Job description

The Associate Director of Procurement Capital Projects will join our Finance directorate where you will lead on tenders for key University wide estates projects, always ensuring compliance and good governance.  

Utilising your expertise, you will ensure that the University maximises the value for money from all procurement activities, complies with its internal governance requirements and relevant legislation whilst balancing the demands of service delivery in a dynamic, and fast paced environment. 

The postholder will provide expert strategic advice to the University on all procurement and supply chain matters, the achievement of financial savings and value for money for the goods/services the Estates and Facilities directorate procures.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract  

This is a full-time  post - 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities

• Maintain and deliver in collaboration with Capital Projects the category strategy for construction and associated services.
• Lead tenders and other competitive procedures to support the procurement of university projects, ensure good governance, compliance with current legislation (where applicable the Public Contract Regulations) and the university’s procurement policies and procedures.
• Work with and provide appropriate advice to project managers and other senior members of staff in the Estates and Facilities directorate to develop procurement strategies to deliver successful outcomes.
• Provide constructive critical reviews of specifications and scopes for NEC/JCT contracts including contract drafting where required.
• Provide support to Estates and Facilities to ensure contracts are executed in a timely manner.
• Responsible for ensuring that records are maintained in an efficient and auditable manner and that record keeping is compliant with any legislative/statutory or funding obligations.
• Provide commercial advice and guidance to support Estates and Facilities Project and Contract Managers to support delivery of their contracting activities.
• Maintain records on the Procurement Strategy & Services contract databases and relevant information on the activities of the Estates and Facilities Team is up-to-date.
• Provide accurate guidelines and sources of information on contracts and Framework Agreements and any other procurement related topics is up to date and available to the Estates and Facilities Directorate. Ensure that such information is distributed to all relevant staff by appropriate means, including but not limited to Strategic Procurement Services Website, Teams Site and Intend (the University’s e-sourcing tool).
• Maintain details of awarded contracts on the university’s e-contract module.
• Manage the approval of vendors on the University’s finance system on behalf of Estates and Facilities.
• Maintain awareness of legislation related to procurement and commercial activities, including Public Contract Regulations, Trading Standards legislation, Health and Safety at Work, Contract and Commercial Law etc.
• Maintain familiarity with systems used within the University, in particular those used by Estates & Facilities, Finance and Procurement Strategy & Services that are used directly to support procurement related activities or that provide management information. Ensure that management information is used efficiently, effectively and to assist in securing best value in all University procurement activities.
• Attend Estates and Facilities meetings as required to discuss specific procurement related issues as necessary.
• Attend meetings as necessary, working on the postholder’s initiative and as may be requested by the Director of Estates and Facilities Procurement or the Chief Procurement Officer.
• Attend Procurement Strategy & Services team meetings and Finance Office meetings as necessary. Work and communicate with other members of Procurement Strategy & Services where appropriate.
• Deal promptly with communications received irrespective of the media used, including emails, telephone queries and personal callers to Strategic Procurement Services, and attend meetings involving university staff at all levels as necessary and appropriate, and at the request of the Director of Estates and Facilities Procurement.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

1. Tendering, request for proposal and contracting procedures
2. Legislation applicable to the procurement of a wide range of construction and FM Contracts and associated supplies contracts.
3. Contract and Supplier Relationship Management
4. Administration of Request for Proposal/Tendering/Evaluation and contract award procedures (including detailed contract negotiation) in the FM and related industries environment.
5. Contract, contractor and supplier relationship management, including the development and application of Service Level Agreements/Key Performance Indicators either as part of formal contracts or as informal arrangements.
6. Managing staff and working in a team environment. Working in a collaborative approach with other University departments and representatives of external organisations as part of a project team.
7. Self motivated but also able to work as part of a highly motivated team and in particular with (and as part of) the Estates & Facilities projects team.

Desirable criteria

1. Application and administration of Public Contract Regulations 2015 European Union procurement procedures and regulations.
2. Understanding of construction industry standard forms of contract and working knowledge of RIBA plans of work, JCT and NEC.

Further Information

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.