Category Buyer

Are you a proactive and engaging individual looking to kick start a career in Public Sector Procurement?

NHS Shared Business Services is looking to expand their team by recruiting an additional Category Buyer.

The role will support the Principal Category Manager on various health projects and supplier engagements. Assisting with a delegated category portfolio, by responding to customer/supplier requests for support and information. You will develop existing customer relations and work to strengthen relationships with key suppliers.

Playing a crucial role in the procurement and supply change operations of the National Health Service (NHS), ensuring they receive value for money while maintaining high standards of quality and compliance. With phenomenal career progression opportunities, this role offers growth, ongoing training and the opportunity to excel in an exciting career in procurement!

Working within the Health category team, you would be part of a supportive environment focused on continuous improvement, user-centred approaches, and high-quality delivery. The role also offers strong opportunities for career development, ongoing training, and progression within procurement.

The position is hybrid, with monthly travel to the Salford office for team meetings, collaboration sessions, and workshops.

What you'll be doing:

• Acts as the first point of contact for all customer and supplier queries coming into the team.
• Supporting the end-to-end tender process ensuring all parties are well informed and supported.
• Engaging with stakeholders at all levels to support and assist in an efficient and timely manner in order to establish and build on existing relationships.
• Supports senior category team to deliver key initiatives and implementation of priorities.
• Operates under approved frameworks, processes, and systems that are in place.
• Maintains framework agreement compliance in line with category priorities.

What you’ll bring:

• Experience of working within a procurement setting.
• Supporting the promotion of strategic aims and policy objectives, ensuring collaborator and client dedication.
• The ability to follow and enforce mandated compliance and governance standards.
• Ability to prioritise workload and good time management skills.
• Proficient with Microsoft office such as Excel, Word, & Outlook, Teams as well as Power BI
• Build positive relationships with internal and external collaborators at all levels.

It would be great if you had:

• Public Sector or NHS exposure is desirable.
• CIPS or willingness to undertake.
• Knowledge of UK Public Contracts Regulations (PCR2015) and PA23
• Experience of working in health.

If you are interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!

Employment Type: Full time, Permanent

Location: Anywhere UK (with an expectation to attend the Salford office once a month)

Internal Recruiter: Rachel

Security Clearance: DBS

Salary : Up to £30,000

Benefits: 25 days annual leave with the option to buy extra days, health cash plan, 4 x death in service life assurance, pension, 3 days paid volunteering, 5 days paid carers leave and generous flexible benefits fund which you can take in cash.

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us? NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) was crafted by the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver corporate services to the NHS. A unique joint venture with Sopra Steria, a European leader in digital services and software development, we make life easier for NHS employees, patients, and suppliers, and deliver value for money to the taxpayer. Proud members of the NHS family, we provide finance & accounting, digital, procurement and workforce services to more than half the NHS in England, and our solutions are underpinned by cutting-edge technologies and our teams’ expertise, in-depth understanding of the NHS, and commitment to service excellence.

We share common values and unity of purpose with the rest of the NHS family, are committed to being a force for good, and are dedicated and empowered to act responsibly and sustainably at organisational, team and individual level.

Do you want to part of our journey? We embrace difference as a source of creativity, innovation and competitive advantage and are striving to become a more diverse organisation. We welcome applications from people with a diverse variety of backgrounds and identities. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We have partnered with Vercida, the UK's largest diversity and inclusion focused careers site, where all our vacancies are available in an accessible format.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, please let us know when completing your application. We participate in the Disability Confident scheme and are committed to offering an interview to any candidate with a disability, who meets the minimum criteria for the role. If you believe this could apply to you, please let us know when completing your application.