View Vacancy - Regional Procurement Lead

Main purpose of job:

To work as part of the Regional Procurement Team; working with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders on all aspects of Procurement delivery, review, monitoring and reporting. Assist the Regional Procurement Hub Manager in day-to-day delivery.

The Procurement Group in the FCO takes responsibility for the acquisition of all goods and services required by the organisation whether bought at home in the UK or at one of our 260 office locations around the world. We do this by directly managing high value procurement activities, creating, and implementing the policies and procedures for everything else.

In order to provide an effective and efficient service, the Procurement Group has undergone a global transformation. The FCO Board has implemented a new regional structure for Finance, Procurement and HR across the whole office network in 2015 and a programme of work is in progress which will realise real cost reductions and global spend savings, whilst keeping quality high by reforming the way we manage procurement across the network. This is an important and ambitious agenda that will make a significant contribution to Diplomatic Excellence, the over-arching change initiative to ensure that the UK has the best Diplomatic service in the world.

The new Procurement Operating Model is introducing procurement expertise into a regional organisation structure. This will provide expert service to our global network of locations whilst retaining the ability to deliver efficiently on behalf of several locations and maintain links with the central procurement function in the UK. Procurement will become a delivery partner to the FCO business, providing advice and expertise to the business across the procurement lifecycle though to a shared responsibility for the successful delivery of larger procurement projects.

The Regional Procurement Lead will support the Regional Procurement Manager and work with other team members delivering procurement services across the regional network of office locations. In addition to helping to deliver regional procurement projects, you will be responsible for ensuring that procurement processes operate smoothly and consistently within the region and build relationships with the key regional suppliers. You will be forecasting requirements for goods and services in all category areas and proactively researching suppliers who help the FCO to meet its VfM objective. You will work closely with a wide variety of internal customers, which will give you an excellent overview of the FCO and insight into the work of different Departments across the network, helping to identify, specify and meet their requirements.

What will the jobholder be expected to achieve?

• Regional Procurement Delivery (above £25K): Assist the Regional Procurement manager in Mexico and Head in managing the contract tender process of various procurement/contract-related goods, services or work projects, including sourcing of suppliers, input and agreement of specification, preparation of tender documentation, liaison and coordination with suppliers to clarify requirements, coordination and evaluation of bids, seek appropriate approval, direct negotiation, agreement of contracts and management and closure of contracts, ensuring that they meet legal, audit, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office requirements.
• Identifying Regional Opportunities: To work closely with colleagues at UK’s Embassies and Consulates in the region and Procurement Category Teams in the UK to deliver Procurement activity to a standardised process, proactively seeking opportunities to buy efficiently through common procurement routes or approaches to market and opportunities to aggregate requirements across Posts and other government partners.
• Supplier Relationship Management: To review, report and manage contract and framework use in the region, to act as the Supplier Relationship Manager where appropriate for regional suppliers including resolution of contractual disputes, taking appropriate action to protect the FCO’s interest.
• Support to Regional Procurement managers: To work closely with the Regional Procurement Head in implementing, managing, delivering regional objectives including management of staff as required.

This is a challenging role and is suited to a dynamic, self-starter with a proven track record in procurement. We are looking for someone who is confident and can solve problems and launch themselves into new tasks with energy and enthusiasm. You will be working as a part of the Regional Procurement Hub and with a wide range of people from different backgrounds, including other government departments.

Language requirements:

Spanish and English (fluent).  Portuguese (desirable).

Other skills / experience / qualifications:

• Graduate calibre and/or qualified by experience, ideally with relevant post-graduate or professional qualification (e.g. holds or studying towards MCIPS);
• Minimum 2-4 years relevant experience of sourcing goods, services and works for an international organisation or with Pan-America presence;
• Proven track record of working to deadlines and meeting targets and some experience of project management and delivery;
• Flexibility, willingness and ability to adapt to change;
• Developing as a persuasive presenter, facilitator and negotiator with the ability to influence to support the achievement of Corporate Procurement Group objectives;
• Able to monitor / scan external sources of data and information and to pro-actively share with others in and across the global procurement organisation, as neccessary;
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Office-Word, Excel, Power Point, Internet, e-mail applications etc.;
• Focuses on expected impact and results and responds positively to feedback;
• Promotes teamwork and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates oral and written communication skills;
• Supports the team in building strong relationships with stakeholders and external actors;
• High interpersonal skills, and ability to remain calm, in control and good humoured under pressure;
• Ability to prioritize assignments and requirements, and multitask as needed;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Demonstrates skills to liaise and work with varied stakeholders especially technical experts.;
• Previous experience with both Oracle Software and online procurement systems - desirable.