Procurement Assistant

Salary: £25,742 to £26,444 with progression to £27,979 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 09 July 2024

The Role 

Are you interested in working with a team that processes over £200m of spend per year? 

Are you a procurement professional with excellent people skills? 

Are you interested in Procurement or have experience of working in procurement and order management? 

Do you want to be part of a team working to improve the Procurement process throughout a major University? 

If so, you sound like the person we are looking for! We have an exciting opportunity for a Procurement Assistant to work within the Procurement Services team in the University Finance Hub.  

The Hub is a large team of skilled and experienced colleagues who manage the financial business activities of the University. We provide a professional and proactive service to our students, colleagues and stakeholders. We are committed to supporting the personal and professional development of our team, this opportunity would therefore be ideal for a colleague keen for further progression, responsibility, and continued career development. 

Your role will support the wider procurement team and allow you to get involved in tender activity. Key activities will include: coordinate and administer tender exercises and requests for quotes across a range of procurement categories for goods, services and works.  Administer the vendor data management processes for new vendor requests and requests to amend existing vendors.  Provide support the P2P purchasing process adding Intrastat codes and updating material codes; maintain and administer the P2P systems including adding and maintaining catalogues on the Marketplace; let and administer framework agreements; carry out audits of spend using university purchasing cards; provide guidance, support and training to Faculties and Schools as required; provide purchasing data reports. Don’t worry if you do not have first hand experience in all of these areas – we will provide all the support and training you need to make you a success in this role! 

You will report to the Head of Procurement and work in our state-of-the-art King’s Gate office and will receive excellent benefits in terms of leave allowance, pension and hybrid working arrangements. 

Note; you do not need to be an expert in procurement nor do you need extensive experience using SAP / procure-to-pay systems, however, these skills are advantageous.  

If you would like to talk to us, please get in touch with Adam Bektic, Head of Procurement via e-mail on adam.bektic@newcastle.ac.uk  

To apply, please complete an online application and upload a CV and a cover letter. Please complete any application questions as directed. Your cover letter is a supporting statement and you should outline how you meet the essential criteria of the role and evidence this with examples.  

We are happy to have discussions about flexible working and hybrid working is available for this position.   

Main Duties and Responsibilities  

• Source equipment, consumables, services and works either through tender exercises, request for quotes, mini-competitions or other approved tender procedures from framework agreements to meet user requirements and provide value for money

• Let Framework Agreements, from instigation by spend analysis and market research (internal and external), compiling tender documents, taking advice from key users to determine requirements and write specifications

• Issuing tenders, managing vendor involvement, tender receipt and opening, evaluation of tenders to determine best value, post tender clarification and negotiation with Suppliers, advising key users of best value offers, contract awards, ongoing contract management to ensure the Supplier conforms to the agreement and subsequent contract renewal, including involvement from key users in Faculties and Schools and other HE Institutions where appropriate for Works, Goods and Services to ensure contractual coverage for common commodities

• Verify and maintain new vendor requests and requests to amend existing vendor data checking for duplicate new vendor applications, confirming vendor addresses and contact information and VAT registration details are correct.  Checking the need for the new vendor to determine if the requirement can be met from an existing contract or vendor; assessing the vendor for IR35 requirements, undertaking a credit check of the vendor if the expected spend is in excess of £50k; and approving or rejecting the request

• Update the P2P purchase order process entering Intrastat codes, updating Material codes such as 1ZZY codes, maintaining Product category codes to UNSPSC mapping, updating XML storage locations and informing suppliers, and amending purchase orders details

• Maintaining the P2P marketplace including creating and maintaining catalogues and uploading them or deleting them from the Marketplace as required, implementation of new punch-out sites including testing in conjunction with the Procurement Hub, and liaison with the marketplace provider

• Provide assistance and guidance to Faculties and Schools on current Framework Agreements, Best Procurement Practice, Financial Directives, Procurement Procedures, Funding Source Procurement rules, EU Directives and National Audit Office guidelines to ensure compliance

• Assist in School and Faculty training led by a Procurement Officer to ensure Best Value is disseminated

• Assist in day to day running of the Procurement Services office to ensure a professional and timely service including producing management information reports as and when required

• The post holder will have specific responsibility for administrative support to the Head of Procurement and will act as office coordinator for the Procurement Services and Procurement Operations teams

Qualifications 

• Educated to at least A Level standard (minimum 3 x grades A – C) or equivalent standard by experience. 

• ONC Level or equivalent or have an equivalent amount of practical experience in a similar role and be studying for CIPS membership

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience 

• Good IT skills to run BW reports, maintain the P2P systems and Marketplace, to create tendering documentation and schedules including graphs, spreadsheets, and presentations

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to communicate clearly with internal users and to express the University’s needs and requirements with external suppliers on a wide range of issues such as contract negotiations, clarifications of requirements, and progress reporting and ongoing contract and supplier management

• Negotiation skills to negotiate with suppliers to achieve cost savings and favourable dispute resolution for the University

• The ability to manage many framework agreements and contracts simultaneously and to be able to work with minimum supervision, have up to date and demonstrable organisational skills and be able to prioritise and reprioritise workloads accordingly

• Relevant experience working with a central Procurement Office

• Experience of a computerised Purchasing Systems

• Ability to run SAP BW reports and present the information using Microsoft Office and in particular using Pivot Tables

Attributes and Behaviours 

• Gathers relevant information and facts

• Has an eye for detail, spotting errors and ensuring accurate information

• Enthusiastic and positive outlook

• Shares relevant and useful information with others

• Gets involved with team tasks 

• Works in a planned and structured way 

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 27312