Head of Procurement Central Business Operations & Other Oxford, England, United Kingdom

Join us at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), where we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real‑world breakthroughs.

Your Role: We are looking for a Head of Procurement to shape and lead the future of procurement at EIT Oxford. You’ll set the vision for a long‑term procurement strategy and put in place the policies, systems, and best‑practice processes that will support a world‑class research and innovation organisation. Day‑to‑day, you’ll work closely with senior leaders and key suppliers, ensuring that sourcing is efficient, compliant, and delivers outstanding value.

Your Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a long‑term procurement strategy that aligns with EIT Oxford’s organisational goals and risk priorities.
• Lead the creation, enhancement, and embedding of procurement policies, controls, and frameworks to ensure compliance, transparency, and operational consistency.
• Partner with senior leaders to understand future organisational needs and ensure procurement solutions effectively support growth, efficiency, and quality.
• Monitor market trends, evolving supply chains, and industry benchmarks to inform strategic decision‑making and innovation.
• Oversee and refine procurement processes, ensuring timely, cost‑effective sourcing of goods, services, and consultancy support across all areas of the business.
• Lead the supplier due diligence framework, including risk assessment, onboarding, and periodic reviews in alignment with contractual timelines.
• Develop strong supplier relationships and oversee supplier performance evaluation, ensuring high standards of quality, cost control, performance, and delivery.
• Oversee the requisition‑to‑pay process, ensuring efficiency, timely PO management, and excellent service to internal stakeholders.
• Support and guide sourcing activity, including running competitive processes, managing pre‑qualification, and identifying suitable suppliers.
• Own and optimise procurement systems and tools (e.g., Oracle Fusion), ensuring streamlined workflows and high data integrity.
• Lead procurement reporting, including spend analysis, cost‑saving initiatives, compliance metrics, and supplier performance reporting.
• Work closely with Finance to resolve invoice queries, improve end‑to‑end processes, and ensure prompt supplier payments in line with contractual terms.
• Identify opportunities for automation, process improvement, and improved procurement‑stakeholder experience.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Provide leadership, coaching, and development support to the procurement team members, fostering a high‑performance culture.
• Act as the organisation’s procurement expert, influencing and guiding teams to ensure procurement practices are well understood and consistently followed.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, supporting them to plan ahead, understand processes, and achieve the best outcomes from supplier engagements.

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Degree in business, supply chain management, procurement, or a related field.
• CIPS qualification (or equivalent) preferred.
• Significant procurement experience with clear progression, ideally including leadership responsibility.
• Strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering value, compliance, and operational efficiency.
• Proficiency in procurement systems (ideally Oracle Fusion) and the ability to quickly adapt to new technologies.
• Excellent analytical skills, with experience in spend analysis, supplier evaluation, and performance monitoring.
• Outstanding communication, negotiation, and relationship‑building skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.

Our Benefits:

• Salary depending on experience + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday + options to buy additional days
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme
• Childcare benefit

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary.
• In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case‑by‑case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).