Procurement Business Partner

The Procurement Business Partner plays a key role in delivering high-quality, value-driven procurement services across the Trusts within the North East London Procurement Partnership (NELPP). The role supports the delivery of the Procurement Strategy by leading strategic and operational procurement activities across a defined portfolio of goods and services, ensuring compliance with public sector legislation and driving continuous improvement.

The post holder will act as a trusted advisor to clinical, operational, and corporate stakeholders, providing expert commercial guidance to secure best value, efficiency, and sustainability. They will manage complex sourcing projects, supplier relationships, and contract performance to ensure that procurement outcomes align with the Trusts' financial and quality objectives.

Working closely with the Head of Procurement, Chief Procurement Officer, and Senior Procurement Business Partners, the role contributes to wider strategic initiatives, including achieving NHS Procurement & Commercial Standards accreditation. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong analytical, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, a proactive approach to stakeholder engagement, and a commitment to delivering excellence through the Trust's WeCare values.

Main duties of the job

The Procurement Business Partner will lead and deliver high-quality procurement activities across defined categories within the Trusts, ensuring compliance with procurement legislation and achieving value for money. The role involves developing category strategies, managing tender processes, and building strong partnerships with stakeholders and suppliers to support clinical and operational priorities.

Key responsibilities include leading sourcing projects from planning to contract award, negotiating with suppliers to achieve savings and service improvements, and providing expert advice on procurement policy and regulations. The post holder will manage supplier performance, monitor benefits realisation, and contribute to achieving NHS Procurement & Commercial Standards accreditation.

The successful candidate will have excellent communication, negotiation, and analytical skills, with the ability to influence at all levels. They will demonstrate commercial awareness, sound judgement, and a proactive approach to problem-solving. A commitment to collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement-aligned to the Trust's WeCare values-is essential, along with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast paced and dynamic environment.

About us

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Qualifications

• High standard or general education including English and Mathematics
• Must have or be prepared to work towards the completion of becoming a Qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (MCIPS).
• Excellent verbal, written, presentational and numerical data analysis skills
• Higher level of competency with Excel and procurement systems

Experience

• Experience of a customer service environment
• Procurement, tendering and contract management experience
• Extensive experience of competitive tenders/quotations
• Reviewing and negotiating with suppliers and stakeholders across an organisation and a track record of achieving cost reductions and cost avoidance
• Managing projects to time and budget, using appropriate tools and methodologies
• Experience of managing staff and/or resources
• Experience of leading projects within multidisciplinary teams to deliver significant change
• Training and mentoring experience
• Working knowledge of NHS and the issues facing procurement teams

Knowledge

• Demonstrable knowledge of public sector procurement
• Experience and training in contract & category research and source planning
• Specialist day to day procurement knowledge relating to a range of categories of non pay spend
• Understanding and experience of how business case development and approvals add value to the procurement function and inform investment decisions
• Expertise in public sector procurement and contract management obtained via further training and experience or the equivalent.
• A working knowledge of contract law
• Knowledge of products and services relative to the NHS

Skills

• Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
• Understanding and ability to apply project management tools and techniques to procurement activities where appropriate
• Clearly manage priorities for self and others in order to meet specific deadlines
• Encourage and provide feedback to staff to aid their development
• Willingness to develop additional technical and specialist knowledge and skills in operational and procurement functions
• Communicate effectively and confidently across all clinical and non clinical disciplines
• Proactively manage stakeholder requests in a timely manner, and manage expectations
• Learn and develop self and others
• Interpersonal, able to work as part of a large team
• Able to use initiative and work independently
• Well organised, able to prioritise workload
• Create, develop and maintain working relationships with client managers to achieve corporate and team objectives
• Perform as a good team player and demonstrate interactive working with financial managers
• Ability to understand and operate effectively within potential political sensitivities of an organisation
• Demonstrable skills in managing and optimising procurement systems such as Procure to Pay (P2P) and eSourcing systems
• Stakeholder analysis, engagement and management
• Understanding of NHS procurement landscape

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.