Procurement Consultant

Procurement Consultant – Indirects

Salary: £50,000–£60,000 per year, depending on experience
Location: Hybrid – Wellingborough / home-based
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Four-day week applications considered (Monday–Thursday)

About the Role

eXceeding is a growing procurement and commercial consultancy working across the public and private sectors.

As our business has developed, an increasing part of what we do is procurement as a managed service: becoming an extension of our clients’ teams, helping them plan and prioritise procurement activity, solve day-to-day commercial challenges and deliver procurements from initial requirement through to contract award.

We are now looking for an experienced Procurement Consultant, with particular experience in Indirects, ideally covering Facilities Management, Estates, Construction and related Professional Services.

This is not simply a role for someone who can run a compliant procurement process.

We are looking for someone who wants to understand what a stakeholder is trying to achieve, challenge and shape the requirement where appropriate, and find a practical route to the right outcome.

You will need strong public-sector procurement knowledge and a sound understanding of governance and regulation. But equally importantly, you will be comfortable applying judgement, working through ambiguity and balancing regulatory, commercial and stakeholder considerations.

We see procurement as an enabler, not a barrier.

What You’ll Be Doing

You will work across one or more client accounts, taking ownership of a portfolio of procurement activity.

Typical responsibilities will include:

• Building trusted relationships with client stakeholders and acting as a source of practical procurement and commercial advice.
• Understanding business objectives and helping stakeholders shape their requirements before going to market.
• Managing procurement pipelines, forward plans and contract registers.
• Triaging new procurement requirements and helping clients determine priorities and appropriate next steps.
• Leading procurements from initial scoping through to contract award.
• Undertaking market research, supplier sourcing and market engagement.
• Advising on suitable routes to market.
• Reviewing and refining specifications and scopes of work.
• Preparing ITT, RFP and other sourcing documentation.
• Developing appropriate evaluation methodologies and questions.
• Supporting and facilitating bid evaluation.
• Leading or supporting supplier negotiations and renegotiations.
• Reviewing Statements of Work and contracts and identifying when specialist commercial or legal support is required.
• Providing practical advice on procurement, contracting and commercial issues.
• Identifying opportunities to improve procurement processes, ways of working and service delivery.
• Capturing savings, efficiencies and wider benefits arising from our work.
• Supporting and mentoring junior members of the eXceeding team.
• Helping shape solutions for new and existing clients.

The Person We’re Looking For

Our best consultants tend to be naturally curious.

They want to know:

• What is the stakeholder actually trying to achieve?
• Is the requirement structured in the right way?
• What does the market look like?
• Is there a better route to the outcome?
• What are the real risks?
• How can those risks be managed proportionately?

You should be comfortable operating where there is not always one obvious answer.

Good procurement governance matters, particularly in the public sector, but we are looking for someone who can distinguish between managing genuine risk and simply following a process because “that’s how it has always been done”.

You will ideally have previous consultancy, professional-services or client-facing experience.

However, we are equally interested in experienced in-house procurement professionals who have acted as genuine business partners: people whose stakeholders see them as someone who helps them solve problems and achieve objectives, rather than simply administering procurement procedures.

You will need to be proactive, commercially aware, comfortable taking ownership and confident managing multiple pieces of work simultaneously.

Essential Experience

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Significant procurement experience.
• Strong indirect category experience, ideally including Estates, Construction, Hard FM, Soft FM and associated professional services.
• Experience working within public-sector procurement.
• Personal responsibility for leading competitive tender exercises.
• A sound understanding of public procurement governance and regulation, together with the ability to apply it pragmatically.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills.
• Experience gathering, challenging and refining requirements.
• Supplier sourcing, market analysis and market-engagement experience.
• Ability to prepare high-quality ITT/RFP/RFx documentation.
• Experience developing evaluation methodologies and supporting or facilitating evaluation panels.
• Commercial awareness and negotiation experience.
• Ability to review contracts and Statements of Work and recognise when specialist support is required.
• Experience managing several procurement projects concurrently.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience using eSourcing platforms and Microsoft Office.

Useful Additional Experience

Any of the following would be advantageous:

• Previous consultancy or professional-services experience.
• Experience delivering procurement as part of an outsourced or managed service.
• IT category experience
• Experience establishing or improving procurement pipelines, contract registers or procurement operating processes.
• Experience developing procurement frameworks.
• Knowledge of JCT, NEC or other relevant contract suites.
• Contract-management experience.
• Project-management qualifications such as PRINCE2 or PMP.
• MCIPS, working towards MCIPS, or equivalent professional experience.

Why Join eXceeding?

You will be joining a growing consultancy where the role of our procurement team continues to develop.

Our consultants work across different clients, sectors and categories, so you will encounter a broader range of commercial and procurement challenges than is typically possible within a single in-house role.

Some assignments involve hands-on procurement delivery. Others involve improving a procurement function, developing strategy or becoming part of a client’s extended team through our managed-services offering.

As the business continues to grow, there will be opportunities to broaden your category experience, develop specialist expertise, take greater responsibility for client relationships and help shape the way eXceeding delivers its services.

We operate a hybrid working model. Ideally, you will spend around two days per week at our office near Wellingborough, although this will vary depending on home location and client requirements.

We will also consider applications from candidates wishing to work a four-day week, Monday to Thursday.

Pay: £50,000.00-£60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Wellingborough NN9 6NS