Are you a skilled category manager with knowledge of Adult Social Care, Childrens Services or Public Health?
Do you have expertise in public sector procurement?
Are you a self starter with the motivation to drive best value from a category portfolio?
If so, we would like to hear from you.
Brighton and Hove City Council are seeking a Strategic Procurement Manager for the Social Care category, which covers Adult Social Care, Childrens Services and Public Health.
The Brighton & Hove Procurement Team supports council departments with procurement and tendering via a category management approach. The team ensure regulatory compliance whilst driving value, delivering savings and realising social value. We are committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion into our processes, promoting fair and accessible opportunities.
The team works in a hybrid setting across and Hove Town Hall and remotely.
Interviews to be held: To be confirmed
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Edward Barfoot, Procurement Partner:
[email protected]
*Please note, BHCC is transitioning away from the shared services model under Orbis. The attached Job Description references Orbis, Surrey CC and East Sussex CC, please disregard these references*
About the role
The Brighton and Hove Procurement Team provides direct local support to its customers in the Brighton and Hove City Council, providing expertise on tendering activity and contributing to the delivery of service objectives, savings and other benefits including Social Value and Community Wealth Building.
There are four categories in the Brighton and Hove Procurement Team:
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Social Care
- Corporate Contracts, IT&D and Professional Services
- Housing and Property
- City Services and Infrastructure
In your role as Strategic Procurement Manager, you will have responsibility for specific service areas, coordinating and supporting all procurement and contracting activity and managing stakeholders including commissioners, contract managers, Heads of Service and Directors. You will be required to have an understanding of spend data and a strong working knowledge of the relevant sector of Social Care. You will be expected to lead on major procurement projects and oversee projects within your service area. You will be responsible for line management.
We are seeking a person who thrives working in a fast-paced, creative and commercially-minded team. You will have:
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Strong communication skills, interpersonal skills, negotiation skills and influencing skills.
- experience in public sector procurement, procurement regulations, category management and business partnering
- Advanced problem solving and analytical skills, with the ability to develop and implement innovative solutions to support strategic change.
- Building and maintaining positive, inclusive relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders
- Experience in leading, coaching, mentoring and developing staff to achieve high performance and continuous development.
- Leading effective and innovative procurements
- Strong acumen in prioritising and resolving complex issues
- Awareness and experience of working in a political environment
- Delivering value for money and strong commercial outcomes
- Awareness of social care, including sector pressures and regulatory requirements
We offer a wide a range of benefits that people in our small team enjoy, including working with a friendly group of colleagues who encourage a flexible and diverse workplace and maintaining a work life balance.
Additional Information
We can offer you a comprehensive benefits package including
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The chance to work in a supportive, collaborative team where knowledge is shared and continuous improvement is encouraged
- A learning-focused organisation that values wellbeing, inclusion and innovation in how services are delivered
- Flexible working arrangements to support a healthy work–life balance
- A supportive and inclusive working environment, with access to staff networks and forums
- A local government pension scheme and family-friendly policies
- Employee benefits including discount schemes and a cycle-to-work programme
- Support to study CIPS through an apprenticeship route.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, female or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
