Procurement Project Assistant

The East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub is looking for a Procurement Project Assistant to become an active member of the team, working closely with our category teams to support our customers across the NHS procurement landscape.
The Hub provides strategic purchasing support, procurement expertise and commercial skills to NHS and public-sector organisations and works in partnership with other regional procurement hubs to harness the benefits of cross-regional collaboration and reduce duplication of effort.
The role is hybrid, with time split between the Hub's office based in Cambridge and remote working. Some travel within the East of England region is required along with occasional travel to other areas.
Please visit our website for more information on how the Hub supports the NHS., The is a new and diverse role which will be essential in supporting our procurement teams to provide strategic procurement support to NHS organisations across our categories.
You will support the category teams with a variety of projects, assisting with all stages of the procurement project process. You will research project areas, liaise with customers to establish requirements, support the tendering & mini-competition processes and maintain systems and records in a consistent manner across all categories. This role provides significant opportunities to develop your procurement knowledge and experience including customer and supplier relationship management.
The successful candidate will ideally have experience of working within a procurement environment. You will have good communication and interpersonal skills, be analytical and possess the ability to manage projects and work on your own initiative and a willingness to learn. A desire to work towards CIPS would be encouraged., Strategic Planning and Development
· Support the Executive Team with maintaining a full workplan by actively identifying new opportunities.
· Actively contribute to the development of services provided by the Hub, support the production of strategies, business cases and adherence to national policy & required approvals
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Communication and Relationships
· Support face to face and online engagement with internal and external stakeholders on a range of matters including: the procurement process; supplier briefings; fact finding, problem solving; negotiations, contract performance and communications
· Use & maintain the CRM system in conjunction with category teams. Support category communications in conjunction with team members.
· Support the preparation of information and materials for reports and business proposals for internal and external purposes.
· Develop key relationships with colleagues and share information as appropriate.
· Demonstrate collaborative behaviour in day-to-day activity.
· Develop productive ongoing relationships with end users and suppliers in the form of specific stakeholder groups and take a leading role in supplier/user negotiations.
· Maintain effective supplier and provider partnership and relationship strategies.
· Liaise with internal and external stakeholders regarding workplans and strategies.

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