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Job Purpose

We have an excellent opportunity to work for a leading Local Authority in London. The successful candidate will be accountable for the end-to-end delivery of the Procurement and Contract Management Operating Model transformation, ensuring clear ownership of outcomes, benefits, governance, system dependencies and cross-workstream alignment. The role will provide overall programme leadership for the transition from a fragmented and decentralised model to a hybrid hub-and-spoke, category-based operating model, with a stronger central procurement hub, clearer service-facing accountabilities and a distinct approach to contract management across the Council.

The role will ensure that programme design, implementation planning, business case delivery, systems alignment, benefits realisation and stakeholder engagement are fully coordinated. It will provide the programme grip required to mobilise at pace, manage dependencies, support effective decision-making and embed new ways of working that deliver measurable improvements in value for money, governance, visibility of spend, contract performance and commercial outcomes.

The role is expected to be time-limited and focused on the mobilisation, implementation and embedding of the transformation programme, with duration aligned to the approved programme plan, delivery milestones and benefits realisation timetable.

Working Arrangements - Hybrid

Key Responsibilities

• Define, mobilise and maintain a single integrated programme plan, aligning P&CM Op Model implementation with associated business case delivery, including clear phasing, milestones and outcomes.
• Establish and lead a robust programme governance framework, including reporting, risk and issue management, escalation routes and decision-making forums, ensuring clear oversight and accountability.
• Lead the establishment and mobilisation planning for the new operating model, including implementation phasing, transition arrangements, resource requirements, role dependencies, service engagement and readiness activity.
• Lead cross-workstream integration, managing dependencies, sequencing and critical path delivery to ensure coordinated and timely implementation across all elements of the programme.
• Drive benefits realisation by establishing clear baselines, benefit profiles, tracking methods and reporting mechanisms for both the transformation programme and the longer-term procurement and contract management operating model, ensuring a direct link between programme activity, savings outcomes, service improvements and Finance validation.
• Provide high-quality reporting and assurance to CMT, Programme Board and senior stakeholders, ensuring visibility of progress, risks, delivery confidence and performance against outcomes.
• Proactively manage programme risks and issues, ensuring early identification, mitigation and resolution, and acting as the escalation point for cross-council delivery challenges and prioritisation conflicts.
• Ensure effective deployment of programme resources, aligning capability to critical priorities and delivery milestones to maximise impact and maintain pace.
• Maintain strong corporate grip and alignment, ensuring the programme remains focused on key enablers including pipeline management, governance, management information and system implementation.
• Coordinate the programme’s systems and data dependencies, ensuring alignment between the procurement and contract management operating model, eProcurement arrangements, contract and pipeline management requirements, management information, and relevant ERP system interfaces or dependencies.

Essential Experience

• Significant experience of leading complex, cross-organisational programmes in a large, politically sensitive or public sector environment, with responsibility for programme planning, governance, delivery assurance, risk management, dependency management and senior stakeholder reporting.
• Proven experience of delivering procurement transformation, including the design, mobilisation or implementation of new procurement operating models, category management approaches, governance arrangements, procurement pipelines, commercial assurance processes and benefits realisation mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of procurement and contract management operating models, including the practical implications of moving from decentralised or inconsistent arrangements to a more coordinated hub-led or hybrid hub-and-spoke model.
• Experience of aligning transformation activity with financial savings, value for money, service outcomes and wider organisational priorities, including the ability to establish baselines, track benefits, support Finance validation and evidence delivery against agreed outcomes.
• Experience of coordinating multi-disciplinary workstreams, including operating model design, people and capability, process improvement, governance, management information, systems/data dependencies and implementation planning.
• Good understanding of procurement systems, contract management information, pipeline reporting and ERP-related dependencies, with the ability to work with technical, finance, procurement and service stakeholders to ensure systems requirements are aligned to the operating model.
• Strong senior stakeholder management skills, including experience of working with corporate management teams, programme boards, finance, legal, HR, digital, procurement teams and operational services to resolve issues, manage trade-offs and maintain delivery momentum.
• Demonstrable ability to operate at pace, bring structure to ambiguity, translate strategy into practical delivery plans, and embed new ways of working across services.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear programme reports, decision papers, delivery plans and assurance updates for senior audiences.