Procurement Officer

at  Citizen Housing Group

WE ARE BRAVE, WE ARE AMBITIOUS, WE ARE HONEST, AND WE ARE CITIZEN!

Do you want to work for an organisation that supports work life balance? If so, we may have the opportunity you have been looking for.
Within the Assurance & Business Service Directorate, the Procurement team is a critical component of Citizen’s operations. As the Procurement Officer you will play a pivotal role in guiding our approach to sourcing and acquisition, ensuring the seamless supply of goods and services that enable us to maintain the highest standards of service for our valued customers.
The role will focus on driving procurements, working cross-functionally with our internal stakeholders, suppliers, and customers. You will be supporting and taking the lead for procuring a wide array of contracts across various categories, from Asset Management and Building Safety, through to Development, and Human Resource.

• Leading and managing procurement projects to deliver contracts for works, goods and services, which meet or exceed customer requirements
• Providing advice, guidance, and support on best practice procurement across Citizen, including the identification, assessment and escalation of potential risks associated with different sourcing strategies; and provide insight through the analysis of spend, price and cost analysis, supply markets and their supply chains
• Delivering Due Diligence testing and complete our Supplier Set-up process for new suppliers and contracts
• Ensuring that the Procurement Strategy, Policy, and Procedures are fully implemented and compliant with UK Procurement Regulations and other legal requirements
• Achieving measurable costs savings and or quality/service improvements through effective tendering and procurement activities with suppliers of goods, works and services
• Having responsibility for monitoring social value benefits identified during the procurement process and to feed this into to Citizen’s Environmental Social Governance Reporting Framework
• Being responsible for the management and maintenance of the e-Procurement Portal and Procurement process information and support available via OnePlace
• Managing and maintaining key procurement information i.e. the Contract Register, Sourcing Plan & Benefits Register
• Seeking best procurement practice from inside and outside the organisation and to cascade this best practice
• Delivering effective procurement communications and training to colleagues, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholder and provide advice and guidance on matters related to procurement generally

As the Procurement Officer, we need you to have:

• Understanding of procurement including best practices, achievement of Value for Money, and benefits delivery
• Understanding of RSH/ UK procurement law and regulations
• Knowledge of procurement sourcing strategies including the development of quote and tender preparations
• Knowledge and understanding of e-procurement system(s)
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills to enable effective operation and relationship building at a levels
• Excellent communication skills, necessary to effectively work with managers and colleagues internally and externally
• Experience of providing high quality reports, performance updates and analysis to management teams
• Strong IT skills with good knowledge of MS Excel

We would be really excited if you have:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent through relevant training/experience
• Relevant professional qualification (i.e., CIPS, Management of Risk, etc.)
• Knowledge and understanding of Market analysis
• Experience of public sector procurement
• Experience of working within a regulated environment
• Knowledge and understanding of the Social Housing Sector
• Knowledge on principles of Social Value
• Understanding of Risk Management principles

Our people are everything and we offer:

• Opportunities for salary progression
• IT equipment to allow some optional home working
• ‘Live work better’ scheme which actively encourages work-life balance
• Annual leave starts at 25 days per year, increasing with length of service
• Enhanced family leave
• Company Pension – Citizen match up to 10%
• Cycle to work
• Annual leave purchase
• Citysave financial support - savings and loans
• MyPerks Benefits portal - Shopping and Discounts, wellbeing, Gyms, Cinemas, discounted days out
• If part of the pension scheme you are entitled to Life cover (three times your annual salary)
• Organisational Sick Pay (benefit increases with length of service)
• EAP – a 24/7 service which gives free, confidential advice and support on a range of issues including telephone counselling
• Medicash scheme -which includes digital Physiotherapy app, retail vouchers and discounts, discounted gym memberships and more!
• Organisational Sick Pay (benefit increases with length of service)
• Recognition through our Employee Excellence Awards
• Representation opportunities on our Staff Consultative Forum
• Access to Citizen’s Wellbeing platform
• Occupational Health
• We believe everyone has something to give and encourage everyone to be the best they can be to reach their full potential with extensive learning and development opportunities and Study Leave

Here at Citizen, our purpose is to provide homes that are a foundation for life.
With over fifty years of experience, we have grown to be one of the UK’s most trusted social housing providers, Citizen owns and manages 30,000 homes for diverse communities across the West Midlands, from urban tower blocks to rural villages and towns.
There are some fundamental challenges people in our communities’ face, and we want to be an organisation which can help them deal with these. So, we are working to solve some of the most pressing issues around housing and homelessness.
We adopt a proactive approach to safeguarding to ensure everyone accessing our services can do so without fear of harm, abuse, or neglect. As part of our recruitment process, we carry out robust safeguarding checks.
Further information on our selection process and Equality and Diversity commitment can be found at www.citizenhousing.org.uk
Closing date: 12 July 2024
Interview date: 19 July 2024
Please note we will be reviewing applications throughout the campaign and may invite candidates to interview at any time. We reserve the right to close this role earlier than the published closing date should a suitable candidate be identified