7 Forces - Commercial Services Category Specialist

The 7Force Procurement Team is a new shared service supporting the seven police forces across the East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk). This collaboration is responsible for third party spend of approximately £230m per annum, making the 7Force Collaboration the second largest police procurement collective after the Metropolitan Police.

The 7 Force Commercial Services Function are looking for a Category Specialist to develop and deliver all allocated sub-Category related procurement activities including category plans, market research, shaping & development, procurement strategy creation, the identification of new contract opportunities, the tendering process and initial implementation of procurement contracts across the 7 Forces.

The post holder must have the ability to interact with all senior level management and represent the 7 Forces as a collective or individually, where necessary.

They must have the gravitas to influence external bodies such as the Home Office, Crown Commercial Services, Police Digital Service and BlueLight Commercial and participate, as appropriate, on nationally led initiatives, providing opinion, guidance and shaping future offerings.

The post holder must also be able to interact with budget holders and operational contract owners in the 7 Forces, ensuring the procurement pipeline accurately reflects business need priorities.

The post holder will be ideally educated to CIPS Level 5 in-line with the CIPS structure guidance or be able to clearly evidence equivalent levels of experience, technical knowledge and expertise by having worked as a Procurement professional for a complex, public-sector organisation.