Procurement Excellence Manager

As a Procurement Excellence Manager, you will take ownership of delivering procurement excellence across key operational frameworks, including policies, governance, third party risk, and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). By embedding best practices, driving process optimisation, and leveraging data-driven insights from our systems suite, you will identify new opportunities, reduce GNFR spend, increase supply chain resiliency and raise overall performance standards. As an advocate for the profession, you will harness market benchmarks, challenge the status quo, and lead initiatives that mitigate risk and maximise value across the Partnership.

You will work collaboratively across the business to unlock fresh opportunities and maximise commercial value for our customers. Working side-by-side with the Procurement Leadership team, you will be at the forefront of championing innovation, setting strategy into motion, and delivering excellence programmes that elevate the entire function while accelerating your own personal and professional growth.

Salary - £60,600 - £90,800

Contract type - This is a permanent position

Working pattern/flexible working  - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. 

Key Responsibilities

• You will be responsible for working with the leadership team to develop and enhance the Procurement profession, requiring broad knowledge and expertise across Procurement.
• You will work closely with the Procurement leadership team to inform and influence the strategic direction and priorities of the profession, actively utilising external benchmarking and driving continuous improvement. 
• You will be expected to proactively develop and demonstrate an understanding of internal and external trends across Procurement and a broader understanding of the wider market. 
• This role will specifically focus on the evolution of the third party risk management and supplier relationship management frameworks and the delivery of key initiatives and programmes of work required to optimise these areas.
• You will be responsible for supporting the development of Procurement technical capability as part of process improvements across the profession, developing knowledge management to support Partner’s development as highlighted by the Procurement Leads or as identified as part of external benchmarking . You will work with the Procurement leadership team to ensure that the overall capabilities support best in class Procurement.
• You will be responsible for developing the procurement policies, governance frameworks and associated controls across the Partnership in line with any legislative developments. You will deliver these through the Procurement team and will be responsible for ongoing functional performance reporting and monitoring. 
• You will work with Partners across the business including Procurement Operations, Business Contract Managers and Risk Domains, to ensure the policies, and processes are complied with for all GNFR spend, together with ensuring performance reporting and monitoring includes the full end to end procurement activities irrespective of under which team is completing them.
• You will deliver Procurement policy and compliance for your assigned area, actively supporting and contributing towards supplier optimisation across the Partnership. You will ensure that your area of responsibility actively follows Procurement best practice, policy and procedures, utilising knowledge management best practices ensuring consistency with Partnership principles.
• This role also has people management responsibilities.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Extensive procurement / risk management / supplier relationship management experience
• Demonstrable experience in Supplier relationship management and/or Third Party Risk management.
• Strong knowledge of procurement systems, policy and process
• Demonstrable experience of applying continuous improvement (CI) principles and practices.
• Strong experience in building strong stakeholder relationships across varied stakeholder groups to drive key initiatives forward.
• Demonstrable ability to influence and shape decisions.

Desirable skills/experience you’ll need

• Category Planning & Sourcing experience
• MCIPS qualified or working towards
• Professional Negotiation such as The GAP Partnership Essential and/or Complete Skilled Negotiator
• Professional Risk or Supplier relationship management qualification
• Understanding of Ethics & Sustainability and Supplier Diversity

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.  

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.   

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect. 

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective. 

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.  

Important points to note:  

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.  

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview. 

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