Procurement Category Officer – General Supplies
Post Introduction
This purpose of the Procurement Category Officer role is to enable Parish Buying provide goods and services to our customers, by sourcing at national, regional and local levels on behalf of parishes.
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
About the Department
Parish Buying is one of the 3 teams within the Giving Directorate. Parish Buying was established in 2011 to utilise the combined buying power of The Church of England’s 16,000 churches to negotiate competitive prices with suppliers across a range of different contracts, ensuring parishes have access to a suite of quality-assured products and services, while saving them time and money. Parish Buying operates as a trading entity within Church of England Central Services Trading Limited. This entity negotiates a wide range of contracts at discounted rates, including digital giving, furniture and church supplies. This new role will be within the Parish Buying team but will be expected to work closely with our churches, parishes, dioceses and affiliated charities.
We are sourcing new products and services which will leverage opportunities across our worshipping communities. To deliver this agenda, we are seeking a category officer with expertise in general goods and services to support the Head of Parish Buying deliver the core objectives of our strategy.
What you'll be doing
The successful candidate will provide technical expertise in general supplies while developing strong working relationships with the relevant teams. You will promote good practice and effective contract management to support various departments in delivering an effective, high quality goods and services. This will include obtaining adequate specifications, running competitive tenders, appointing and managing preferred suppliers, and contract management.
In addition to this spend category, you will provide support for other business areas as our focus requires. This includes ensuring business requirements are delivered and Value for Money (VfM) objectives are achieved. You will collaborate with the NCI Procurement team as well as strategic suppliers in the execution of relevant deliverables as aligned in the Project plan. You will also provide support for supplier management and contract management processes, and the production of relevant management information such as spend reporting and savings tracking etc.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.
To be successful in this role, you will need:
- Proven track record of successfully delivering complex sourcing strategies in general supplies.
- Customer-focussed and able to manage diverse & strong stakeholder groups.
- Strong ethical principles, able to act in sympathy with the Church of England’s ethical stance.
- Possess MCIP or be at least at level 5 with evidence of completing MCIPS within a year.
What we offer
Our benefits include:
- A salary of £46,577 per annum plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of salary.
- 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus three additional days
- Flexible working hours and location, with an expectation of just 1 day per week in our office in Westminster
- Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies
We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
