Head of Procurement

The Organisation

An opportunity has arisen for an accomplished procurement leader to take responsibility for a significant corporate procurement function at a pivotal point of change for an initial period of 6-9 months.  There may be a permanent opportunity for the successful candidate.  This is a fixed term, salaried role and will require 2 days on site working in the Newcastle area.

The Head of Procurement highly visible leadership appointment combining strategic procurement, governance, operational leadership and transformation. The successful individual will inherit an established team and provide senior procurement leadership while helping shape how the function develops for the future.

Key Responsibilities

Working closely with senior stakeholders, the Head of Procurement will take responsibility for the direction, performance and continued development of the procurement function.

Key priorities will include:

• Leading and developing teams across strategic procurement, procurement operations and associated services.
• Providing authoritative commercial and procurement advice to senior stakeholders.
• Overseeing category strategy, sourcing, supplier and contract management.
• Ensuring procurement activity remains compliant with current UK legislation, including the Procurement Act 2023.
• Strengthening governance while ensuring processes remain proportionate and commercially effective.
• Developing approaches to social value, sustainability and responsible procurement.
• Supporting a significant ERP transformation programme and identifying opportunities to improve processes and release capacity.
• Leading through wider organisational change while maintaining service quality, performance and continuity.

About You

The Head of Procurement will be an experienced procurement leader comfortable operating across both strategic and operational remits.

You are likely to bring:

• Significant leadership experience within a complex procurement environment.
• Strong knowledge of the Procurement Act 2023 and public procurement governance.
• Experience of category and contract management.
• The confidence to advise, influence and appropriately challenge senior stakeholders.
• Evidence of leading and developing established procurement teams.
• Experience of transformation, organisational change or systems improvement.
• Strong commercial judgement combined with a pragmatic approach to governance and compliance.
• CIPS/MCIPS-level professional procurement credentials would be advantageous.