Procurement Specialist/ Senior Procurement Specialist

Job overview

PREVIOUS APPLICANTS NEED NOT APPLY

We are seeking a suitable candidate to join our Procurement & Supply Chain function. This role provides a supportive and professional procurement service to the Clinical Boards and Corporate Departments across the Trust, supporting the delivery of the best patient.    The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spends over £750 million annually on goods, works, and services with third-party suppliers. Our Procurement & Supply Chain teams manage a diverse work programme, ensuring compliant, timely, and effective delivery of procurement activities valued at £12,500 and above.   Whether you are looking to start your procurement career, looking for a career change, or seeking your next challenge as a procurement professional, a career in NHS procurement might be for you if you find the following questions exciting and appealing:   Are you looking for a career where you will be supported in your professional development?

Are you looking for an opportunity to get involved in a huge variety or projects, from  corporate procurement all the way through to cutting edge IT, Robotics and Estates projects?

Do you want a career that supports the NHS to deliver outstanding care to our patients?

Is career progression important to you?

Do you have strong interpersonal and analytical skills?

Can you use your communication skills to influence and manage a variety of stakeholders?

Main duties of the job

The role has been specifically created as progression or career grades, enabling the Trust to develop our in-house talent by supporting the successful candidate through their professional development and CIPS qualifications.

The successful candidate would join the Trust as a Band 5 (actively studying towards CIPS Level 5), or would join the Trust as a Band 6 depending on experience (that is qualified at CIPS Level 5 and actively studying studying towards CIPS Level 6).  Please include your CIPS membership number to allow for validation of your registration.

Timeframe up to 2 years depending candidate completing CIPS Level 5.

Individual work programmes and development plans will be based on experience, initially post holders will work on lower-risk contracts, flexibly supporting the wider work Programme across various categories and assisting the Procurement Managers on larger more complex projects.

Post holders will be supported to achieve through a competency framework of key skills whilst progressing through the CIPS Professional qualifications.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Interview Date: 3rd June 2026
• 37 hours 30 minutes/week
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy.  Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

The successful candidate must possess excellent communication, IT, and writing skills, along with either working knowledge or an understanding of relevant procurement legislation and associated government objectives. Post holders will have a firm understanding of the organisations values and consistently demonstrates positive behaviours in line with those values; seeks and responds to constructive feedback; acknowledges and learns from own mistakes; reflects on own behaviour and reviews performance; and learns from others and is open to new ideas.

This role offers continuous development and career progression opportunities within a professional public sector procurement team. Candidates must demonstrate procurement experience and/or transferable skills.

Band 5

• The post holder will be fully conversant with departmental objectives, and always be mindful of the Trust’s Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instruction.
• The post holder will be an integral part of the Procurement Team. Upholding our values and further developing the department in line with its strategic goals, whilst ensuring always an effective and efficient service is provided to end users.
• The monitoring and development of KPI performance will be an ongoing part of the role as will the implementation of measures that ensure planned performance improvement.
• Provide Trust representation supporting service developments in a variety of meetings, communication and clear thinking are essential qualities. The ability to interpret and transpose the information to trust staff at varying levels of seniority will also be a necessary to ensure conformity to best practice methods.
• Work cross-functionally with other departments of our Procurement Function.
• The post holder will need to have a thorough understanding of Electronic Procurement and Financial systems.
• Have a shared responsibility for proactively and consistently ensuring that perceived performance problems are clearly identified using system information, that procedures are implemented in the relevant areas to ensure performance is developed in line with best practice methods.
• The post holder will report directly to a Procurement Manager and will support them and the Head of Procurement in the procurement lifecycle processes including the tendering of bespoke contracts for goods and services.
• The post holder will work closely with the Directorates Procurement team, including Clinical and Non-Clinical stakeholder engagement, in the provision of data to support procurement decisions.
• The post holder will need to establish good working relationships with the procurement team, the purchasing team, the systems support team, Inventory management and the finance directorate.

Band 6

• The Senior Procurement Specialist is part of the Supplies and Procurement team and is the procurement lead for the successful delivery of projects within the aligned category/business area.
• The post holder will provide expert advice concerning successful contracting within public procurement regulations and the Trust’s internal regulations and policies.
• Responsible for the tendering of bespoke contracts for goods, services and works, including research, preparation, issue, scheduling, evaluation, reporting on tenders and award and the management of contracts.
• As the senior procurement specialist, the post holder will lead the establishment and/or enhancement of robust relationships within the aligned business area and wider Trust, to drive productive collaboration between the stakeholders and the procurement function in the effective forward planning of procurement / projects requirements.
• Supports the development and implementing of discrete service policies which impact across the Trust.
• Responsible for ensuring that the Trust utilises where appropriate, national contracts established by NHS Supply Chain, Crown Commercial Services, the North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative or other public sector collaborative procurement organisations where such arrangements provide benefit to the Trust; facilitating communication between the Trust’s internal customers of goods / services covered by such contracts and those formulating them.

This role has a wide pay band because we will consider appointing at both entry level, through to experienced professionals. £32,073 - £48,117 (progression rules apply within a 2 year time frame).