Practicus
Procurement Manager
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Procurement Manager
Location: Milton Keynes
Salary: £55,000–£60,000 per annum and benefits
Working pattern: Hybrid – minimum three days per week in the Milton Keynes office, ideally four
Travel: Occasional UK travel, with business mileage and expenses covered
Are you a hands-on procurement professional who enjoys building structure, improving supplier performance and delivering measurable commercial results? We are partnering with a growing, national infrastructure services organisation to appoint a Procurement Manager during an important stage of its commercial development.
Operating across a multi-site depot network, the business is investing in its procurement capability and needs someone who can develop the function from a largely reactive service into a proactive, commercially focused operation. This is not a steady-state procurement role. You will have the visibility and senior support to shape how procurement operates, establish effective governance, improve supplier resilience and deliver tangible value across the organisation.
The opportunity
Reporting to the CFO and managing a Procurement Specialist, you will oversee a varied, multi-million-pound spend portfolio. You will work closely with regional leaders, depot managers, Finance and other central functions. Your challenge will be to introduce greater commercial consistency while recognising the operational requirements and independence of individual depots. You will need to be equally comfortable setting procurement strategy, negotiating with suppliers, analysing expenditure and resolving practical operational issues.
Key responsibilities
- Lead supplier sourcing, tendering, benchmarking, negotiation, onboarding and performance management.
- Rationalise a fragmented supply base and develop effective Preferred Supplier Lists.
- Identify savings opportunities while protecting quality, availability and operational continuity.
- Establish clear procurement governance, purchasing processes and approval controls.
- Improve purchase-order workflows and procurement catalogues within the ERP environment.
- Develop practical supplier KPIs covering cost, service, quality, delivery and compliance.
- Work collaboratively with regional P&L owners and depot teams to improve purchasing decisions.
- Manage, mentor and provide direction to an existing Procurement Specialist.
- Oversee suppliers supporting property compliance and facilities-related requirements across a national depot network.
- Support supplier and property transitions, including new depot openings and exit dilapidations.
- Reduce single-supplier dependencies and strengthen supply-chain resilience.
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Your initial priorities during your first six months will focus on several commercially important projects:
- Consolidating temporary agency labour suppliers onto a managed Preferred Supplier List.
- Running a mini-tender for high-volume operational equipment across a multi-million-pound category.
- Managing the operational onboarding of a newly appointed fleet supplier.
- Introducing a clear end-to-end requisition and purchasing process across the depot network.
- Creating structure, priorities and measurable deliverables for the procurement team.
About you
You are likely to be an experienced Procurement Manager, Purchasing Manager, Supply Chain Manager, Senior Category Manager or Procurement Lead with a background in a fast-moving operational organisation. You should be able to demonstrate:
- Procurement or supply-chain responsibility across multiple sites, depots, branches or regions.
- Experience managing spend portfolios ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million pounds.
- Strong tendering, sourcing, supplier negotiation and contract-management capability.
- Experience consolidating suppliers or creating preferred or approved supplier arrangements.
- A record of delivering measurable cost savings, service improvements or risk reduction.
- Good knowledge of purchase-order processes and procurement catalogues within an ERP system such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics.
- The confidence to influence regional leaders, operational managers and senior stakeholders.
- The resilience to challenge established practices while maintaining constructive relationships.
- The ability to balance strategic thinking with detailed, hands-on delivery.
- Previous leadership, line-management or mentoring experience.
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Experience within infrastructure services, highways, construction, civil engineering, utilities, equipment hire, fleet, facilities management, logistics or another multi-site operational environment would be particularly relevant. Direct highways or traffic-management experience is not essential. We welcome candidates who can bring strong procurement discipline and a fresh commercial perspective from a comparable sector.
Why consider this opportunity?
- Take genuine ownership of a developing procurement function.
- Build systems and processes with a visible business-wide impact.
- Work directly with senior leadership and regional decision-makers.
- Deliver meaningful early wins across several high-value categories.
- Develop an existing team member and shape the future procurement capability.
- Join a growing national organisation at an important point in its commercial journey.
Please note this position requires a minimum of three days per week in the Milton Keynes office, with four days preferred. Please only apply if this working pattern and occasional national travel are practical for you.
If you are a commercially minded and pragmatic procurement professional who enjoys turning complexity into clear, workable solutions, I would be keen to hear from you.
Apply through LinkedIn or contact Rob Nel at Practicus for a confidential conversation.
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