Legal Procurement Manager (Contract) in Ipswich, Suffolk

Reporting to the Chief Procurement Officer, the Head of Indirect Procurement leads the strategic and commercial delivery of procurement across all Indirect spend in the UK & Ireland. The role is accountable for the overall leadership, strategy, governance and performance of the Indirect Procurement function.

The role is responsible for defining and delivering the Indirect procurement strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and the broader procurement strategy, driving commercial value, mitigating risk, and enabling operational excellence across all spend categories.

As a member of the Procurement Leadership Team, the role works closely with executive stakeholders to ensure procurement is embedded as a strategic business partner across all business units. It acts as the senior procurement interface for Indirect Procurement, working closely with Exec colleagues and ensuring the procurement team delivers cost savings, risk mitigation, innovation and service improvements.

The role has line management responsibility for various Category Managers, managing over 280m of supply chain spend across various categories such as Contingent Labour, IT & Fleet.

Provide strong functional leadership to the Indirect spend area of the Procurement department, mentoring and upskilling the team. Create and maintain a comprehensive risk strategy, ensuring robust management and mitigation approaches. Support procurement transformation by increasing functional maturity, focusing on margin improvement, risk reduction, supplier management and revenue generation.

Drive procurement transformation alongside the Procurement Leadership Team, championing innovation, automation, digitalisation and AI. Ensure effective Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), improving supplier performance, innovation, value creation and supply chain resilience.

Lead and mentor teams on complex, high-value and high-risk sourcing initiatives, frameworks and contract renewals. Lead high-value and complex sourcing programmes, frameworks, and commercial negotiations. Drive performance across core procurement deliverables, including supplier rationalisation, increasing spend under management, reducing supply chain risk and increasing preferred supplier spend.

Ensure all sourcing and contracting activities meet internal governance, policy, audit and statutory compliance standards. Ensure all Indirect procurement activity complies with procurement policy, governance frameworks and delegated authority. Monitor compliance with ethical practices and standards across the supply chain, taking appropriate action in the event of any breaches.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Proven experience in a senior procurement leadership role within a complex, multi-service organisation with high spend.
• Excellent commercial, financial and negotiation skills.
• Deep understanding of supply chain management, risk, governance and compliance.
• Strong stakeholder management with the ability to influence at executive and board level.
• Experience driving performance improvement across large and complex spend portfolios.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including executive-level engagement.
• Excellent strategic planning capability.
• Experience presenting to and influencing executive-level stakeholders.
• Experience working in large-scale transformation or integration programmes.
• Knowledge of sustainability, ESG and responsible procurement frameworks.

Core Expectations:

• Promote a high-performance, inclusive and collaborative culture.
• Act as a role model for ethical procurement and corporate governance.
• Demonstrate flexibility in working arrangements to ensure a high level of service delivery.

Key performance indicators: As agreed between you and your line manager on an annual basis. Full time (37.5 hours per week) and such additional hours as are necessary for the proper fulfilment of the role. National role with travel dependent on business needs from time to time.

About The Company: OCS UK & Ireland is a leading facilities management company with 50,000+ colleagues and a turnover in excess of 2bn. We deliver innovative, award-winning services within facilities management, hard services, cleaning, security and catering. Our mission is to make people and places the best they can be for our colleagues, customers and the communities we serve.

How to Apply: If you are interested in joining a business that encourages professional development, career progression and the chance to work with inspirational people then please click apply and register your interest! We offer an inclusive and welcoming environment and actively encourage applications from all individuals regardless of race, gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age.