Procurement Lead

Job Details

Hours:

35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered.

Disclosure Level: Basic.

This role involves no direct or indirect work with children.

Team:
Legal and Governance.

Reports to:

General Counsel.

The Legal and Governance team is recently formed and brings together professionals from across the organisation to support UNICEF UK to achieve its growth ambitions. It is a team of trusted partners spanning Procurement, Legal, Governance, Data Protection, Income Generation Quality & Compliance, Environmental & Social. The team provides a strong governance framework alongside proportionate risk management.

The Procurement Manager plays a central role in strengthening how UNICEF UK delivers procurement in a decentralised environment. This role combines hands‑on delivery of strategic and complex procurements with responsibility for developing the policies, tools and support that enable colleagues across the organisation to carry out procurement activities confidently, ensuring that procurement is compliant, commercially robust and achieves value for money.

It is a high‑impact role for a commercially minded and collaborative individual who will shape procurement practice, influence senior stakeholders and ensure strong governance while enabling operational flexibility.

• Develop and implement a pragmatic procurement strategy and forward plan that drives value and is aligned to organisational priorities and a decentralised operating model.
• Plan and lead high‑value, complex or strategically significant procurement exercises end‑to‑end, including requirements gathering, specification development, tendering, evaluation, supplier selection and contract negotiation.
• Own and continuously improve the procurement policy, processes and controls, leveraging AI and tech automation to streamline and optimise procurement practices while ensuring they remain practical, proportionate, compliant and aligned with legal requirements and best practice.
• Design and deliver clear, user‑friendly procurement guidance, training, templates and toolkits that support budget holders and teams to make effective, compliant purchasing decisions.
• Work closely with colleagues in Legal, Data Protection, Cyber Security, Finance and other specialist areas to embed appropriate due diligence and risk assessment into procurement activity.
• Identify and deliver value creation opportunities through strategic sourcing, demand management, market insight, specification challenge, whole‑life cost analysis and value‑based procurement approaches.
• Support colleagues to improve supplier relationship and performance management activities for key contracts, driving continuous improvement, innovation, service enhancement and measurable added value.
• Maintain an accurate and up‑to‑date central contract register, and support proactive management of contract renewals, extensions, variations and exits.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the organisation, providing confident commercial and practical advice with constructive challenge to improve procurement planning and decision‑making.
• Monitor procurement activity and produce clear management information on compliance, pipeline activity, contract status, savings, value for money and supplier risk.
• Identify opportunities to improve procurement processes, strengthen controls, reduce risk and increase consistency across the organisation.
• Demonstrate and model a commitment to our shared values, behaviours and inclusive practices in all aspects of your work.

• Procurement activity is better planned and more visible across the organisation.
• Colleagues understand when and how to engage procurement support.
• Procurement processes are practical, proportionate and consistently followed.
• Strategic and higher‑risk procurements are well managed and well documented.
• Contract information is reliable, accessible and actively used to support renewals and planning.
• Stakeholders view procurement as a supportive, credible and value‑adding function.
• There is stronger evidence of value for money, compliance and risk management.
• Colla…