Head of Procurement

Summary: This is your opportunity to take up the exciting and highly visible role of Head of Procurement at South East Water. Reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer, you will be accountable for developing our procurement strategy, moving us to a position of sector leading maturity. Your strategic capabilities will be crucial to the successful delivery of our £1.9 billion infrastructure investment programme - the largest and most ambitious plan in our history. You will play a 'hands on' role, ensuring our capital expenditure drives tangible value and provides crucial supply chain performance and resilience in the face of environmental and market challenges. Your ability to achieve the optimal performance will play a key part in securing our future. Main responsibilities: Conduct a comprehensive spend analysis across the entire business to identify key categories, risks, and opportunities. Develop and refine our end to end procurement strategy in alignment with our corporate objectives. Build upon our procurement policies, governance framework, and scalable processes to ensure compliance, transparency, and value for money. Establish and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) for the procurement function, demonstrating tangible value in terms of savings, risk mitigation, and supplier performance. Lead, develop and mentor a high performing procurement team, fostering a culture of professional development and strategic business partnering. Provide expert guidance and coaching to budget holders and managers, empowering them to make better procurement decisions. Manage and ensure compliance across the organisation. Develop and implement a robust supplier relationship management (SRM) framework for our critical suppliers, driving performance and innovation. Lead the sourcing and onboarding of new strategic suppliers while consolidating the existing supply base where appropriate. Oversee the end to end procurement process, including requisition, sourcing, evaluation, negotiation and contract management framework implementation. Ensure compliance with all regulatory, legislative and ethical standards across our procurement activities. Identify and mitigate potential risks in the supply chain, ensuring the continuity of supply and minimising disruptions. Implement risk management strategies to address supplier dependencies and geopolitical uncertainties. Drive our sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) agenda through responsible sourcing and supplier engagement. Develop contingency plans for critical supplies and maintain robust disaster recovery measures. Essential Skills/ Qualifications: Membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS). A degree in a relevant field such as Business, Finance, or Engineering. Proven experience in a senior procurement leadership role. A hands on leader who is comfortable with both high level strategy and the detail of execution. Ability to lead procurement projects with values greater than the current procurement thresholds set out in the Procurement Act 2023. Excellent analytical skills, market knowledge, and the ability to share insights with different stakeholders. Ability to drive cost savings, mitigate risks and maintain compliance. Builds relationships and communicates effectively by creating and maintaining positive, professional and respectful internal and external working relationships. Generates and encourages innovative and adaptive ideas and ways of working. Sustains performance when the situation changes, workloads increase or priorities change. Uses an evidence based approach and takes accountability when making decisions. We want to be the water company people want to be supplied by and want to work for. We know the communities we serve are diverse. We recognise creativity comes from diversity not similarity. That's why we are enthusiastic about creating inclusion across age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity. You will experience our dedication to equal opportunities and fair treatment for all: through your recruitment, employment and career progression with South East Water. Benefits package: Excellent Stakeholder pension scheme, up to 10% employer contribution. 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays per annum, increasing to 6 weeks with length of service. Flexible annual leave policy to buy or sell holiday leave. Paid volunteering days. Cycle to work scheme. Health cash plan. Life assurance. Wellbeing related benefits. To apply for this position, please submit your CV on our career's website. It is necessary for you to have the legal right to work in the UK when you begin employment with South East Water. Additionally, as part of the employment offer, you will need to pass background, identity, and employment referencing checks. If this sounds like the opportunity you've been looking for, apply now! South East Water kindly asks that recruitment agencies refrain from submitting CVs to our employees or associates without explicit invitation from our HR Resourcing team. CVs sent on a speculative basis will not be acknowledged and will not assume any responsibility for fees or commissions in the event that we hire a candidate who applied directly or subsequently introduced by an instructed agency. Compensation package: Starting from £110,000 + depending on experience + £9,844 car allowance + Senior Management experience Join our team:Be you, belong and valued. Grow a career with a meaningful purpose.Introduce yourself to our recruiters and we'll get in touch if there's a role that seems like a good match.Grow a career with a meaningful purpose. • Come to work to be safe, valued, and trusted. • We'll encourage you to create and pursue new opportunities for personal growth. • A place to be the real you, build deeper connections and enjoy a sense of belonging. • Be invested in helping us to create a sustainable water supply for now, and in the future.