Procurement & Contract Manager Digital Spoke

Reading Borough Council; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

25 days holiday

On-site day nursery

Season ticket loan

Lease car scheme

LGPS life assurance

Job summary

Reading Borough Council is seeking a Procurement & Contracts Manager to lead end-to-end procurement for Digital & Technology, overseeing software licensing, cloud services and digital infrastructure.

This role partners with budget holders across the Council to ensure value for money, compliance with Procurement Act 2023, and robust contract management for digital solutions.

Hybrid working with 1-2 days in the office; competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex procurement programmes, ideally in the public sector.
• Strong understanding of contracts and commercial agreements.
• Ability to ensure governance and compliance.
• Knowledge of category management, supplier negotiations and risk mitigation.
• Budget management and financial planning within procurement operations.
• Familiarity with social value and sustainability principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end procurement processes, including complex tenders and competitive quotation exercises across a range of digital and technology requirements, ensuring timely and transparent delivery of a wide-ranging portfolio of projects.
• Ensure adherence to public procurement regulations, including the Procurement Act 2023 and associated legal frameworks.
• Support service leads in defining technical and commercial requirements, ensuring supplier engagement and market understanding for IT-related categories.
• Oversee the procurement of software including upgrades and renewals, ensuring alignment to technical architecture principles.
• Embed category management approaches to optimise outcomes, including consideration of lifecycle costs, interoperability, application rationalisation, data security and ongoing support needs.
• Support contract mobilisation and transition activities for digital systems and services, ensuring clarity of SLAs, KPIs, data handling requirements and risk management.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams and externalpartnersto ensure successful delivery of procurementactivities, meeting deadlines and achievingCouncil priorities.
• Incorporate social value, ethicalprocurementand sustainabilityprinciples into procurement strategies, supporting local economic growth and community development.

Skills

Procurement Act 2023

Public Contracts Regulations 2015

CIPS Level 4+

Procurement leadership

Category management

Supplier negotiations

Risk mitigation

Budget management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

CIPS Level 4+ qualification

Job description

Procurement & Contract Manager Digital Spoke

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

We support hybrid working, allowing flexibility while ensuring employees can excel in their roles,with anexpectationof1-2daysperweekin the office.

Reading Borough Council is looking for a Procurement and Contracts Manager to play a vital role in supporting our Digital & Technology procurement needs.This role acts as a dedicated business partner for budget managersacross the entire Councilandcollaborates with digitaltechnical expertsto ensurethe best value for money solutions areinplace for adigitally secureand innovative organisation. It willdeliversourcing and ensurerobust contract managementrelated to the Council’s technology landscape,including:

• Software and applications (SaaS,onpremise, cloud services)
• Digital infrastructure and networks
• Professional digital and IT services

You’llhelp ensure procurement processes run efficiently and in full compliance with regulations, supporting delivery of critical digital capabilities that underpin every service across the organisation. Contract values typically range from £5k to major multimillionpound programmes.

You will want to have knowledge of the Procurement Act 2023, and ideally Public Contracts Regulations 2015 – top candidates will have completed the Procurement Act eLearning course.The role works with a range of contract types including service contracts, framework and DPScalloffs, calloff arrangements, and digitalspecific commercial agreements (such as licence subscriptions and support/maintenance contracts).You’llwork closely witha range ofservice managers and suppliers to ensure effective contract delivery, riskmanagementand value for money across ourentiretechnology portfolio.Holding a Level 4 or higher CIPS qualification is preferable, although apprenticeship and training options will be available.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

About the Role

This role is key to ensuring procurement processesfollow our internal governancerequirements, plansproactively for procurement cycles,and supportsimplementation of Council policies such as Social Value and working towards Net Zero.Thepostholder will oversee a diverse portfolio of technology contracts, including software licensing, cloud hosting, digital transformation programmes, managedservicesand infrastructure support.

You will lead procurement activity and support the mobilisation of new applications, upgrades andenterprisewidedigital solutions. The role also helps ensure commercial compliance across essential corporate digital services such as Microsoft licensing,telephonyand unified communications,enduserdevices, dataplatformsand IT support arrangements.

By embedding best practice procurement arrangements and ensuring compliance with governance frameworks, this role helps secure value for money while supporting essentialcorporateinitiatives acrosstheReadingborough.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage end-to-end procurement processes, including complex tenders and competitive quotation exercises across a range of digital and technology requirements, ensuring timely and transparent delivery of a wide-ranging portfolio of projects.
• Ensure adherence to public procurement regulations, including the Procurement Act 2023 and associated legal frameworks.
• Support service leads in defining technical and commercial requirements, ensuring supplier engagement and market understanding for IT-related categories.
• Oversee the procurement of software including upgrades and renewals, ensuring alignment to technical architecture principles.
• Embed category management approaches to optimise outcomes, including consideration of lifecycle costs, interoperability, application rationalisation, data security and ongoing support needs.
• Support contract mobilisation and transition activities for digital systems and services, ensuring clarity of SLAs, KPIs, data handling requirements and risk management.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams and externalpartnersto ensure successful delivery of procurementactivities, meeting deadlines and achievingCouncil priorities.
• Incorporate social value, ethicalprocurementand sustainabilityprinciples into procurement strategies, supporting local economic growth and community development.
• Overseedigitalcontract managementpractices, ensuringdelivery of outcomes, performance and cost monitoring, and change/risk management.

About You

We’relooking for a procurement specialist withexpertiseinmarket engagement,procurement strategy, and strongcontract management.

• Experience in leadingcomplexprocurement programmes, ideally in the public sector.
• Strong understandingofa range ofcontracts and commercial agreements.
• Ability to ensure adherence togovernance structures andcorporatecompliance.
• Knowledge of category management, supplier negotiations, and commercial risk mitigation.
• Ability toprovide professionalchallengeand secure outcomes.
• Familiarity with budget management and financial planning within procurement operations.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with experience in stakeholder engagement and cross-functional collaboration.

You’llbe part of a team that relies oneach individualto play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day,you’llalso be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place. Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential asa great placeto live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success. Our values and behaviours guide how we will achieve this:

• Work Together as one team - champion and inspire a culture which ensures that all employees across the organisation work together to provide excellent outcomes for Reading
• Drive Efficiency - create an environment in which resources are usedefficientlyand employees’ skills are developed and used effectively
• Be Ambitious - aspire to deliver excellence and inspire and support others to reach their potential
• Make a Difference to Reading - inspire a culture in which the customer is the focus and where change is welcomed as an opportunity

Our offer

We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambitionisstrongly encouraged, andyou’llget a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

• A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service and 33 days after 10 years' service, with theoptionto buyadditionalleave
• A wide range of flexible working opportunities
• Modern working environment at the Civic Offices in the heart of Reading
• Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS)
• On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted
• Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work
• Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance,servicingand road tax

For more information or an informal discussion, contact Emily Chomicz - [e-mail] Closing Date: Sunday 27th September 2026 Interview Process: Competency-based interview. Interview Date: To be confirmed