Category Assistant

We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway (EMR). We are passionate about keeping people safe, delighting our customers, doing the right thing and putting customers at the heart of our sustainable railway for the East Midlands. With over 2,600 employees, our people are the reason we are so successful. Ten times accredited as a Top Employer, we value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work.

We have an exciting opportunity to join #TeamEMR in our Procurement Department as a Category Assistant. At EMR we want to proactively embrace diversity across our workforce and recognise that we are under-represented in terms of females and ethnic minority groups. We’re therefore taking positive steps to promote a positive and inclusive culture; we welcome applications from those that identify with these groups to better represent our communities.

Main Duties of the Role

• Manage and conduct low risk tender or quotation activity for goods, services, and one-off purchases.
• Support Category Managers with activities arising from the tendering cycle, from the creation of invitations to tender packages, evaluation criteria and evaluation of responses, development of contracts and post contract activity in line with the EMR Procurement Policy and Procurement Act 2023 Regulations.
• Provide support for Category Managers in the administration of tender exercises to ensure compliance and a clear audit trail.
• Establish and maintain relationships and work closely with key internal stakeholders such as budget holders, service and product users to provide a responsive and professional procurement service and to promote good procurement practices.
• Creation of PO’s through the Financial system to provide compliance to policies and procedures.
• Create and maintain auditable and transparent records and reports to meet internal and external management information and compliance requirements.
• Process new supplier requests received from colleagues within EMR ensuring the Procurement Policy is adhered to and existing contracts are utilised.
• Management and Governance of the contracts database to ensure that contracts remain valid, and any contractual breaches are identified and resolved.

Skills and Knowledge Required

• A level qualified or equivalent experience.
• Studying or willing to study towards Professional Diploma Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS).
• Experience of working within a Procurement Environment.
• Working to multiple deadlines often under time constraints without compromising quality.
• Team player with the ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders internally and externally to the business. Adaptable to business change.
• Experience on delivering high quality customer service.
• Experience of working with a governance framework as well as good level of knowledge in ICT systems, including e-procurement systems and Microsoft suite.
• Confidence with willingness to challenge and be challenged.
• Ability to complete a procurement process from start to finish with some support.
• Effective communication skills, both written and verbal, e.g. ability to communicate at all levels in the organisation.
• Has a flexible attitude and willing to embrace new challenges.

Benefits

• Free First Class duty travel on the EMR network.
• Free Standard Class leisure travel on the EMR network.
• Friends and Family discounted tickets on the EMR network.
• 75% discount on national leisure travel (including partner and dependants).
• 32 days holiday per year.

Frontline Support Requirement

If you're successful in this role, you'll be expected to support our frontline colleagues at some points throughout the year. This might be undertaking safety critical work, for which you'll receive training, but it could just be helping out with Customer Service when our stations are busy. We're One Team, and that means our managers step up for the frontline, not just manage from a distance. Supporting frontline colleagues is part of our DNA at EMR.

EMR has a hybrid working policy which is applicable for this role. Should you wish to work full time in the office this is also an option.

To apply please complete the online application form and upload your CV, as we operate blind screening please remove personal details from your CV. We promise to treat you fairly, consistently and with respect throughout the application, assessment and selection process.

We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds. East Midlands Railway is a non-discriminatory employer committed to the recruitment and promotion of all on the basis of ability and merit irrespective of disability, race, gender, health, social class, sexual preference, marital status, nationality, religion, employment status or age. We’ll treat your application fairly and assess you for the job based on merit and skills.