Procurement Support Officer

Essex County Council are looking to recruit a Procurement Support Officer to join their driven, ambitious, and collaborative team. You will be required to support the Procurement function in various aspects, including managing and fielding supplier queries, supporting market engagement events, and providing contract administration., The Procurement Support Officer will also support the delivery of research and analysis which informs category plans and potential improvements to the management of suppliers and markets. The ideal candidate will seek opportunities to remove waste, implement technologies and automate processes within existing contractual restrictions.,

• Assist on the delivery and development of contract and supplier amendment and update processes including, contract novation, price uplifts and on boarding new suppliers to ECC, liaising with internal and external stakeholders as appropriate.
• Deliver robust research and analysis to support the team to ensure category plans are up to date and the management of suppliers and markets meet client needs.
• Deal effectively with supplier correspondence, ensuring that messaging is conducted in a fair, transparent, and auditable manner.
• Support the delivery of low risk sourcing processes, ensuring compliance with the Authority's Procurement Policy and Procedures.
• Aid the development, planning and delivery of improvement projects, ensuring effective stakeholder management and compliance with existing contractual requirements.
• Adopt a continuous improvement approach to systems and processes to support the development of best practice for wider department benefit.
• Facilitate on reporting requirements with particular focus on performance management, risk management and corporate measures.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
  
  You will have excellent analytical skills to explore alternative solutions which meet customer requirements and a can-do attitude. Although this is a fixed term role it will give the grounding for a future career pathway, and you will benefit from training and development throughout the year., Educated to 'A' Level standard and/or qualification by experience of working in a commercial environment.
• Excellent in the use of Microsoft Excel. Solid working knowledge of PowerPoint and MS Word.
• Strong communication; verbal, written and presentation skills.
• A positive attitude: a 'can do' approach, good work ethic and willingness to learn
Desirable:
• Strong customer focus with a drive to provide a valued service.
• Interest in pursuing a career in procurement and either studying for or wishing to study for CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) accreditation.
  
  As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service