Do you have the leadership and commercial expertise to shape how public money is used to deliver value for money and better outcomes for residents?
Are you motivated by leading change, influencing senior decision-making and building a high-performing procurement service in a complex and fast-moving environment?
If so, we would like to hear from you.
This is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of Brighton & Hove City Council. As Head of Procurement, you will lead our sovereign procurement service at a critical point in its development - shaping strategy, strengthening governance and driving improvement across procurement, contract management and commercial assurance.
You will work closely with Members, the Corporate Leadership Team and senior officers across the council to ensure procurement is forward-looking, compliant and delivers real value - supporting the Council Plan, the city’s wider priorities and providing a unique opportunity to influence services and outcomes across the city.
Contract type: Permanent
Interviews to be held: TBC
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Elizabeth Griffiths, Director of Property and Finance, via
[email protected].
About the role
What you’ll be doing
You will lead the council’s procurement, contract management and commercial assurance function, ensuring a consistent and effective corporate approach across all services.
Your work will focus on strengthening governance, improving systems and processes, and leading strategic procurement activity that secures high-quality, cost-effective and socially valuable outcomes for the city.
You will operate at senior level across the organisation, providing expert advice on complex, high-value and high-risk procurement decisions, while leading a service through change, stabilisation and development. With significant changes to the public procurement landscape, you will play a leading role in ensuring the council's approach remains compliant, innovative and commercially effective, helping to shape the future of procurement across the organisation.
What we’re looking for
You will be an experienced and confident senior leader with a strong track record in procurement or commercial leadership within a large and complex organisation.
We’re looking for someone who can demonstrate:
-
Strong strategic leadership and experience of developing and delivering procurement or commercial strategies
- Deep knowledge of procurement legislation, governance and best practice
- A proven ability to influence senior leaders and stakeholders on complex and high-risk issues
- Experience of leading and developing high-performing, inclusive teams
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate strategy into delivery
- Effective communication skills, with the ability to engage Members, senior officers, partners and suppliers
- A commitment to equality, inclusion and delivering social value through procurement
What we offer
This is more than a procurement leadership role. It is an opportunity to influence how public money is used, support the services residents rely on and help shape the future of Brighton & Hove.
In return, we offer:
-
The opportunity to shape how the council manages third-party spend and delivers value for money and social value at scale, playing a key role in delivering significant savings and improving outcomes
- A key leadership role influencing corporate strategy and decision-making
- The chance to lead a service through transformation, innovation and improvement
- A collaborative and supportive senior leadership environment
- A strong commitment to flexible working, wellbeing and continuous development
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, male 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.
This role is politically restricted. For further information on what this means for employees in post, please click on the document attachment above.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
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.
