Senior Procurement Business Partner

Please note internally this role is known as "Senior Strategic Procurement Business Partner". Experience, qualification, and soft skills, have you got everything required to succeed in this opportunity? Find out below.

Put simply, we set the standards by which everything is measured. In doing so, the National Physical Laboratory is helping to combat issues on a global scale such as climate change, curing diseases and the development of cutting-edge communications technology. To further our success, it’s important that the products, materials and services we buy for the business need to represent value for money. As our Procurement Business Partner, you’ll look at ways of upholding quality, whilst driving down cost.

In this role, you will be responsible for supporting the delivery of a strategic procurement service, focusing on the critical procurements (those with high value, risk and complexity). You will also lead on developing procurement/sub-category plan(s) in assigned spend areas.

You’ll be MCIPS qualified with experience working in public sector companies.

What you’ll be doing:

• Design and deliver procurement solutions that provide cashable savings and process efficiencies for the organisation whilst improving outcomes for our residents.
• Provide commercial input into the development of medium to higher risk/complex business cases through the provision of research, data and overall analysis of market viability.
• Lead the end to end tender process for assigned procurements, ensuring full compliance to standards and practices for tendering.
• Support the promotion of the compliant use of procurement and purchasing (P2P) processes & systems for the assigned areas.
• Make recommendations based on early engagement with suppliers, stakeholders and using lessons learned from other relevant contracts.

Skills and experience you can bring to the role:

• MCIPS qualified or a relevant Degree qualification.
• Up to date knowledge of current public procurement legislation PA 23.
• A detailed understanding of the procurement, commissioning and contract management lifecycle.
• Experience using procurement systems.
• Ability to support the tender process.
• Excellent contract negotiation skills.

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that nationality, residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work at NPL, you will need to obtain BPSS security clearance.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert therefore we may at any time bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as practical.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting-edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK.

NPL and DSIT have strong commitments to diversity and equality of opportunity, and welcome applications from candidates irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or age, providing they meet the required criteria. Applications from women, disabled and black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates in particular are encouraged. All disabled candidates (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) who satisfy the minimum criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

At NPL, we believe our success is a result of the diversity and talent of our people. We strive to nurture and respect individuals to ensure everyone feels valued by treating everyone on the basis of their own individual merits and abilities regardless of their own or perceived identity. As part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we ensure we’re creating an environment where all our colleagues feel supported and welcome.

We are committed to the health and well-being of our employees. Flexible working and social activities are embedded in our culture to create a positive work-life balance, along with a broad range of rewards, benefits and recognition. Our values are at the heart of what we do, and they shape the way we interact, develop our people and celebrate success. To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss, please contact us.