Procurement Manager
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Key skills for this role
About the Role
ABOUT THE ROLE The College is seeking an experienced Procurement Manager to lead and manage the school’s end-to-end procurement activities.
Key Skills for This Role
Full Job Posting
About The Role
The College is seeking an experienced Procurement Manager to lead and manage the school’s end-to-end procurement activities.
This role will offer the opportunity to drive a structured review of procurement practices with a view to enhancing and formalising procurement activities to support growth of the College, following both its recent merger with The Pilgrims’ School and as it expands from 750 to 900 pupils.
Responsibilities Of Procurement Manager
The role will engage with a wide range of stakeholders across academic, pastoral, and operational departments.
They will act as a central point of expertise for all procurement activities, ensuring delivery of value for money through robust supplier management, strategic sourcing, contract management, and procurement governance.
The role will be predominantly office based in Winchester, with some hybrid working available.
A full or part time contract would be considered to fit the right candidate.
The role will report to the Director of Finance and sit within the Finance function of the College.
Procurement Strategy & Governance
- Develop and implement a school-wide procurement strategy aligned to the school’s financial, operational, and educational objectives.
- Establish and maintain procurement policies, procedures, and financial controls consistent with charity governance requirements and the school’s Scheme of Delegation.
- Lead category strategies (e.g., estates, IT, facilities, transport, teaching resources).
- Ensure all purchasing activity supports value for money through competitive processes, total cost of ownership, and whole-life considerations.
Tendering & Contract Management
- Manage tender processes, including preparation of specifications, evaluation criteria, negotiation, and award recommendations.
- Develop and maintain central contracts register, ensuring timely renewals and robust contract performance monitoring.
- Negotiate commercial terms that protect the school’s interests, including service levels, KPIs, pricing mechanisms, warranties, and safeguarding clauses.
Supplier Relationship Management
- Develop structured supplier relationship management mechanisms across strategic suppliers.
- Conduct formal performance reviews, ensuring delivery against service levels and agreed outcomes.
- Strengthen resilience in the supply chain and proactively manage risks such as single‑supplier dependency, cost volatility, and ESG compliance.
Financial & Data Management
- Work closely with Finance to align procurement plans with the annual budget, estate development plan, and long-term financial strategy.
- Deliver cost savings and cost‑avoidance initiatives, tracking results and preparing reports for senior leadership and governors.
- Use data analytics to identify spending patterns, consolidation opportunities, and areas for improved buying discipline, including analysis of credit card and expenses expenditure.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Partner with operational heads (Estates, ICT, Sports, Operations, Academic departments) to understand demand and plan sourcing activity.
- Provide expert advice and training to staff involved in purchasing or contract management.
- Act as the school’s subject-matter expert on procurement matters for SLT, Trustees, and Finance Committee.
Compliance, Risk & Safeguarding
- Ensure procurement activity complies with legal and regulatory requirements, including charity law, data protection, and safeguarding due diligence.
- Conduct supplier vetting, dispute resolution, and contract variations in line with the school’s policies.
Sustainability & Esg
- Drive sustainable procurement initiatives aligned to the school’s environmental goals.
- Embed social value within procurement decisions, including ethical sourcing and responsible supply chains.
Essential
- Professional procurement qualification (e.g., CIPS Level 5/6) or equivalent experience.
- Demonstrated experience in strategic procurement, tendering, and contract management including retendering and implementation of software platforms.
- Ability to manage complex stakeholder relationships with diplomacy and clarity.
- Strong negotiation, analytical, and project-management skills.
- Understanding of charity governance, audit requirements, or regulated procurement environments.
- Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately.
Desirable
- Experience in education, not-for-profit, or multi-site organisations.
- Knowledge of capital project procurement and estates/facilities categories.
- Experience implementing procurement systems or spend-control processes.
Start Date
Flexible start date for the right candidate with preference for commencement as soon as possible.
Hours of Work
This is a full-time role,
37.5 hours per week
, and such other hours as are reasonably necessary
to meet the needs of the College and the demands of the role.
A part time role of 0.6-0.8 FTE may be considered for a more experienced candidate.
Salary
A Salary of £45,000 is available for this role.
A part time engagement would be considered for more senior candidates.
Salary is paid monthly, in arrears, to a nominated back account in 12 equal payments.
Induction and Continuous Training and Development
The school is fully committed to the induction, training and development of all our staff, with staff supported to grow and reach their full potential.
We deliver a range of training, run by both our own staff and external providers, varying from highly practical First Aid courses to seminars and learning lunches on many aspects of teaching and learning.
There is an annual cycle of appraisal offering the opportunity to reflect on professional practice and development opportunities.
Pension And Life Cover
On employment, employees will be auto-enrolled into the College’s pension scheme according to legislative thresholds.
Those who are not eligible for auto-enrolment may still elect to join the College’s pension scheme.
Initially, when joining the College’s pension scheme, employees will become a member of the College’s Group Personal Pension Plan (GPP).
For this Plan, known as Tier 1, the employee contributes 4% and the employer 3%.After 9 month’s membership of the Tier 1 plan, employees may opt to join Tier 2, which is also a GPP, where the employee contributes 5% and the employer 9%.
Employees in Tier 1 automatically qualify for a Life Cover of 2 times salary.
On entry to Tier 2, Life Cover changes to 4 times salary.
Annual Leave
The College leave year runs from 1 September to 31 August.
This position will be entitled to 28 days holiday annually, which includes the usual Public Bank Holidays.
Any Public Bank Holiday occurring during term time is deemed to be a normal working day.
All leave must be taken by prior arrangement and must be taken outside of the school’s term times.
Subject to the discretion of the school’s Bursar, a gift may also be given of extra time off during the Christmas period.
Wider Benefits
- Free staff lunches during term time.
- Free use of some sports facilities and discounted hire charges for others
- Tour of the College, with discounted rates available for booking venues within the school’s grounds for hospitality events.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Free access to an ongoing cycle of cultural, musical, theatrical and sporting talks and events.
- Employee Referral Scheme, with a reward of up to £250 for staff (subject to scheme conditions).
- Free Library membership with access to a range of online journals and magazines.
- Reduced green fee rates for local golf course.
Probation, Notice Periods
The first
six months
of employment will be a probationary period.
Regular reviews with line managers take place over the probationary period with the opportunity to discuss progress, identify any areas for action and ensure that there is appropriate guidance and support in place to enable successful completion of the probationary period.
During the probationary period, the notice required by either party to terminate employment will be one week.
Once employment is confirmed, the notice period will be three months.
Disclosure Check
As Winchester College is an educational establishment, a condition of employment will be that the successful candidate must consent to the school obtaining an Enhanced Level Disclosure Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
This will reveal all spent and unspent convictions, warnings, cautions and bind-overs.
A policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders is available on the school’s website.
References And Other Pre-Employment Checks
The appointment will be dependent upon the receipt of a successful medical check and satisfactory references.
The College will usually seek references from shortlisted candidates before interview and may approach previous employers for information to verify particular experience or qualifications.
At least one referee must be the current or most recent employer.
Where applicants are not currently working with children but have done so in the past, one referee must be the person by whom they were most recently employed when working with children.
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