Assistant Procurement Manager

West Midlands Combined Authority; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

LGPS

Shared AVC

Leave 28 days

EV car benefit

Healthcare plans

Gym discount

Costco membership

Eye care

Job summary

West Midlands Combined Authority invites applicants for the Assistant Procurement Manager role. You will lead procurement across infrastructure and corporate services, guiding processes from planning through contract award, while ensuring value for money and compliant governance.

Collaboration with internal teams and suppliers is essential to deliver regional priorities. You will influence senior management on processes, manage multiple priorities under deadlines, and maintain robust records.

Qualifications

• Experience leading purchasing processes and tender activities.
• Ability to influence senior management on procedures and governance.
• Strong stakeholder collaboration to achieve shared goals.
• Proven capability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Lead procurement activity across infrastructure and corporate services from planning to contract award.
• Develop procurement processes that deliver value for money and robust contracts.
• Manage tendering activity including documentation, submissions, and debriefs.
• Coordinate with Legal, Finance and framework providers to meet timescales and requirements.
• Maintain procurement records and governance documentation in line with regulations.
• Monitor progress, identify risks, and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Procurement leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Tender management

Analytical skills

Time management

Communication

Team collaboration

Job description

Do you want to join a nationally award-winning Procurement Team? At the West Midlands Combined Authority, our team has been recognised as Procurement Team of the Year at the GO Awards 2024/25 and, most recently, won the 2026 CIPS Excellence in Procurement & Supply Award for Best Initiative to Build a Diverse Supply Base. These achievements reflect our commitment to delivering innovative, responsible procurement that creates opportunities for businesses, supports our communities and ensures public money delivers real value for the West Midlands.

As Assistant Procurement Manager, you will play an important role in helping us build on this success. Our Growth Plan sets out an ambitious vision for a stronger, more prosperous region, and effective procurement is essential to making that ambition a reality. Working across infrastructure and corporate services, you will support and manage procurement activity that helps WMCA secure the goods, services and partnerships needed to deliver its priorities. From managing tender processes to working with stakeholders and suppliers, your work will help ensure procurement decisions are compliant, commercially sound and deliver meaningful value for the organisation and the region.

What you'll be doing.

• Lead and support procurement activity across infrastructure and corporate services, managing allocated procurements from initial planning through to contract award.
• Develop and implement procurement processes that support business priorities, deliver value for money, encourage innovation and establish robust contractual arrangements.
• Manage tendering activity, including supplier engagement, preparing tender documentation, evaluating submissions, bid clarifications, award recommendations and supplier debriefs.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders, suppliers, Legal, Finance and framework providers to coordinate procurement activity, provide advice and ensure requirements are delivered within agreed timescales.
• Maintain accurate procurement records, trackers and governance documentation, ensuring compliance with relevant procurement legislation, WMCA policies, financial regulations and approval processes.
• Monitor and report on procurement progress, identify risks and opportunities for collaboration or savings, and support continuous improvement across procurement processes and systems.

What's essential.

• Purchasing/Procurement processes is essential; demonstrates experience of leading purchasing processes and supporting on tender processes; formuluating Invitation to Tender documentation, evaluating tender responses, undertaking bid conditioning and bid clarification, debrief of suppliers, awarding contracts, managing supplier relationships.
• Experience of advising and influencing senior management to accept procedures, systems, governance and methods of working.
• Experience of working effectively with stakeholders to achieve and communicate shared goals.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure, trouble-shoot, and to meet short and long-term deadlines.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Able to effectively present information with a strong attention to detail.
• Effective time management skills and ability to work independently as well as a member of a cross-functional team is essential.

For a full list of duties and essential criteria, please refer to the job description attached.

Location.

The location for this role is 16 Summer Lane, Birmingham, B19 3SD with at least 2 days a week spent in the office.

There may be a requirement to work outside normal office hours on occasion to meet work deadlines, attend meetings or work within stakeholder and partner offices across the WMCA constituent area.

Salary and benefits.

We advertise salary ranges, with new appointments typically starting at the lowest salary point. In exceptional cases, the salary point may be adjusted to secure the best candidate. This approach allows for potential year-on-year salary increases, offering progression and appropriate rewards to employees. Requests for salaries above the maximum advertised range will not be considered.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Local Government Pension Scheme (one of the most generous pension schemes in the UK).
• Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contributionscheme where you can build an additional pot of money alongside your pension with contributions exempt from Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs).
• 28 days paid annual leave (with an option to purchase more) + Statutory days.
• EV car benefit scheme
• Healthcare plans.
• Discounted gym membership, will writing,andmortgage advice.
• An option to buy a bicycle, including e-bikes and adapted pedal cycles, at a discounted rate.
• 3 days of paid leave each year to volunteer.
• Interest-free financing through SmartTech to buy the latest technology
• Discounted shopping with over 2,000 big-name retailers, and more. You can now also obtain a Costcomembership through the WMCA.
• Boundlessunlocks unlimited entry to top-rated UK attractions and loads of extra benefits and discounts.
• EyeCare Scheme,offering a free eye test and a financial contribution towards your glasses.

For more information, please visit the benefits page on our career site.

Why join WMCA?

WMCA is laser-focused on improving the West Midlands, bringing economic growth, jobs, homes, and better journeys to the region. We target local needs where it matters most, ensuring everyone has a job that pays well and has access to safe and affordable places they can call home.

We put people and place at the heart of everything we do, working hand in hand with our partners to direct funding where it's needed most. What you do, really matters, your expertise will help make a big difference, improving people's lives, every day.

Our Values and Behaviours.

• Collaborative -We work as one organisation. Together we build trust, connection and shared purpose across teams, partners and residents to create the biggest impact for our region.
• Driven -We are focused on outcomes. We perform at our best to unlock productivity and delivery, achieving the greatest regional impact.
• Inclusive -We value difference. Creating an environment where people belong, and feel psychologically safe, so we can all thrive and shape a West Midlands built for everyone.
• Innovative -We are courageous. We embrace new ideas and challenge the status quo to continuously improve and shape the future of the West Midlands.

Creating an inclusive workplace.

WMCA holds diversity accreditations, such as the RACE Code Quality Mark, Armed Forces Covenant (Gold status) and has been recognised as one of the Inclusive Top 50 Employers and The Times Top 50 Employers for Women. We're a Disability Confident Employer with Leader' status, committed to interviewing applicants with disabilities who meet all the essential role criteria.

We are also proud to be a Ban the Box employer, which means we do not ask about criminal convictions at the initial application stage, and will only ask after an offer is made as part of our onboarding checks, which helps us remove barriers for people with past convictions and supporting fair opportunities for all.

We recognise that certain groups, such as women and people of colour, may be less likely to apply for roles if they feel they do not meet all the requirements. However, we encourage individuals who are passionate about the role and want to make a difference to still apply. We value potential and encourage applicants to highlight their skills, including transferable ones, even if they don't fit the traditional "perfect candidate" mould.

We gladly consider part-time, flexible, and job share arrangements, so please don't let these factors deter you from applying

Sponsorship / Right to work requirements

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates. As part of our commitment to supporting inclusive growth across the West Midlands, we are keen to attract talented individuals who can contribute to the region's future success.

For roles that meet the relevant skill and sponsorship requirements, we are also pleased to consider applications from overseas candidates who may require sponsorship to work in the UK. However, this post is not suitable for sponsorship and as such, applications that require sponsorship will not be considered due to not meeting the requirement threshold.