SENIOR CATEGORY SPECIALIST

Ardal is a new procurement collaboration across the four local authorities serving the people and communities of Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan. Annual spend on goods, services and works across the four authorities is over £1 billion per annum. Ardals procurement team is broken down into 5 operational teams being: Professional Services & ICT, Corporate & Transport, Social Care & Community Services, Building & Estates along with Highways, Waste & Parks.

As a result of strengthening our Category Teams, we have an exciting opportunity to join our award-winning team hosted by Cardiff Council as a Senior Category Specialist.

The Team supports the procurement and sourcing function for various categories of spend; The Team also manages a variety of national collaborative frameworks including South East Wales Technical & Professional Services, South East & Mid Wales Collaborative Civil Engineering and Highways Construction Framework and others

The roles will be for enthusiastic individuals who have excellent communication skills and can demonstrate the requirements and experience detailed in the Person Specification. The main responsibilities and requirements of the roles are but not limited to:

Ensuring the completeness, accuracy and timeliness of tender and contract documentation within assigned categories.

Ensuring contract and supplier management, commensurate with value and risk, are in place across the category group to agreed and defined standards.

Ensuring specifications and contracts are in place which deliver the Council’s strategic objectives and which support Directorates service delivery.

Supporting the development of category plans and sourcing strategies and the delivery of associated change management initiatives.

Ensure co-ordination of activity and knowledge sharing across categories.

Engage and build relationships with Design, Construction and Maintenance Team, collaborating in strategic reviews of individual categories, building trust and confidence in the procurement function and the category management approach.

Develop and promote innovation and continuous improvement.

Develop an understanding of business requirements and market intelligence for the assigned category.

Design and deliver training as required, on any new or existing procurement processes in order to enable them to become intelligent buyers/customers.

Lead on cross-category knowledge sharing initiatives both internally and with other public sector organisations in order to establish best practice within Cardiff Council and develop the Procurement function for the future.

We are looking to appoint self-motivated individuals who might have procurement experience gained primarily from the public sector although this is not essential. This experience could be across a broad range of spend categories, or is looking to develop a career within public sector procurement.

Working for the Ardal Team will act as a catalyst for continual professional development for the right individuals and will offer exposure to several varied and innovative procurements with the necessary level of support.

This vacancy is suitable for post share.

We welcome applications in both English and Welsh. Applications received in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than English applications.

We understand you might use AI and other resources for your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, original and does not include ideas or work that is not your own.

The interview process for this role will be held in person.

A hybrid working environment with an ability and freedom to work on an agile basis both in the office at County Hall in Cardiff Bay and at home.

Please note the Council does not accept CV’s. When completing the supporting information section of your application, please ensure you refer to the below located on our website :

Important information you need read in order to complete your application:-

Application Guidance

Applying for jobs with us

Behavioural Competency Framework

Additional Information:-

Recruitment Pack

Employee Charter

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders

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For an informal discussion, please contact:

Lucy Jones – Category Manager (Buildings & Estates) – 07967793358

Penny Haywood – Senior Category Manager - 07967793362