Junior Procurement Manager - IT

Smart Pension; Greater London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days’ holiday per year increasing

£500 annual training budget

Extensive private healthcare including

Enhanced sick leave

Enhanced maternity and paternity

Death in service insurance

Fully-paid five-week sabbatical after

In-office wellbeing services

50% discount on Arena Flowers

Job summary

Smart Pension in London seeks a commercially minded Junior Procurement Manager to join the Procurement and Vendor Management team on a 12-month fixed-term maternity cover contract. You will drive sourcing strategies for IT, SaaS and technology services, and partner with stakeholders to optimise supplier relationships.

You'll support RFQ/RFP processes, negotiate with vendors, and help drive commercial value across the software portfolio while ensuring high quality and risk management.

Qualifications

• 2+ years IT category management / procurement experience
• Understanding of software licensing, IT networks and infrastructure, and other IT equipment and services
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to prioritise workload and multitask while maintaining high standards
• Able to take direction and run with a task
• Team player and collaborative mindset

Responsibilities

• Manage procurement activity for IT/Technology categories including hardware, software, and SaaS.
• Support the Senior Sourcing Manager to build and maintain relationships with internal stakeholders, becoming the go-to person for IT/Technology procurement within the business.
• Vendor and spend data analysis to identify key IT spend opportunities.
• Manage the RFQ/RFP process in conjunction with stakeholders for IT/technology requests.
• Optimise commercial and licence models by applying knowledge of licensing relevance to the requirement.
• Lead or support negotiations and renegotiate existing contracts with vendors in conjunction with stakeholders.
• Drive commercial benefits and savings within your category while maintaining quality.
• Ad hoc management of renewals and low-risk categories.

Skills

Process driven

Communication

Prioritise multitask

Take direction

IT procurement experience

Software licensing

IT networks and infrastructure

Team player

Omnea procurement tool

Tools

Omnea procurement tool

Job description

Overview

At Smart, our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world.

Role

We are seeking a commercially minded Junior Procurement Manager to join our Procurement and Vendor Management team on a 12-month fixed-term maternity cover contract. This role will advance our procurement transformation agenda, with a focus on SaaS and technology services sourcing. The Junior Procurement Manager will partner with stakeholders to develop and execute sourcing strategies, optimise supplier relationships, and drive commercial value across our software portfolio. While the role focuses primarily on SaaS solutions and technology services, you will support sourcing activity across other spend categories when required.

Responsibilities

• Managing procurement activity for IT/Technology categories including hardware, software, and SaaS.
• Support the Senior Sourcing Manager to build and maintain relationships with internal stakeholders, becoming the go-to person for IT/Technology procurement within the business.
• Vendor and spend data analysis to identify key IT spend opportunities.
• Manage the RFQ/RFP process in conjunction with stakeholders for IT/technology requests.
• Optimise commercial and licence models by applying knowledge of licensing relevance to the requirement.
• Lead or support negotiations and renegotiate existing contracts with vendors in conjunction with stakeholders.
• Drive commercial benefits and savings within your category while maintaining quality.
• Ad hoc management of renewals and low-risk categories.

Who we are looking for

The skills, experience, and aptitudes we are looking for are listed below. Don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t meet every criterion – a can-do attitude is often more important than ticking every box.

• Process driven
• Good written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build relationships
• Able to prioritise workload and multitask while maintaining high standards
• Able to take direction and run with a task
• At least 2 years of IT category management / procurement experience
• Understanding of software licensing, IT networks and infrastructure, and other IT equipment and services
• Ability to work well as part of a team
• Preferable experience within Omnea as a Procurement tool

Who we are

We work in partnerships with governments and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. Our cloud-native digital platform is revolutionising how people think about, and save for, retirement. We are a financial technology business focused on innovation and using the power of digital change to put the customer first. Our Engineers work with and learn from like-minded people to develop world-class technological solutions.

Our colleagues value Smart’s culture and the impact we make on better financial outcomes for savers. We invite you to see what our people say about working at Smart on LinkedIn Life and Glassdoor.

Benefits

We offer a benefits package aligned with our principle: “We want happy and good people in our team.” Notable benefits include:

• 25 days’ holiday per year, increasing with length of service
• £500 annual training budget for professional development
• Extensive private healthcare, including dental, eyecare and EAP
• Enhanced sick leave (three months’ pay per year)
• Enhanced maternity and paternity (maternity – 6 months fully paid / paternity – 3 weeks fully paid)
• Death in service insurance cover
• Fully-paid five-week sabbatical after five years of employment
• In-office wellbeing services
• 50% discount on orders from Arena Flowers

We are committed to an inclusive and equitable workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to do their best work. We welcome diverse backgrounds and experiences and encourage applications from all protected characteristics. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process or in the workplace, please let us know.