Category Lead - Place

Are you an experienced procurement professional ready to lead strategic procurement initiatives across a range of critical services? Royal Greenwich is seeking a Category Lead - Place to oversee procurement activities for essential services impacting the lives of our residents. This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape the future of procurement and contribute to the Council’s corporate goals, ensuring value for money, sustainability, and long-term community benefits.

As Category Lead - Place, you will take charge of procurement across diverse service areas such as Waste, Transport, Regeneration, Leisure & Parks, Environmental Services, Corporate Property and Housing New Build. You will provide leadership, expert procurement advice, and drive procurement projects that align with the Council's strategic objectives, ensuring they meet the highest standards of compliance and efficiency.

About the Role

Reporting directly to the Head of Procurement, you will be responsible for the delivery of the Place category procurement strategy. You will oversee a range of complex procurement activities, from initiation through to contract management, ensuring that the services delivered to residents are cost-effective, sustainable, and aligned with the Council's objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Category Management & Leadership: Lead and manage the Place category procurement strategy, covering areas such as Waste, Transport, Regeneration, Housing Repairs and Investment, Leisure & Parks, and Environmental Services. Ensure alignment with the Council's corporate objectives and the Medium Term Financial Strategy.
2. Procurement Expertise: Act as the subject matter expert for the Place category. Provide high-level strategic procurement advice to senior officers and service departments, ensuring compliance with relevant procurement legislation (e.g., Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Procurement Act 2023).
3. Team Leadership: Lead and manage a team of procurement professionals, including senior officers, project managers, and contract managers. Foster a culture of learning, continuous improvement, and high performance, ensuring effective delivery of procurement activities.
4. Procurement Programme Management: Oversee the development and implementation of procurement plans, ensuring value for money (VFM) and compliance with Contract Standing Orders and legislation. Drive the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective services for residents.
5. Contract Management: Lead the procurement of contracts, ensuring effective tendering, negotiation, and contract management processes. Establish and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and ensure that service delivery standards are consistently met.
6. Innovation in Procurement: Develop and implement innovative procurement strategies that meet the specific needs of services within the Place category, while ensuring alignment with corporate and service strategies.
7. Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with senior stakeholders across the Council, suppliers, and service departments to ensure procurement projects are aligned with business needs and strategic objectives.
8. Risk Management: Lead procurement risk management efforts, ensuring that all procurement activities comply with legal, financial, and operational requirements, and minimizing risk across the procurement process.
9. Performance Monitoring: Establish and monitor performance metrics, ensuring that procurement activities consistently meet service and financial goals, and contribute to continuous improvement.
10. Training and Development: Identify staff training needs and provide mentorship to ensure the procurement team is highly skilled, knowledgeable, and up to date on procurement best practices.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for a Category Lead - Place with the following skills, qualifications, and experience:

Knowledge and Experience:

1. MCIPS qualified (or equivalent experience) with substantial experience in public sector procurement, particularly in Local Government.
2. Detailed knowledge of relevant public sector procurement legislation, including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Procurement Act 2023, and NHS Provider Selection Regime 2023.
3. In-depth knowledge of procurement legislation applicable to construction, housing, and environmental services, including S20 Leasehold Consultation requirements.
4. Extensive public sector procurement experience, particularly at a senior level (Procurement Manager or above).
5. Expertise in Category management, specifically in Place-related services, including market knowledge and an understanding of key commodities and services for Waste, Transport, Regeneration, Environmental Services, Corporate Property and Housing New Build.

Skills and Abilities:

1. Strong commercial acumen and the ability to deploy procurement expertise to deliver value for money (VFM) and manage risks associated with contracts within the Place category.
2. Proven ability to manage contracts from inception to delivery, including setting KPIs, fostering collaborative working, resolving disputes, and negotiating contracts.
3. Experience managing staff both directly and through project and matrix management structures.
4. Strong organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage procurement activities at strategic, operational, and managerial levels, and effectively engage with suppliers and stakeholders.

Experience:

1. Experience creating a culture of learning within teams and maintaining a high-performing workforce.
2. Proven ability to lead and manage projects in a dynamic and changing environment.
3. Significant experience in stakeholder management, including senior management, Directors, and Elected Members.
4. Experience in decision-making and risk assessment based on sound analysis of relevant data.

Equal Opportunities:

1. A commitment to promoting the Council’s Equal Opportunities policies and ensuring that these are implemented within procurement activities.
2. Understanding and alignment with the Council’s staff values, including improving residents' lives, fairness, accountability, and collaboration.

Why Work for Royal Greenwich?

As the home of the Prime Meridian Line, Greenwich Mean Time and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Royal Greenwich was named as the first new Royal Borough for more than 80 years.

Royal Greenwich is a great place to live and work, with the main Council offices based in the heart of Woolwich.

Benefitting from excellent transport links ranging from buses and tubes to trains and ferries, Royal Greenwich is one of the easiest boroughs to get to. Not to mention the New Elizabeth Line that only takes 21 minutes to get into or from central London from Woolwich, and 10 minutes to reach The O2.

At Royal Greenwich, you’ll be part of an innovative and supportive team committed to delivering real impact for our residents. As a Category Lead - Place, you’ll enjoy:

1. An excellent working environment and culture with experienced, professional management and colleagues.
2. A generous 29 days’ annual leave, plus Bank Holidays. (increasing to 31 days after 5 years continuous service)
3. Flexible and hybrid working arrangements with comprehensive IT support.
4. Continuous professional development opportunities, including coaching, mentoring and training.
5. Access to an enhanced Employee assistance programme (EAP) for you and your immediate family which provide support on a wide range of work and personal issues
6. The chance to work in a vibrant borough with excellent transport links, including the Elizabeth Line and Uber Boat and season ticket loans to get here.
7. A Cycle to Work scheme, reduced-rate gym membership and a range of local benefits and discounts
8. The security of up to 6 months' full pay and 6 months' half pay (after 5 years continuous service)
9. Not to mention a generous Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), which is a Defined Benefit Scheme offering employer contributions. LGPS builds at a rate of 1/49 (e.g. £20k salary/year/49 = £408.16 pension)

Your pension also benefits you with:

• Life cover - you get life cover of 3x pensionable pay
• Lower tax
• Survivor benefits and
• Ill health cover

How to Apply

If you are a strategic, results-driven procurement professional with extensive experience managing complex procurement projects, we want to hear from you. Please submit your application, including a supporting statement outlining how your experience meets the key responsibilities and person specification for this role.

Interview Dates: W/C Monday 6th January and W/C Monday 13th January

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Stefanie Seff; stefanie.seff@royalgreenwich.gov.uk