Is procurement compliance and driving cost-effective solutions ‘Your Thing’?
We are looking for a detail orientated professional to help drive cost-effective solutions. Supporting the ongoing delivery of both services and works contracts in accordance with the strategic sourcing and procurement policies.
At Northern, we play a vital role connecting millions of people to work, leisure and education opportunities.
We operate 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England. But our vision is about more than just train travel. It’s about setting a new standard for customer experiences. And that means building a different kind of workplace. One that values individuality and celebrates differences. Somewhere we can work together, have fun, and get stuck in to making our customers’ lives easier. A place that goes out of its way to create incredible opportunities for everyone to grow and be the best we can be every single day.
So, if you’re smart, forward thinking, passionate and full of fresh ideas like we are, you could play your part in making it happen.
About the role:
We are strengthening the procurement team and are recruiting for an Assistant Procurement Manager – Operations. In this role you will support a small team to deliver contracts across a wide range of major areas including operations, services and information technology. You will report into the Procurement Manager - Operations, supporting the delivery of contracts across a wide range of projects for support functions including Commercial, Planning and Information Technology.
The team are based in York but there is the option for agile working but there will be times when you’re expected to travel across the network for meetings.
This position is open on a temporary basis to fill in during maternity leave.
If this sounds like your thing, we’d love to hear from you.
Key responsibilities:
This is a varied and challenging role, but here is a taste of what your day-to-day activities could include:
Working closely across various Northern functions to build an agreed and detailed procurement program, including timelines, for major procurements.
Proposing and agreeing procurement strategies and obtaining the necessary support of stakeholders.
Implementing the agreed procurement strategy including:
o Producing appropriate tender documentation.
o Managing the procurement process.
o Identifying the most appropriate solution.
o Obtaining all necessary approvals.
Providing regular progress, reports and other updates to stakeholders
About you:
We’re looking for someone who has previous experience of working within a high functioning department, that can support facilitating tenders and who can build excellent working relationships with stakeholders across Northern.
Ideally you will be actively working towards MCIPS (Northern can support you through the required qualification) as well as:
We’re also looking for the following:
Experience in, or demonstrable knowledge of, procurement.
Are an excellent Team Player and a good all-round communicator with sound verbal and written skills.
Are familiar with the Public Procurement Regulations or, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016.
Have some demonstrable knowledge of Contract Law
Are experienced in working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and managing positive relationships.
Experience of production of Invitation to Tender (ITT) and evaluation documentation, negotiation of contract terms and conditions in compliance with standard documents.
Ability to prioritise, multi-task and deliver objectives to tight deadlines, whilst being flexible and adaptable as required.
Our Benefits:
Because we value our people and reward hard work, we’ve created a benefits package that we think you’ll love. So, you’ll be able to make the most of:
Free Travel on Northern services - everyone who works at Northern, plus their partners/spouses and dependents, can travel for free right across our full network of services. *Certain eligibility criteria will apply.
Defined Benefit Pension Scheme - you’ll rarely find a pension as good as a Northern pension, and we top up your pension with a generous 1.5 times your contribution.
A generous holiday entitlement - our holiday entitlements can help you feel like you can get away too.
Maternity and Paternity Benefits - we go above and beyond the standard, and mums can enjoy 9 months’ maternity leave on full pay while dads can make the most of 2 weeks’ paternity leave on full pay.
Employee Assistance Programme - advice, support and useful information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on everything from family issues to lifestyle matters.
Holiday Purchase Scheme - if you join us at Manager or Executive level or above, you can use your salary to buy up to 5 additional days of annual leave each year.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to
Disability Confident.
