About us

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Our new strategy for 2022-25 gives us a strong platform to show that we will use our powers to protect and promote equality and human rights, and that we have identified the main challenges in society where we can make a difference in our role as a regulator.

Overview of the role and responsibilities

We are looking for an experienced Senior Procurement Officer to support all procurement work across the Commission. You will be based in the Finance and Procurement Team in the Corporate Services Network. You will need to work flexibly and collaboratively with colleagues across the Commission in England, Scotland and Wales to ensure successful delivery against challenging timeframes.

Our Senior Associates have many opportunities for autonomy and responsibility, contributing to the success of specialist areas of work. You will be a self-starter who requires minimal supervision and oversight from senior colleagues and be keen to continue to hone your judgement and professional/technical skills, taking pride in your work and supporting/developing others.

You will need to fulfil this role in a way that is in keeping with our values of fairness, dignity and respect, and display a high degree of flexibility, accountability and initiative.

Reporting to and supported by the Procurement Manager, you will be responsible for supporting all procurement work across the Commission. As such, you will need to have recent experience of public sector procurement to fulfil your duties.

This role is central to the team’s ability to manage the procurement requirements across the Commission. It enables decisions to be taken at the right level in line with our scheme of delegation and provides essential support for prioritising and managing procurement activities.

Key deliverables for our Senior Procurement Officer include some or all of the following and in ways that enable you to role model our core skills.

You will:

• Take responsibility for supporting the Commission’s tendering, purchasing, contracting and contract management, managing allocated end-to-end procurement exercises in line with the Commission’s policies and procedures, ensuring the exercises result in successful provision of contracts that deliver value for money goods and services.

• Review and amend tender documents and draft contractual documents.

• Provide support for the Delegated Procurement Authority for the majority of the Commission’s contracts. This allows the team to sign contractually binding agreements that commit the financial resources of the Commission.

• Build relationships both internally and externally with the key procurement related stakeholders including the sponsor department, other Government bodies, key suppliers, Crown Commercial Services (CCS) and other regulators.

• Provide advice and guidance on the procurement of goods and services to managers that enable well-informed decisions to be made. Using knowledge and experience, you will contribute to papers for internal stakeholders on procurement issues, advising on impact, risk and commercial options for the Commission.

• Set up new suppliers and upload verified payment details.

• Take responsibility for matrix management duties when individuals from other teams will be allocated specific procurement tasks.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The full list of Knowledge, Skills and Experience required for the role can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

How to apply

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack for more information and submit your application today!

If you encounter any problems with Applied or have a question about the recruitment process, please contact Becky Roberts, HR & Recruitment Officer, Becky.Roberts@equalityhumanrights.com  

Disability Confident Leader

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Equality and Human Rights Commission offers an interview for people with disabilities (as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004) and who meet the minimum criteria for this appointment.

Where high numbers of applications are received, the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria for the role may only be invited to interview. If you wish to apply for consideration under this scheme, please complete the appropriate section on the online application form. This will enable us to make the appropriate arrangements, if necessary.

If you require an alternative accessible version of the application form or wish to discuss your application or reasonable adjustment – please contact us by email at Becky.Roberts@equalityhumanrights.com or by telephone on 0161 829 8100

Diversity in our workforce

At the Commission, we are proud of our respectful workplace that values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background.  We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone to ensure we achieve a balanced representation in our workforce in all grades.