Procurement Operations %26 Systems Manager

BAE Systems; Preston; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defense and aerospace company in the UK is looking for a Procurement Operations & Continuous Improvement Manager. In this role, you will lead the Procurement Operations team, manage stakeholders, and ensure compliance with policies and regulations. The ideal candidate will possess strong knowledge of procurement processes and experience in managing teams. This position offers hybrid working arrangements and a competitive salary, alongside various health and lifestyle benefits.

Benefits

Competitive pension scheme

Employee share plans

Flexible discounted health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Extensive understanding of transactional procurement processes from requisition to purchase order.
• Experience managing team(s) and defining process designs.
• Knowledge in indirect procurement preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and development to the Procurement Operations team.
• Manage relationships with business stakeholders and optimize processes.
• Ensure compliance with company policies and government legislation.

Skills

Transactional procurement processes understanding

Team management

Process design experience

Tools

Coupa

Job description

Job Title

bProcurement Operations & Continuous Improvement Manager

Location

bPreston. We offer a range of hybrid and flexible working arrangements please speak to your recruiter about the options for this particular role.

Salary

bCirca £57,200 depending on skills and experience

What you’ll be doing

• Provide leadership, motivation and development to the Procurement Operations and Systems Support Team, ensuring the team is appropriately sized and skilled to allow an efficient and effective service
• Manage relationships with business stakeholders working collaboratively with Functions and Sectors to ensure successful delivery of key operational processes and transactional incoming activities and identify and drive improvements
• Ensure the successful resolution of escalations relating to the operational delivery of PO placement, providing technical and operational guidance to your direct reports
• Overall responsibility for ensuring Procurement Operations is compliant with BAE Systems Policies and procedures, relevant government legislation, internal and external audit process
• Supporting budget production, re-forecasts, variance analysis and support cost saving initiatives across shared services
• Lead the creation and implementation of best practice processes and procedures to support standardisation, continuous improvement and optimisation policies. Support the query and compliance manager to embed findings and improvements across the transactional teams

Your skills and experiences

Essential:

• Extensive understanding of transactional procurement processes from requisition to purchase order, engaging with relevant sourcing teams to ensure an accurate and effective service
• Experience of defining process designs, managed a period of rolling change and or/ service modernisation
• Experience of managing team(s)

Desirable:

• Extensive knowledge in indirect procurement
• Understanding of principles in managing and maintaining systems such as Coupa Accreditation by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS)

Benefits

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts - you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.

The Procurement Operations Team

The Procurement Operations team within the Shared Services business is responsible for executing indirect procurement purchase order placements across our UK lines of business. As a Procurement Operations & Continuous Improvement Manager you will manage a team of over 15 ensuring that purchase orders are placed accurately, with the correct terms and conditions applied as negotiated by the Indirect Procurement sourcing teams and relevant Governance requirements.

You will also manage a team of 4 responsible for the smooth running of the current indirect Purchase to Pay system, Coupa.

You will be primarily responsible for running an effective and efficient operation to the business, enabling the team to deliver against agreed service levels. There will be significant opportunities for process improvement and standardisation in a drive to deliver a uniform service across all areas. You will also play a critical role in various modernisation projects including the roll out of a Global Source to Pay system.

Why BAE Systems?

This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity of thought, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome people from all backgrounds and want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.

Closing Date: 12th January 2026

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.