Indirect Procurement Manager

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

To provide a procurement and contract management service to the firm which is effective, cost efficient and internal client centred, using innovation and creativity to ensure the procurement strategy is best in class, ethical and sustainable.

Due to the continued success and expansion of the firm, we are looking to appoint our first dedicated procurement professional to enhance the purchasing process.  The role offers genuine autonomy to create innovative strategies and the opportunity to lead build a procurement function to support the network of 14 offices across the UK.  The successful candidate will provide best practice procurement support to efficiently manage key suppliers and support internal stakeholders.

We consider this a level 3-4 competency role.

• Development and implementation of value adding supplier and relationship strategies that are aligned to firm wide strategy and objectives.
• Design and implement a contract management process.
• Undertake operational and strategic reviews of all existing contracts and arrangements, including investigating alternative suppliers and putting in place effective improvement plans to address any performance issues where appropriate.
• Develop and maintain a supply chain improvement plan including supply chain sustainability and key performance metrics including adherence to best practices, ethical, regulatory and business control requirements.
• Carry out tendering processes for identified contracted requirements including negotiating and executing contracts and approval proposals.
• Liaise with suppliers, to build and maintain pro-active and cost efficient relationships with new and existing providers.
• Build relationships with key internal stakeholders, and develop engagement plans to improve procurement activities and drive collaboration and cohesion.
• Work on commercial projects (eg. continuous improvement, innovation led initiatives, supply chain collaboration, etc.), bringing innovation to delivering ongoing and increasing benefit to business through the effective engagement of suppliers and delivery of initiatives that drive new customer propositions, cost reduction and service improvement.
• Report on supplier 360 degree performance including SLA's / KPI's, obligations as well as reporting supplier issues, risks and improvement opportunities.
• Manage risk and compliance through effective project, contract, demand and supplier performance management and oversee any contractual change management requirements.

The successful candidate will be expected to work collaboratively to deliver best value, establish effective governance and control and apply standardised approaches to all procurement activities. They will be driven, and have demonstrable experience of end to end indirect procurement, including supplier selection, stakeholder engagement, RFP / RFI creation, establishing SLA’s and KPI’s, contact awards and supplier relationships management.

They will also have exceptional stakeholder management skills and will ideally have experience of managing a range of different category spends within a professional services environment.

In addition we are looking for candidates to demonstrate:

• Knowledge and experience of strategic procurement;
• Understanding of complex and service commercial contracts;
• Strong commercial and negotiation skills;
• Proven experience in delivering cost savings & efficiency improvements;
• Effective influencing skills and ability to build great working relationships with diverse stakeholders (internal and external);
• Exceptional and persuasive written and verbal communication skills
• The ability to manage multiple projects in an organised and analytical fashion and always with an eye on the detail;
• Ability to work independently, yet also to communicate and collaborate effectively cross functionally;
• CIPS qualified (desirable); and
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office, specifically Word, Excel and Outlook.

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.