Associate Director of Strategic Procurement/Contracting

Employer NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board Employer type NHS Site Bristol, Gloucester and hybrid working Town Bristol Gloucester Salary £79,504 - £91,609 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 20/09/ :59

Associate Director of Strategic Procurement/Contracting

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Job overview

A new opportunity has arisen within the Gloucestershire and Bristol North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB cluster. The role provides strategic leadership and management of the ICB’s Procurement function, ensuring that all procurement activity delivers high-quality outcomes and best value for money, is compliant with internal governance and relevant legislation, and effectively balances statutory, financial, and service delivery priorities.

We are seeking a MCIPS qualified commercially astute, values-led procurement leader to provide strategic leadership for the ICB’s procurement function. You will advise and influence senior decisions, lead complex and high-value procurements across healthcare and non-healthcare, develop procurement strategy and policy, oversee the procurement pipeline, and manage contract and provider performance across an allocated portfolio.

In contracting you will ensure non-healthcare, goods and services contracts deliver quality, value for money and full compliance with legislative, regulatory and governance requirements.

You will be an experienced procurement professional with strong commercial judgement, strategic perspective and the confidence to operate in a complex and politically sensitive environment.

Please note: - Internal applicants and those at risk across the system will be given preference

Main duties of the job

As the ICB’s senior expert adviser, you will provide strategic insight and assurance while working with ICB senior clinical and non-clinical leaders, Local Authorities, the regional Shared Procurement Service, NHS England and other partners.

Your key responsibilities will include:

As the ICB’s senior expert adviser, you will provide strategic insight and assurance while working with ICB senior clinical and non-clinical leaders, Local Authorities, the regional Shared Procurement Service, NHS England and other partners.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Lead the ICB’s procurement function and complex, high-value or high-risk procurements.
• Develop and deliver procurement strategy, policy and operating procedures.
• Oversee the procurement pipeline, priorities, risks, resources and compliance.
• Manage allocated contracts, provider performance, relationships and disputes.
• Provide expert procurement and contracting advice across the organisation.
• Lead and develop staff, promoting collaboration and continuous improvement.

Working for our organisation

We are committed to creating an inclusive organisation that promotes and values diversity. We know from experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger, more creative workplace that helps us to deliver the best services. We welcome applications which represent the rich diversity of our community; from people of all ages, disabled people, all genders, people from ethnic minority groups, LGBTQ+ people, people with diverse gender identity and expression, people from all religions and beliefs and other diverse characteristics, and we have processes in place to ensure that all applications are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This directorate is responsible for developing contracting approaches which support the achievement of outcomes by planning and procuring services that deliver value, strategic priorities and health outcomes. This includes commissioning across pathways of care for population and neighbourhood cohorts and taking bold decisions to innovate and at times de-commission services.

As part of the the Strategic Commissioning Unit (SCU) the procurement and contracting team provides strategic commissioning and payer functions to drive the delivery of the population health strategy and ensure place ‑ based priorities are met. The SCU spans a comprehensive portfolio including Primary Care, Community Care, Children’s, Acute, IS, Mental Health and Non-Healthcare.

By commissioning new models of care across pathways and neighbourhood cohorts, and developing robust, outcome ‑ based service specifications, the team supports the transformation and integration of services at cluster level. It plays a central role in shaping and developing the provider market, overseeing performance management of contract outcomes to ensure high ‑ quality, value ‑ driven delivery.

The postholder will provide strategic leadership of the ICB’s procurement function, ensuring all procurement activity delivers high quality outcomes, best value for money and full compliance with legislative, regulatory and governance requirements. Acting as the ICB’s senior expert advisor on procurement and supply chain matters, the role provides strategic insight, assurance and professional leadership to support system decision making and market management. The postholder leads complex, high value and high risk procurements, develops and delivers the ICB’s Procurement Strategy and Policy and maintains oversight of the procurement pipeline to ensure effective prioritisation, delivery and resource use.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and management of the ICB’s Procurement function, ensuring all procurement activity delivers high-quality outcomes and best value for money, complies with internal governance and relevant legislation, and effectively balances statutory, financial, and service delivery priorities.
• Act as the senior expert advisor to the ICB on all procurement (healthcare, non-healthcare and goods and services) and supply chain matters, providing strategic insight and assurance to support system decision-making, and offering ongoing professional support to all ICB staff and more specifically the other Associate Directors of Contracts and all contract managers in relation to contract and market management.
• Lead and advise on complex, high-value, or high-risk procurements, ensuring appropriate procurement strategies are developed and delivered that support system transformation, market sustainability, and improved outcomes.
• Lead the development, implementation, and ongoing delivery of the ICB’s Procurement Policy and Strategy, ensuring alignment with national NHS commercial frameworks and local system priorities, and contribute as required to the development of contract and market management strategies.
• Lead on the implementation and management of a risk and issues management process, which is embedded across the programme and that the management of risk and issues are mitigated with corrective action and reporting is undertaken in a timely way.
• Lead on the development, implementation and ongoing delivery of the ICBs Procurement Standing Operating Procedures
• Lead on the development, implementation and ongoing delivery of the ICBs PSR Annual Report ensuring alignment with the regional procurement hub
• Develop, maintain, and actively manage a comprehensive procurement pipeline and workplan, providing clear oversight of forthcoming activity, prioritisation of resources, and assurance on delivery against system objectives.
• Lead engagement and liaison with the regional procurement hub and other relevant partners, securing appropriate specialist support and ensuring effective use of regional and national procurement capability to maximise value, consistency, and compliance.
• Lead effective contract management across the allocated portfolio, ensuring contracts are actively managed to deliver quality, value for money, and improved outcomes in line with NHS priorities and system objectives.
• Act as Relationship Manager for the contract portfolio, coordinating contract monitoring and provider performance across a range of services and organisations, fostering constructive partnerships while maintaining robust challenge and accountability.
• Lead and manage dispute resolution within the portfolio
• Maintain robust frameworks for effective contract and provider performance management
• Negotiate and agree effective contracts for non-healthcare and goods and services in line with the commissioning strategy for those contracts delegated to the postholder.
• Provide contracting advice to all staff – Healthcare / Non-Healthcare / Goods and Services
• Implementation of Commercial and Procurement Strategy in the Contract Portfolio.
• Provide contract management and comprehensive accurate record management, to ensure good governance, meeting audit requirements, transparency, and accountability.
• Ensure a register of contracts is maintained and that the contracts portfolio is kept up to date with contractual variations and reviews completed in accordance with required timescales

Person specification

Knowledge, Training and Experience

• Recognised Professional Procurement qualification such as MCIPS
• Educated to Masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area
• Must have a strong understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and how these impact on the overall strategic objectives, implementing and adapting as required
• A very strong understanding of and the ability to navigate the relationships between NHS organisations and wider system, regional and national organisations.
• Member of relevant professional body, if applicable.

Communication Skills

• Highly developed communication skills for delivering key messages to a range of stakeholders both internal and external (including outside the NHS) to the organisation, some at very senior level.
• Excellent presentational skills for conveying complex concepts.
• Ability to use informed persuasion to influence others.
• Demonstrates excellent digital literacy, with the ability to confidently use computers and digital systems.

Analytical

• Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery.
• Analyses performance of area of activity in relation to performance targets, strategic objectives
• Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution

Planning Skills

• Evidence of planning and delivering programmes and projects and services on time.
• Ability to formulate long term strategic pans, involving uncertainly, impact on organisation

Autonomy

• Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales. Interpreting national policy for implementation.
• Lead manager for a major area of activity, interprets corporate and national policies.

Equality & Diversity

• Needs to have a thorough understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships both in terms of day-to-day working practices, but also in relation to management systems.

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