Overview To help with the delivery of a first class procurement service that supports Link Groups’ sustainable procurement strategy.  To be the specialist in procurement systems and processes in order to implement or improve Link Group’s use of such systems and processes. To be the specialist in spend analytics and to obtain, collate, interpret, analyse, disseminate and present information relating to products, equipment and services and their suppliers in order to support and inform effective sustainable procurement.
Key Accountabilities and Main Responsibilities Perform price change analysis on receipt of price increase requests from suppliers and advise the procurement team of the results perform scenario analysis on various spends to identify where cost saving initiatives might be pursued and communicate these to the procurement team compilation and reporting of purchasing metrics (including key performance indicators) for the procurement team, Business Units and Finance community provide on-going statistical data on supplier expenditure across Link Group by Business Units, Functions and Category spend continue to enhance, maintain the Procurement Gant Planner - Savings & Opportunities workbook, facilitating the analysis of all costs within the total supply chain and cost identification at each stage of procurement.  Transformation Steering pack highlighting YTD savings against projects delivered and in-flight Finance community highlighting savings to be recorded against monthly budgets by Business Units. work with procurement team and internal customers to define requirements for management information and to develop a suite of management information reports (automated where possible) in response to those requirements quality assure the management information produced and seek timely and proportionate assurance to ensure the output is fit for purpose, accurate and complete train purchasing team members whenever required to undertake basic analysis on the department’s business intelligence tool, enabling simple self-service reporting and document ‘how to’ guides To set up and develop the most appropriate and relevant systems and procedures for the collation, analysis and presentation of data including price comparison, cost/benefit, service levels, supplier performance, product/service costings, client/user spend analysis, efficiency savings, purchasing trends, sustainable procurement competence, benchmarking etc. Supplier Issues & Enquiries To liaise with customers/departments to establish their needs; obtain relevant feedback and identify any issues arising in respect of suppliers and their products/services, including service level and other sustainable procurement related matters. To assist as required in the development and implementation of new initiatives, systems and procedures including sustainable procurement matters.  To help improve Link Group data classification: Continue to enhance supplier categorisation for purchasing data Maintain the material coding schema and ensure alignment with internal finance codes and cost centres embed processes to facilitate the upload, classification and cleansing of purchasing data, such that current data is available to the purchasing team lead initiatives (system controls, data cleansing, awareness raising with suppliers and customers) to improve and maintain the quality of data in the department’s finance and procurement systems continue to enhance and rationalise the supplier database to ensure adherence to the supplier management process including Procurement and Vendor Risk Management policies to identify, develop and implement improvements to the supplier on-boarding process, which include Supplier Management Form, the JIRA workflows and data mapping for vendor maintenance in Info LN to run a Credit Safe report and ensure due diligence are performed on suppliers, with an audit trail available as appropriate to be the gate-keeper to the supplier database and engage with the Info LN team to make updates as required Assist in the creation of KPI measurements across all spend categories to support supplier relationship management set up monitoring process and procedures for performance measures to ensure effective feedback into the contract management process To identify, develop and implement improvements to way the procurement team utilise Link Group’s tendering and contract management system and train procurement staff as appropriate. To be the gatekeeper of the contract database and manage user access rights  To liaise with Supplier Relationship Managers and ensure annual review get conducted as planned To Produce Management Information to risk and compliance advising on critical supplier database To compile supplier service level performances from the various business units and ensure the register is maintained appropriately  To assist as required in the conduct and administration of tendering procedures, which includes utilising the procurement tendering system Curtis Fitch. This may involve obtaining details of potential tenderers, analysing pre-tender submissions, producing and mailing tender documents, comparing and analysing responses, organising evaluation and contract award meetings etc. provide detailed costing and spend analysis to the procurement team that will allow negotiations that drive maximum benefits for Link Group evaluate costings proposal during tender evaluation processes and advise the procurement team accordingly To undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade and responsibilities of the post. Experience & Personal Attributes Able to work autonomously given overall structure and broad tasks to achieve  Analytical, thorough and diligent approach Able to work on several activities with competing priorities Ability to analyse multiple data sources to inform best approach Willing to work on a breadth of procurement related activities  Experience of maturing a procurement operations function Excellent interpersonal skills and able to work with stakeholders at all levels