Graduate Trainee - Procurement

Graduate Trainee - Procurement

Fixed Term, Full Time

£28,090 up to £33,047 per annum

Location:

Chelmsford

Working Style:
Anywhere worker

Kick‑start your career in procurement with our Graduate Procurement Trainee programme. You'll gain hands‑on experience across diverse categories, develop strategies that make a real impact, and receive full support to achieve your CIPS qualifications.

The Procurement function within Essex County Council is looking for the senior leaders of the future.

Procurement works with colleagues across the council, partners in the wider public sector, and with our supply chains to deliver innovative solutions for the people of Essex. The function leads the end‑to‑end procurement cycle with responsibility for category management, and managing a supply chain whose reach is one of the largest in the public sector.

The Procurement Function manages an annual third‑party spend of £1.2 billion and a contract portfolio of £5.8 billion.

Our graduate programme will equip you with the necessary skills and experience necessary to become a qualified Procurement professional (CIPS) and will fast‑track you into a Procurement Manager role within Essex County Council.

The Graduate Procurement Trainee will undertake a comprehensive programme of training and development, through individually planned placements within the Procurement function over a three‑year period to gain a broad knowledge of procurement practice and gain valuable skills.

As our Graduate Procurement Trainee, you will study towards the Procurement and Supply Chain Practitioner Apprenticeship alongside CIPS Levels 4 and 5 with the opportunity to complete Level 6 to become fully chartered (MCIPS).

For more information, please have a read through our Procurement 2026 – graduate.

• Fulfill a planned programme of rotations across some of the many categories within the Procurement function:
  Corporate;
  Economy & Investment;
  Climate, Environment & Customer Services;
  Adults with Disabilities;
  Older People; and Children & Families.
• Conduct robust research and analysis to ensure category plans are relevant, useful, and informative. Use these plans to create short, medium, and long‑term strategies and action plans for individual categories.
• Remain up to date with market conditions, shaping markets to achieve organisational goals and responding to change efficiently.
• Lead the delivery of sourcing processes, ensuring compliance with the Authority's Procurement Policy and Procedures.
• Manage contracts and top tier supplies to ensure that performance standards are achieved and any contractual, commercial or market risks are identified; to ensure appropriate mitigations are put in place.
• Support the Strategy and Assurance team to develop policies and procedures that promote cross‑functional, best practice ways of working.

• Essex County Council have a minimum qualification requirement you must meet in order to be considered. Generally, you will need a 2:1 or be expecting to graduate at this level by summer 2026. Ideally, we are seeking applicants with a degree in a discipline with a strong numeracy and/or analytical bias, but we will consider strong applicants irrespective of the degree subject.
• We will consider applications with minimum of 2:2 but we will need further information from you so we can consider the impact any extenuating circumstances may have had on your grades. Please detail all your circumstances on your application for our screening team to assess, and ensure your CV includes details of your Degree, A Level and GCSE (or equivalent) grades.
• Willing to study toward CIPS Level 4 and Level 5 diplomas, with the opportunity to go on to study for Level 6 and gain MCIPS accreditation.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to proposals and decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively with others to successfully achieve tasks and deliver.
• Demonstrated ability to assist in developing solutions to tackle problems and achieving outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships with others, both internally and…