This academy trust is a family of primary and secondary schools in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.

Their mission is to transform educational performance in communities by working through their long-term commitment to improve student achievement and remove barriers to learning while providing opportunities for personal development.

The Trust has come a long way in terms of growth and performance over the last 10 years, but there is always exciting and challenging work to be done.

Its exceptional professionals – teachers and support staff are on this journey to ensure the provision of an inclusive, safe and secure environment in which every student can learn effectively.

Working with the Chief Operations and Resources Officer, this is an opportunity to review the current approach to procurement seeking economies of scale and providing a pragmatic approach which will maximise value for money.  

In turn, enabling savings identified to be reinvested for the benefit of the students and their education; we anticipate this role will pay for itself over the medium term. 

The variety of areas you will cover will include legal, HR and payroll systems, food suppliers, FM, Estates, management information systems, MSP for IT services, and more. 

With the people skills to build productive relationships with key stakeholders, and the ability to interpret and explain statutory and public sector procurement requirements in a practical, manner you will identify opportunities to improve service levels and reduce costs wherever possible.

Your role will be both challenging and rewarding. 

A key objective will also be the development and delivery of training/ workshops to assist the professional teams.

If you would like to be part of their journey and are aligned with their mission and values we would love to hear from you.

About you:

• Have proven experience within procurement or in tendering, contract management and managing supplier relationships.
• You will have an understanding of Public Sector Agreements and procurement legislation. Ensuring that good practice is followed throughout.
• Be highly organised, with the ability to plan, and organise workloads to meet deadlines and manage conflicting demands.
• Possess engaging presentation skills, with the ability to clearly demonstrate to stakeholders, the benefits of following processes to deliver better value for money and ultimately directly impact positively for the benefit of students
• Able to communicate effectively with stakeholders, helping them understand exactly how to maximise value for money whilst remaining compliant, working collaboratively towards this common goal.
• Ability to challenge and engage in collaborative enquiry, to achieve positive results.

In return, you will join a close-knit, supportive, environment, where the values of the Trust are at the heart of everything they do. 

You will have a flexible working arrangement, where you will be working with stakeholders across the 10 schools with the flexibility to work from home on other days. 

• Salary £39-45,000 pro for 3 days depending on experience. (FTE £65-75,000)
• 25 days holiday (pro-rata for part-time)
• Local government pension scheme
• Excellent CPD offer and 5 Trust training days per year
• Wellbeing day
• Breakfast and lunch
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme