Procurement Support

This role is much more than an administrative role, it is continually developing and the ability to understand and improve processes is also important. It supports the process of procuring goods, services and works for Thames Water through the provision of specialist administrative support from beginning to end of a tendering project. The team facilitates the Strategic Sourcing, Capital Procurement, and Contract Management teams to run an efficient and compliant procurement process, managing multiple tender administration priorities and promoting procurement compliance and good practice in line with the appropriate legislation.

What you’ll be doing as Procurement Support

• Providing a professional, efficient, and effective response to stakeholders when handling clarification questions and responding to other enquiries.
• Proactively ensuring that our systems have the correct contract information and that our agreement repositories are being correctly maintained by the Category and Contract Managers
• Managing the Procurement Support Centre Inbox and communications / actions accordingly.
• Conducting induction sessions for new members to include basic regulatory guidance and how we support the teams through the project.
• Keeping up to date on changes to regulatory legislation.
• Ensuring that Thames Water’s tender processes are run in accordance with regulatory guidance by challenging and/or escalating any potential breaches, risks, or other compliance issues.

Base Location – Reading, Hybrid
Working Pattern or hours – 25 – 36 hours, opportunity for part time and full time

What you should bring to the role

• Personal drive, responsibility, and ownership
• Continuous mindset
• Adaptability and resilience
• Excellent organisational skills
• High level of verbal and written communication skills
• Stakeholder management experience
• Previous experience within a procurement environment or an audit background would be beneficial, but not essential.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive starting salary of £35,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (Plus bank holidays)
• Contributory pension – Defined Contribution - Maximum of 12% -2x employee contribution
• Personal Medical Assessments – Open to all once a year.
• Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing.

Who are we?
At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life’s essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive. Water is life’s great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day. From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we’re committed to taking care of it for us all. But keeping water flowing is becoming harder.

From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers. We need to keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever. Are you ready to play your part?

Working at Thames Water
At Thames Water we recognise that people are at the heart of our business. To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge. We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, background, and differences that each individual brings.

Our over-arching diversity and inclusion aim is to ensure Thames Water is a diverse and inclusive great place to work. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.

Find out more about working at Thames Water.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business, meet colleagues and earn some extra money along the way.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.