Head of Procurement - Major Infrastructure

RailwayPeople; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

RailwayPeople is recruiting a Head of Procurement for a major infrastructure programme in Birmingham. You will lead procurement strategy, shape processes, and build a high-performing team to deliver cost savings and resilient supply chains.

Join a growing joint venture in Birmingham with backing to implement your vision, negotiate contracts, manage suppliers, and align with operations, finance and legal to ensure successful delivery.

Qualifications

• Degree in business, supply chain, or engineering; master's preferred.
• 10+ years in procurement with 5+ in senior leadership, ideally in infrastructure.
• Proven track record saving money with procurement strategies.
• Strong contract negotiation and vendor management experience.
• Ability to lead a team and drive performance through people.

Responsibilities

• Set procurement strategy and policies for the project from ground up.
• Lead and mentor a capable procurement team and foster high performance.
• Own supplier relationships from sourcing to terms and payment.
• Oversee full procurement lifecycle and spend management.
• Introduce best practices in spend analysis, forecasting, risk management.
• Report procurement performance to inform decisions.
• Collaborate with operations, finance, and legal to align processes.
• Identify real cost savings and manage supply chain risk.
• Oversee supplier and subcontractor approvals on the programme.

Skills

Strategic procurement leadership

Vendor negotiation

Team building

Stakeholder communication

ERP & procurement software

Spend analytics

Risk management

Contract management

Cross-functional collaboration

CIPS certification

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/supply chain/engineering

Master's degree (bonus)

Tools

Procurement software

ERP systems

Job description

Reference: HHHOPBHAM
Type: Permanent
Position: Head of Procurement - Major Infrastructure
Location: Birmingham, England
Industry: Transport and Rail

Head of Procurement – Major Infrastructure Project

Birmingham

Permanent Salary: Competitive and negotiable

Take the lead on procurement for one of the region's biggest infrastructure programmes.

This is a great opportunity for a senior procurement professional to step into a role where you'll genuinely shape how things get done. You'll be joining a growing, well-backed infrastructure joint venture based in Birmingham that puts real weight behind looking after its people, not just saying it does.

You'll have the autonomy to build your own team, set the strategy, and be the person in the room whose input actually moves the needle on cost, supply chain resilience, and project outcomes.

What you'll be doing

• Setting the procurement strategy and policies that support the project from the ground up
• Leading and mentoring a team, building a culture where people want to do their best work
• Owning supplier relationships properly, from finding and evaluating the right partners through to negotiating terms that work
• Being across the full procurement lifecycle, from sourcing right through to payment
• Bringing in best practice around spend analysis, forecasting, and risk management
• Reporting on how procurement is performing in a way that actually informs decisions
• Working closely with operations, finance, and legal to make sure procurement fits smoothly into how the wider business runs
• Finding real cost savings and value, not just ticking boxes
• Managing supply chain risk so the project never stalls
• Overseeing how suppliers and subcontractors get approved on a major infrastructure programme, including any that are nominated or preferred

What you'll bring

• A degree in business, supply chain, engineering or something similar; a master's would be a bonus
• At least 10 years in procurement, with 5 or more of those in a senior leadership role, ideally somewhere in infrastructure or a related sector
• A genuine track record of building procurement strategies that actually save money and improve how things run
• Strong experience negotiating contracts and managing vendors
• The ability to bring a team with you and get the best out of people
• Sharp analytical instincts and confidence making decisions at pace
• Comfort with procurement software and ERP systems
• Communication skills that make negotiations and stakeholder relationships easy rather than hard work
• CIPS certification (or equivalent) would be a big plus
• A solid understanding of the supplier landscape and how the market moves

Why this one's worth a look

This isn't just another procurement role to add to the CV. It's a genuine chance to have real influence on a major infrastructure programme, with the seniority and backing to actually do it your way. Whether you're after your next step up or somewhere you can properly settle and build something long term, we'd love to hear from you.

Equal Opportunities

Our client is an equal opportunities employer, and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.