Contract Manager

Crescent Purchasing Consortium; Greater Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus up to £3,000

30 days annual leave + bank holidays

Flexible working patterns

Local Government Pension Scheme

Comprehensive wellbeing support package

Job summary

Crescent Purchasing Consortium is seeking a Contract Manager in Greater Manchester to join their dedicated team. The role focuses on managing public sector procurement frameworks, ensuring quality and value for money in service delivery.

The ideal candidate will possess extensive procurement experience, ideally within education, and a strong understanding of procurement legislation. CPC emphasizes a collaborative work culture and offers benefits like flexible working, a pension scheme, and a bonus up to £3,000.

Qualifications

• Extensive procurement experience within the public sector.
• Detailed working knowledge of public sector procurement legislation.
• Ability to develop and tender high-value frameworks and contracts.

Responsibilities

• Manage the procurement cycle from planning to contract management.
• Support Senior Procurement Officers and provide mentoring.
• Engage stakeholders and manage overall performance of allocated frameworks.

Skills

Public sector procurement

Contract management

Stakeholder engagement

Public sector procurement legislation

Education

CIPS or equivalent qualifications

Job description

Are you an experienced Procurement professional with public sector experience looking for an exciting new role in a Charity that is a ‘Great Place to Work’.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Contract Manager to join our expanding team and organisation. We are committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and we are interested in you as an individual. We are looking for a highly organised professional with a positive attitude, dedicated to achieving excellence in public sector procurement.

Who are we?

Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) is a not-for-profit charity that gives back to the education sector and a one-stop procurement shop, with a vision of being the first-choice procurement services charity that gives back to the education sector. Combining professional support, expert guidance, and resources with FREE training and development opportunities via Crescent Learning.

CPC provides a range of services which include 80+ compliant frameworks, with several approved by the Department for Education (DfE), consultancy services which can aid with every aspect of an institution's procurement journey from facilitating flexible procurement outsourcing, five days a week, to designing a strategic procurement package to maximise your savings.

Each year CPC's Board of Trustees review the level of reserves our charity has and any surpluses are reinvested back into the education sector via the 'Giving Back' initiative. To date over £2 million has been designated for re‑investment in the form of various projects with the largest amount being used specifically for awarding non‑refundable grants to CPC members supporting SEND learners, wellbeing and absenteeism in colleges, schools, academies, and universities nationwide.

What makes us different?

We're an award‑winning organisation recognised and certified as a “Great place to work”. We offer a collaborative, exciting environment where your ideas are heard and valued. We provide competitive salaries, benefits, and opportunities for career development. We're making a real difference and you can be a part of it! This is just the beginning, we're constantly growing and evolving and we're always looking for passionate individuals who share our Vision, Mission and Values:

CPC’s Vision is to be the first-choice procurement services charity that gives back to the education sector.

• CPC’s Mission, we want our members to receive outstanding procurement services.
• CPC’s Values
  • People First - We provide a caring, inclusive, and supporting environment that focuses on individual needs to enable our people to be the best they can be.
  • Customer Always - Everything we do is for the benefit of our customers, to help them provide the best service possible to their learners.
  • Excellence -We are 100% committed to delivering the highest‑quality services that exceed expectations, with continuous improvement at the heart of what we do.

You will join the Contracting Team, which is set up into three broad categories, People, Place and Product. You will be responsible for, amongst other duties and assigned agreements, managing the complexity and demands of CPC’s highly successful Building Cleaning and other associated “Place” related frameworks. The Building Cleaning framework is one of our strategically important services and will require you to manage any risk, relationships and service levels, so our members receive value for money.

CPC agreements cover a wide variety of supplies, works and services, and we aim to continue to develop this portfolio in line with our members' needs. CPC currently offers 88 unique agreements to its membership, which recently exceeded 10,000 institutions from across the UK education sector.

Reporting to Procurement Manager, you will be responsible for the delivery of the whole procurement cycle from business planning, pre‑market engagement, end-to-end tendering, contract management, stakeholder engagement and managing the overall performance of your allocated framework.

You will also provide mentoring support to the Senior Procurement Officers & Procurement Officers as well as providing a full and professional procurement service to all members, covering the acquisition of any goods or services under Framework Agreements and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS).

Person Specification

We seek a candidate who has extensive procurement experience within the public sector. Ideally, you will have a detailed working knowledge of public sector procurement legislation and experience of working in the education sector. You can develop and tender high‑value framework and contracts and support members and clients to define requirements and set specifications. The ideal candidate will be able to support members and clients to determine contractual requirements and embed them into the tender and award process. Candidates working towards CIPS or demonstrating suitable alternative qualifications and/or experience will be required for this role.

If you are a skilled and experienced procurement professional with the ability to deliver all aspects of this role, then we would love to hear from you.

Salary and Benefits

In return for your dedication to the role you will receive a competitive salary, dependant on experience. Additionally, you will be joining a charity which:

• Is governed by a board of volunteer trustees, with a great charitable ethos focused on supporting the education sector. The charity offers an extensive programme of 'giving back' which includes procurement support services, support for SEND learners, wellbeing for all and help tackle absenteeism.
• Offers a discretionary annual bonus of up to £3,000.
• Offers 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays and an additional three days’ Christmas period closure).
• Offers the opportunity to join a Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Offers flexible and agile working patterns with homeworking opportunities. The successful candidate must be willing to work at least 2 days at the Head Office in Salford.
• Free car parking is available within the grounds of the office and the office is a short walk from local transport links.
• Provides a comprehensive induction through the initial probationary period, together with support for ongoing training & development, designed to help you be the best you can be.
• Provides funding to achieve full MCIPS qualification and ongoing CIPS membership fees payment.
• Offers a comprehensive wellbeing support package, including a fully‑funded EAP, mental health first‑aid, and annual volunteering opportunities.

Next Steps

If the above sounds interesting, please click through to our careers site for further information about this role at www.thecpc.ac.uk/careers.

For more information on the role, please view the job description:

https://www.thecpc.ac.uk/docs/jd-cpc-contracts-manager-may-20261pdf

CPC is an Equal Opportunities Employer and committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at every level. We welcome and encourage all applications and we believe that having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values.

The closing date for written applications is Sunday 5th July 2026.