerships, and collaborative initiatives to promote innovation, identify opportunities for shared working, and maximise value for the organisation.

In addition, you will oversee spend analysis, procurement performance reporting, market intelligence, and service improvement initiatives, while personally leading complex, high-value, and high-risk procurement projects that support the Councils’ strategic objectives and priorities. We are looking for a commercially astute and resilient professional with a flexible and proactive approach, who thrives in a fast-paced and challenging environment and is able to balance strategic leadership with operational delivery.

Our Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays (and Christmas shutdown).
• Hybrid/agile working from day one.
• Cashback website access for savings on brands you love.
• Free parking.
• Car Allowance (6%).
• Local Government pension.
• Healthcare Cash Plan for cash back on health treatments.
• Volunteering days.

At South Ribble Council, our mission is to provide a first-class service and improve the quality of life for our communities. Our staff are our greatest resource in helping us achieve this. They’re at the heart of everything we do and are crucial to the delivery of excellent services.

We share a number of our services with Chorley Council. This allows for improved resilience across both councils and provides numerous benefits to our operations. Whilst some staff and back-end processes are shared between the Councils, both Councils still retain sovereignty and have separate strategies and corporate plans.

We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to the elimination of unfair and unlawful discrimination and prejudice in all our policies, procedures, and practices. We’re committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and accessible to everyone. This includes making adjustments for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions. If you would like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process, please contact us via the 'Contact Us' page on our website. If you are disabled or your last employer was the armed forces, and you meet all the essential criteria of a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.