Junior Consultant

Department: Built Environment & Local Growth

Location: London and Milton Keynes

Application Deadline: 6 May 2026

Compensation: £27,340 – £41,000 per year

Contract type: Permanent

Working hours: Full time (9 day fortnight companywide)

Band: 1.3

Salary: £27,340 to £41,000 (depending on office location and proven ability)

Reports to: Head of Regional and Local Growth Technical

Location: Milton Keynes/London (minimum two days a week in the office; more days possible)

Closing date: 10am, 6 May 2026

Role Description

Connected Places Catapult (CPC) leads the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), helping public sector and commercial buyers use procurement spending to unlock better outcomes and open markets to innovative suppliers, including high‑potential businesses. Through practical support, shared tools and applied learning, IPEC is shaping innovation‑friendly procurement practice under the Procurement Act 2023. We are recruiting a junior consultant to work across IPEC’s delivery. This delivery role is ideal for someone early in their career who wants to become outstanding at commercial and procurement practice. You will support live work with buyers: structuring problems into outcome‑based requirements, helping plan and run preliminary market engagement (including producing notices and packs), and turning what we learn from the market into clear routes to tender.

You will get close to procurement reform machinery: learning how the competitive flexible procedure can be designed and documented, how “most advantageous tender” evaluation can be defended, how participation conditions can be proportionately set, and how choices like lots, frameworks, and pipeline signalling affect who can bid and who wins. You will also produce the artefacts that make this real: templates, briefings, guidance notes, spend and market analysis, and clear reporting that stands up to scrutiny. We welcome applicants with a procurement degree or grounding in commercial, law, economics, policy or operations, but the defining characteristic is curiosity and momentum: you should want to get good at procurement innovation quickly, take responsibility for delivery, and be energised by turning everyday spend into a route to market for new suppliers.

Key Responsibilities

• Support delivery of programmes, including reports, research, and project management.
• Stakeholder management and relationship building.
• Undertake thought leadership and support the creation of new knowledge and research.
• Develop and shape policy to promote innovation procurement.
• Work with account leads and teams to support opportunity identification, qualification and contracting.
• Ensure compliant use of CRM and project management processes and systems.
• Support development of high‑quality client proposals and tender responses.
• Ensure dissemination and feedback on Connected Places Catapult internal communications.
• Maintain own professional development.
• Ensure an ethos of equity, inclusivity and diversity underpin work activity, and contribute to inclusive innovation across all Catapult activities.
• Carry out any other reasonable duties to support the Catapult’s strategic outcomes and effective business operations.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Familiarity with procurement policy and wider use of guidance to support effective use of procurement policies.
• Strong communication skills, adaptable to diverse audiences.
• Adaptable, able to work across multiple workstreams and teams.
• High emotional intelligence, fostering an environment where team members feel safe to experiment and try new things.
• Encourages continuous improvement in processes, systems, behaviors and ways of working.
• Manages own workstreams to deliver against outputs, prioritising tasks and delegating effectively.
• Uses management information to understand trends, gaps, challenges, opportunities and inform commercial decisions.
• Works well within a team, including matrix management, fostering a culture of innovation and curiosity.
• Ensures compliance with policies, and applies equalities impact assessments on all aspects of work at CPC.

Benefits

• 9 day fortnight for everyone, every other Friday.
• 23.5 holiday entitlement for everyone, with pro‑rata calculations for part‑time employees and a Christmas shutdown period for additional days off.
• Competitive pension, up to 10% company contribution to help save for the future.
• Two paid days of volunteering leave per year (pro‑rata for part‑time employees).
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), providing 24/7 confidential work/life support services for you and your immediate family.
• Cycle to Work Scheme, encouraging a healthy and sustainable commute.
• Cash Health Plan, offering reimbursement for a wide range of essential and everyday healthcare expenses.
• Payroll Giving scheme, allowing regular charitable contributions from pre‑tax income.
• Discounts and offers from a wide variety of retailers, enhancing purchasing power and providing savings.
• Mortgage Advice benefit, delivered in partnership with Charles Cameron & Associates, providing free expert mortgage advice and end‑to‑end mortgage support.

Employment Eligibility

Employment here is based solely upon individual merit and qualifications directly related to professional competence. We strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, colour, religion, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy status, sex, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected by law. We also make all reasonable accommodations to meet our obligations under laws protecting the rights of the disabled.