NHS Supply Chain
Head of Procurement Operations
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Head of Procurement Operations
Function: Commercial
Location: Hybrid - working 2 days a week in our Wakefield office.
Contract type: Permanent
Salary: Offered on a starting salary of £93,504 with the potential to increase to £110,004 over the course of three years. Plus, a car allowance of £8,500 per annum.
Closing Date: 13th October 2026
About the Role
The Head of Procurement Operations is responsible for leading NHS Supply Chain's end-to-end procurement delivery capability, ensuring strategic sourcing and procurement operations are aligned to deliver value, innovation, compliance and improved outcomes for the NHS.
The role provides leadership across sourcing activities, procurement programmes and commercial delivery, supporting the development and implementation of procurement and category strategies. The post-holder is responsible for ensuring effective operational services, including helpdesk support, systems, governance, pricing and data management, are in place to enable the successful delivery of procurement and commercial objectives.
Working closely with Category Management, Commercial, Technology, Finance, Customer Services and NHS stakeholders, the Head of Procurement Operations will drive sourcing excellence, strengthen supplier markets, improve procurement performance and ensure operational capability supports the achievement of NHS Supply Chain's strategic priorities.
Daily Responsibilities
- Lead the Procurement Operations function, ensuring it effectively enables the successful delivery of sourcing, category and commercial strategies.
- Provide leadership across sourcing activities, procurement operations and commercial delivery, supporting the development and implementation of procurement and category strategies.
- Ensure all sourcing activity complies with procurement legislation, governance requirements and organisational policies.
- Oversee Procurement Operations, Procurement Helpdesk and Data Maintenance functions, ensuring operational excellence, service effectiveness and high-quality support for the Commercial Directorate.
- Ensure effective systems, governance, pricing and data management processes are in place to support sourcing and commercial objectives.
- Develop organisational procurement capability through leadership, coaching and talent development.
- Drive continuous improvement across procurement operations.
- Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships across the organisation to support business objectives, service delivery and customer needs.
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What We Offer You
- Hybrid working opportunities, giving you the flexibility to work collaboratively in the office and remotely.
- Recognition of employees' hard work and contributions with annual bonus schemes, long service, and colleague recognition awards.
- 27 days holiday plus bank holidays.
- Dedicated to your development, through in-house training, support, and access to external qualifications to maximise your potential.
- A focus on your well-being offering 1 day of paid well-being leave and free access to the 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme.
- Generous pension scheme (with us contributing 12% when you contribute 6%).
- Access to our Flexible Benefits Scheme, where you can choose from a variety of benefits such as Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover, Income Protection, Health Cash Plan, Dental Insurance, and additional pension contributions that suit you.
- 2 days of paid volunteering leave allowing you to give back to your community.
- Access to many discounts from the Blue Light Card to NHS Discounts.
About Us
NHS Supply Chain, who are we?
Our role is to support the NHS to save lives and improve health. We are a part of the NHS family, and our role is to source, deliver and supply healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales.
We serve every NHS Trust and operate a national network of distribution centres, managing relationships with more than a thousand suppliers and delivering more than 8,000,000 orders each year to more than 17,000 locations. Doing all of this on behalf of the NHS gives NHS staff more time to focus on their main priority of providing excellent patient care.
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Skills Required
Essential
- Significant senior leadership experience within strategic sourcing, procurement or commercial management.
- Extensive experience leading complex procurement programmes.
- Strong understanding of UK public procurement legislation and governance requirements. Experience managing senior stakeholder relationships and influencing executive-level decision making.
- Proven track record of delivering commercial value, cost improvement and service improvement initiatives.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams within large and complex organisations.
Desirable
- Experience operating within the NHS or wider public sector.
- MCIPS qualified or equivalent professional qualification.
- Experience leading procurement operations, pricing management or master data governance function.
- Experience in managing customer service helpdesks will be an advantage.
Our Inclusive Commitment
At NHS Supply Chain, we are committed to building an inclusive environment where difference is not only valued, but celebrated, giving everyone the opportunity to thrive in their career. Developing our people is key to our success, so if this role sounds like the right next step in your career but your experience doesn’t match perfectly with the job advert, we encourage you to still apply.
Struggling to complete our application form, and require additional support? Reach out to our Talent Acquisition team at careers@supplychain.nhs.uk who will be happy to help you with alternative ways to apply.
We reserve the right to close any vacancy from further submissions when we have received sufficient applications from which to make a shortlist. Please apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.
SCCL is a company Registered in England and Wales, with company number 10881715, to act as the management function of the NHS Supply Chain.
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