Supplier Manager London, England
Job description
Role Purpose:
To ensure that British Council gets maximum value from its services suppliers, that suppliers are held to account to deliver on their contractual commitments, and British Council meets it’s contractual commitments. To look across the services provided to British Council to identify opportunities to get better value through economies of scale, and through regular review of the market to ensure suppliers over best VFM. To ensure all contracts and other legal documentation is securely stored and tracked, and any procurement for suppliers starts in a timely manner. To support the procurement process for any new requirements, and to ensure that British Council financial, procurement, and other standards are adhered to.
Role Context:
E&E is a commercially-run business with an income of over £700 million per annum generating financial surpluses that are critical to the overall financial sustainability of the British Council Our work in English teaching generates annual revenues of nearly £200m annually, with activities spanning a global network of 80 English teaching centres in 50 countries, teaching 400,000 students each year, as well as an emerging portfolio of on-line products and services already reaching over 120 million English learners and teachers annually.
Our work in examinations generates annual revenues of nearly £500m and spans English proficiency testing, including the world’s leading English test IELTS (run in partnership with Cambridge Assessment English and IDP) which is now taken by 3 million candidates worldwide each year, as well as the British Council’s own Aptis test, and a wide range of UK school, professional and other qualifications.
Main Accountabilities:
Contract & stakeholder management
- Manages and delivers in year Contract Management Plan
- Develops out of year Contract Management Plan
Links with B2B support from Operations team to set and review quality of delivery to support contract relationship.
- Undertakes contract review and refresh
- Works to defined procurement standards and frameworks.
- Leads on or provides expert support to procurement activity conducted by the unit.
- Maintains accurate and up-to-date records and data in order to support effective and coordinated contract management across the organisation.
- Ensures secure and organised storage of all contractual and legal documentation for the unit.
- Conducts research into business activities, challenges and key personnel in target customer, partner or sponsor organisations to support the E&E business in developing new business and cultural relations opportunities for the BC.
- In accordance with an agreed contract management plan, coordinates and organises contact between stakeholders in key supplier organisations and the E&E business – e.g. meetings, reviews,
- Participates with other contract managers, SBU and regional colleagues in working groups and other collaborative forums (e.g. portfolio or sector networks) to develop coordinated, corporate strategies for cultivating, managing and leveraging strategically important contractual relationships to enable achievement of BC commercial and impact targets.
- Liaise with subject matter experts e.g. HR, Finance, Legal, Estates, Tax and Status to analyze risks and develop ways to mitigate the impacts.
- Actively manage the interface between various stakeholders including external partners and the E&E business to ensure that the needs of the customer and the business remain central to decisions.
Commercial & financial management
- Using agreed corporate systems and processes, plans and manages the core budget for their area of activity, and for any special initiatives, consultancy projects, or change projects for which they are responsible
- Conducts monthly and year-end reporting on contract performance and risk, and actively applies learning from this process to improve financial planning, management and performance within their area
- Analyses potential costs/benefits over a 1-3 year time horizon and uses these insights to inform their decision-making and provision of advice
Risk & compliance
- Contingency planning and risk management of supply.
- Set standards and performance E&E security and compliance including highlighting any issues of non-compliance
- Serves as point of escalation on significant issues
- Uses standardised processes to monitor compliance with agreed corporate risk management procedures relevant to service delivery (e.g. child protection, security policies, financial protocols, anti-fraud measures)
- Works with suppliers to address compliance issues, and ensures British Council is compliant with its contractual obligations.
Leadership & management
- Plans and prioritises own work activities to ensure effective delivery of diverse responsibilities and internal customer deliverables over a monthly to quarterly time horizon
- May contribute to the development, delivery or commissioning of externally supplied training support to maintain and improve business development effectiveness of colleagues on a range of commercially-related topics
- May be formal line manager to a small, local team of more junior staff
- Shares intelligence and ideas to support senior managers in identifying/ developing new business development strategies and plans.
- Identifies requirements and recommends training and development provision to build improved supplier and contract management capability within the unit/team/area • As an experienced vendor management
Role specific knowledge and experience
Essential
- Experience managing vendors within an Agile product development framework - from procurement through contracting through ensuring suppliers deliver on their contractual obligations.
- Proven capability to handle any disputes or issues with supplier delivery.
- Experience working in a multinational context and vendors across multiple time zones and legal jurisdictions.
- Experience of working across a portfolio of programmes and projects to review supplier requirements and ensure efficiencies across the portfolio
Desirable
- Experience in the publishing or Edtech sectors
Further Information
Pay Band – Pay band 8 / E
Salary range - £33,904-£41,309
Contract Type Indefinite
Location –
United Kingdom - One of our five main UK offices as the base office (either London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast)
Requirements –
Candidates are expected to have researched whether they have the right to live and work in the country in which the role is based.
Some travel and out of hours work may be required
Background Checks: Initial and continuing employment with the British Council is subject to an annual background check. The job undertaken defines the nature of check(s) and assessment applied.
Closing Date – 30th May 2023 (23:59 UK time)
Interviews: w/c 19th June onwards
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Salary: £33,904.00-£41,309.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
Supplemental pay types:
- Performance bonus
Ability to commute/relocate:
- London, E20 1JQ: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:
- Procurement: 1 year (preferred)
- Purchasing: 1 year (preferred)
Work Location: In person
Application deadline: 30/05/2023
