Assistant Category Specialist

Walsall Council; Walsall; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority is seeking a motivated individual for its Procurement and Contract Management team. This role involves managing procurement projects that support the Council's vision of delivering excellent services for Walsall residents. Applicants should be flexible, able to handle multiple workstreams, and communicate effectively with the community. The position offers attractive benefits and aims to create an inclusive environment.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Generous holiday entitlements

First class pension scheme

Opportunities for training and personal development

Qualifications

• Be flexible and pragmatic in your approach.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams across your category area.
• Communicate verbally with customers in accurate spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Manage procurement projects to support the Council's corporate vision.
• Work with teams to plan and define services.
• Ensure procurement projects meet local objectives.

Job description

Overview

We are pleased to share that following a review and restructure, Walsall Council has a number of new and exciting opportunities in its Procurement and Contract Management team. Our team supports a wide range of service areas across the Council including services for Adult Social Care, Children's Service, Public Health, Construction, FM, Waste, Fleet, Finance, HR, and ICT to name a few. With significant changes in public sector procurement with the UK's Procurement Act 2023 (PA23) coming into force, bringing with it the challenges of a major overhaul of the procurement and contract management rules, and a heightened focus on transparency, integrity and commerciality, this is an ideal time to join our established team and positively impact change.

Role and responsibilities

• be flexible and pragmatic in your approach
• have the ability to manage multiple workstreams across your category area at different stages of the procurement cycle
• work with a variety of teams planning and defining services and ensuring procurement projects meet local objectives to support the Council's corporate vision of delivering excellent services and improving life chances for all Walsall residents

This post is covered by the Government's Code of Practice on the English Language Fluency Duty for public sector workers. The post holder will be required to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English.

Benefits

Here at Walsall, we want to attract the best talent. That's why - as well as a satisfying and rewarding job - we offer a range of attractive benefits. Working arrangements in most jobs are flexible (you may work flexitime, full or part time and job sharing is usually available) and you can expect generous holiday entitlements, a first class pension scheme and plenty of opportunities for training and personal development.

Equality and diversity

Walsall Council is committed to creating and working to uphold an inclusive environment where every person feels empowered, valued and respected. We strongly encourage applications from individuals across diverse backgrounds, and we work to treat all applicants fairly and without discrimination. We actively promote diversity and equality, ensuring that our services and opportunities are accessible to all members of our community. We recognise that achieving true inclusivity is an ongoing journey; together, we strive to create a welcoming workplace that celebrates differences and empowers everyone to thrive.

Living in Walsall

Living in Walsall. Part of the Black Country, famous for its enterprising and industrial past, Walsall is reinventing itself to become a progressive modern community. The borough is centred around the major town of Walsall, but also includes five smaller and distinctive district centres (Bloxwich, Aldridge, Willenhall, Darlaston and Brownhills), together with numerous villages. Find out more about Living in Walsall.

Current projects

• Healthy Child Programme circa £6M annually (lifetime value £60M) - Provider Selection Regime
• Integrated Sexual Health Services circa £2M annually (lifetime value £20M) - Provider Selection Regime
• Community Based Support Services circa £28M annually (lifetime value £224M) - PA23 Light Touch Framework
• Support Living Services circa £20M annually (lifetime value £160M) - PA23 Light Touch Framework
• Residential and Nursing Care Services circa £54M annually - PA23 User Choice
• Home to School Transport circa £10M+ annually - PCRs 2015 DPS
• Healthy Eating for Families and Children circa £250k annually (lifetime value £1.25M) - PCRs 2015 Open Process

If you want to be supported by passionate and dedicated Category Managers and Category Lead, believe you could add value to our team and you have relevant category knowledge, or the desire to learn, then we would like to hear from you. Closing Date: 7th December 2025

It is our intention to notify applicants of their outcome at the earliest opportunity after the closing date, subject to the volume of interest and to interview short listed applicants during week commencing 5th and 12th January 2026.