Senior Procurement Advisor (Land Management)

Closing date: 12 Chwefror 2023 | Salary: £37,308-£40,806 (Grade 6) | Location: Flexible (but travel to other locations across Wales will be necessary)

Contract type: This post will be offered as a permanent contract. The role itself is time limited until 31 March 2025 at which point your role could be extended, made permanent, or you could be redeployed to our pool of special project managers / advisers or redeployed to another suitable role

Work pattern: Full time, 37 hours a week

Post number: 203303

As an organisation we support flexible working. This role allows hybrid working (a mix of home and office working) and a working pattern suitable for you can be discussed on appointment if you are successful.

You will be contracted to the nearest NRW office to your home, of which you will be required to attend for regular meetings, training and for one-to-one meetings with your manager. These will be planned in advance.

Job description

NRW’s purpose is to pursue the sustainable management of natural resources in Wales, this means that the work and support provided by NRW Procurement is extremely varied and interesting in nature. With alignment to strategic categories, the team provide support to Contract Managers across a range of business areas, inclusive of, but not limited to Civil Engineering, Forest Operations, Land Management, ICT, Fleet and Facilities and many others.

The NRW Procurement team play a vital role in the delivery of NRW’s Corporate Objectives, Commercial Strategy and Service Plans; implementing best practice in procurement across NRW, promoting the benefits of a compliant, flexible process that achieves value for money for our stakeholders.

The department relies on qualified and experienced procurement professionals to bring a depth of understanding of the subject matter in line with all relevant procurement legislation, policies and procedures that we must adhere to.

The role of Senior Advisor, Procurement, will provide support to Land Management Category Lead and support to other categories as required; you will also help NRW achieve its wider initiatives and objectives that seek to mitigate the climate and nature emergency.

You should be a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchase & Supply (CIPS), or have a relevant business degree such as The BA (Hons) Business Management (Supply Chain Management or Business administration). The successful applicant will be expected to undertake and obtain CIPS level 6 if not already qualified to that level.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities include:

Support the delivery of an integrated and professional procurement service in support of category management (and NRW corporate objectives), providing advice to clients on strategic procurement issues and contributing the other development of NRWs procurement strategy.
Hold accountability under Committing our Money, ensuring robust, compliant and value for money outcomes.
Analyse a range of complex information to identify cost improvement opportunities within Category spend & Delivery Plans, to include a review of contractual agreements.
Deliver procurement outcomes and improvements (in cost, efficiency, value or quality) in accordance with agreed targets and key performance indicators.
Build and maintain influential and collaborative relationships with internal customers to insure awareness of the opportunities, risks and best practice relevant to procurement, influencing the work of our internal customers to provide positive outcomes.
Provide specialist advice and guidance in order to manage commercial and sustainability risk, to improve ways of working and drive efficiency, as evidenced by savings and overall value.
Provide procurement leadership and support in prescribed areas of activity working with a range of people from across the organisation.
Establish and maintain positive working relationships with the Welsh Government, the National Procurement Service for Wales, Sponsored Bodies, Agencies, service providers and other stakeholders.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge

Knowledge and experience of the following:

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (Full Membership or working towards), or have a relevant business degree such as The BA (Hons) Business Management (Supply Chain Management or Business administration). (desirable) The successful applicant will be expected to undertake and obtain CIPS level 6 if not already qualified to that level.
Substantial experience of delivering strategic (high value/high risk) procurements within the public or private sector. (essential)
Substantial experience of influencing procurement decisions at a project level.
Experience of undertaking and leading procurement exercises, demonstrating success with their delivery. (essential)
Experience of undertaking high level and complex negotiations with supply partners. (desirable)
Transferrable experience of using procurement to deliver business objectives. (desirable)
Understanding of procurement concepts, practices, governance & techniques, & maintenance of this through a range of interests & peer group interaction. (essential)

Welsh language requirements:

Essential Level 1 – able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases

Please note if you do not meet the level 1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Competencies

Please note - Applications to this role will be assessed based on the following competencies, both at shortlisting and interview. Please give examples of how you demonstrate these competencies when completing your application form.

Essential Knowledge and Skills	Requirement to undertake a higher level of practical or technical task/work requiring specialist knowledge/expertise. Experts in a range of subjects relating to their profession. Delivery of technical/specialist services will require gravitas in their subject area. Objective advice to others on their knowledge and experience, keeping up to date with changes within technical/specialist fields. Experience gained from different organisations/roles/functions. Relevant substantial experience working in the relevant field. Ability to manage smaller, less complex programmes and/or manage projects on a larger scale.
Evaluation of Information	Interprets and understands the NRW operational delivery and strategy plans and it's wider context. Ability to analyse and interpret a wide range of complex information, extracting key points to communicate to individuals at all levels and contributing to the development of policy.
Decision Making and Autonomy Requirements	Work guided by expected results but able to decide how best to achieve these. Guidance may be provided by peers but there will likely be a need for some degree of judgment or creativity to be applied. There may be a requirement to alter priorities due to conflicting demands. Objectives and targets will be reviewed on an intermediate basis. May involve management of medium sized projects. Responsible for making independent decisions with input from line management and peers and an understanding of NRW policy and the range of options available and their potential implications for the business. Involved in the development of organisation policy and will have a level of autonomy in the implementation of organisational policy. Decisions made could lead to changes in established procedure/practice for dealing with issues within the post-holder’s area of work. The consequence of taking wrong decisions could have an adverse effect on the organisation in relation to its external stakeholders such as partner organisations, lenders, service users etc. Decisions may concern a broad range of matters and the outcomes of some decisions may not always be immediately clear or apparent. Problems encountered may also relate to the work of other parts of the organisation and could be variable and diverse. The impact of decisions is likely to be wider than the immediate function or department and is likely to be medium term.
Communication and Relationships with Others	Ability to link with other roles across the business, engaging the organisation in delivering polices and work plans in the most efficient way. Interaction with others may also be with people and organisations external to NRW. This will involve written and verbal communication, leading smaller, less complex projects, requiring persuasive skills. This may include facilitating and/or presenting at internal or external meetings, giving advice and input as required. There will be a requirement to foster and maintain good relationships and networks. Post holders will typically produce less complex documents, reports, accounts, contracts etc. Content will contain a lower level of advice, guidance or opinion which the recipient will act upon or use and which is likely to have detrimental consequences if incorrect or poorly drafted. Able to source information from multiple locations through research and apply professional judgment as to how the material should be interpreted; the impact of which is likely to be medium term in nature.

Benefits of working for us

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

agile and flexible working (role dependent)
Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 26.6% to 30.3%
28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
health and wellbeing benefits and support
weekly well-being hour to use at your choice
competitive financial rewards to enhance your monthly pay

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

How to apply

Please send a completed Application form to Applications@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Before completing your application, please read our Guidance on completing a job application form

Application closing date: 12 February 2023

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams.

If you have any queries about the role, please contact Llinos Hughes at Llinos.hughes@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Natural Resources Wales embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunity. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented, including women, black and ethnic minority groups and people with a disability. We have a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

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