The Role

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and London Borough of Wandsworth present a unique opportunity to be part of a team who have been working together for a number of years in a ground-breaking shared staffing structure across both Councils. 

This Shared Procurement Service offers procurement professionals an excellent opportunity to expand current skills and experience due to the increased value and scope of procurement activity across the two Councils. 

The Shared Procurement Service provides a combined procurement service to both Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. The Councils operate a fully centralised procurement service with an established team of procurement professionals.

About the team

The next 18 months will be a very exciting and rewarding period for the procurement team as we’ve recently concluded a consultancy led review into our procurement operations which has resulted in a restructure within the team. We’ve established a new Policy, Governance and Social Value team, reconfigured the existing Category teams and established a new Transactional Procurement team.  The primary objective is to create the capacity within the Category teams to work more closely with commissioners. We’ve also made significant investment in software solution to support the end to end commissioning, procurement and contract management cycle.   

The SSA now have a number of vacancies:

1 x Procurement Category Manager in our People, Social Care procurement team as the existing post holder will retire shortly.  Pay scale MG1 (£52,029 - £65,691 dependent on experience)

1 x Assistant Category Manager within the Environment team as previous post holder has been promoted.  Pay scale PO5 (£44,016 - £53,336 dependent on experience)

1 x Category Specialist in our Corporate Services team. Pay scale PO3-4 (£38,854 to £50,209 dependent on experience) 

The successful candidates will support a well established team of procurement professionals, primarily supporting commissioners across a broad category of spend.

The successful candidates will have:

1. A demonstrable track record of success within a comparable sized organisation, and staff management. 
2. A detailed knowledge and experience of UK Procurement Law in practice.
3. Knowledge of current best practice procurement as it relates to public sector procurement and;
4. Experience of developing category based action plans.

Candidates invited for interview must demonstrate, in both the application for interview (the supporting statement) and any subsequent interview, how they meet and indeed, surpass, the above 4 key points.

For an informal discussion please contact Mark Glaister, Head of Procurement, Richmond and Wandsworth Shared Procurement Service, via email: Mark.Glaister@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Agile working

At Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, we care more about how you work and what you achieve, rather than where you work on any given day. The difference you can make to our local communities is what really matters most to us, service delivery must always come first. We have carefully considered agile ways of working to provide the best experience for residents, stakeholders and our staff. Our agile working strategy actively supports and encourages a dynamic work environment and daily working experience. Agile working helps put the needs of our staff at the centre of everything we do, so if specific flexible working arrangements helps you with this, feel free to let us know.

Your wellbeing and the flexible way in which you can work is and will remain a key priority for Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. We want you to thrive and feel empowered in your work!

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home, compressed or part-time hours, term time only, job shares and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore. We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 40 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities.

In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

Closing Date:  28^th May 2023

Shortlisting Date: W/C 5^th June 2023

Interview Date: W/C 12^th June 2023

Useful Information:

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Equality

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

The application process for this campaign will be anonymised.

Important Information:

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils