Right across infrastructure, there’s a requirement to not only maintain, but also renew and reimagine. Whatever stage you’re at in your career, with us you’ll have an opportunity to grow and develop. Delivering essential infrastructure services for life, while being safety first, and client and customer centric in a friendly, fun and respectful environment where you are encouraged to thrive.
Where will you be working?
As an organisation, there is little we don’t do and plenty to get involved in. Our Group Support roles are vital in making sure we can help over 11,000 people deliver essential infrastructure seamlessly across water, energy, transport and telecom.
Want to come and be a part of it?
What will you be doing?
Reporting to the Group Chief Procurement Officer, you'll lead the procurement strategy for our Water division, ensuring procurement activity delivers value, efficiency, sustainability, and commercial success across the business.
You'll oversee a team of procurement professionals, providing leadership, direction, and development while ensuring procurement resources are effectively deployed to support operational priorities and business growth.
This is a UK-wide role and the successful candidate can be based anywhere in the UK. Travel across the business will be required to support stakeholders, suppliers, and operational teams.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing and delivering procurement and supplier strategies that drive cost savings, innovation, sustainability, and operational performance.
- Leading strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, and contract negotiations to maximise value and mitigate risk.
- Building and managing a high-performing supply chain, ensuring the right partners, subcontractors, materials, and services are in place to support delivery.
- Working closely with Commercial, Operational, Finance, and Estimating teams to align procurement activity with business objectives and project requirements.
- Leading procurement transformation initiatives, embedding best practice processes, technologies, and ways of working across the division.
- Driving supplier performance through effective relationship management, KPIs, performance reviews, and data-led decision making.
- Supporting ESG objectives by promoting sustainable procurement practices and responsible sourcing.
- Monitoring market trends, supply chain risks, and industry developments to identify opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation.
- Providing leadership and development to procurement teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and high performance.
A significant focus of the role is leading the division's subcontractor procurement strategy. You'll work with regional leadership teams to secure capacity for AMP8 delivery, build strategic supplier partnerships, oversee NEC4 subcontract agreements, and drive performance across a subcontractor network of more than 500 suppliers.
You'll also lead the Procurement Hub and Buying team, ensuring efficient transactional procurement while supporting the wider strategic procurement of goods, materials, and services across the Water business.
This role is a key member of both the divisional leadership structure and the wider Procurement Leadership Team, with responsibility for delivering procurement outcomes that support and exceed business plan targets.
What you’ll bring:
Essential
- 8+ years of experience in procurement, with at least 5 years in a leadership role, preferably within industry.
- Advance qualification in Business or Supply Chain Management (BSC or equivalent) or similar relevant degree or High Education qualification.
- Previous experience as a line manager or functional manager.
- Strong knowledge of procurement principles, sourcing strategies, and contract management.
- Experience managing complex supply chains, preferably in transportation, engineering, or infrastructure environments.
- Proven track record of developing and delivering subcontractor procurement strategy for a construction, civil engineering or infrastructure contractor, including supply chain segmentation, capacity planning against a forward workload pipeline and the development of strategic subcontractor relationships.
- Hands-on subcontract procurement experience across the lifecycle: pre-qualification and onboarding (SSIP, Common Assessment Standard, financial standing), package tendering, adjudication and award, and negotiation of NEC4 subcontract forms placed back-to-back with client contracts.
- Experience of subcontractor performance management and supplier relationship management (SRM): setting KPIs and scorecards, running structured performance reviews and using the results in work allocation and tendering decisions.
- Knowledge of industry regulations and standards.
- Familiarity with procurement technologies (e.g., ERP, Oracle, or other procurement software).
- Strong IT skills including all standard MS Office applications, and particularly Excel.
- Experience with sustainability and green procurement initiatives.
- Experience on a diverse range of contract and project types including NEC3 and 4 contract suites.
Desirable
- Experience of FIDIC, JCT or similar bespoke contracts also beneficial.
- CIPS or MCIPS accreditation beneficial but not essential.
What’s in it for you?
We offer a range of benefits designed to support your life in and out of work, some of which include;
- Matched or contributory pension scheme
- Online GP service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Employee assistance programme
- My Rewards portal, access to 1000’s of retail discounts
- Cycle to work, salary finance and give as you earn schemes
- Enhanced maternity, paternity leave and adoption leave
- Reward and recognition scheme
In addition, this role offers;
- Company car (or allowance) and fuel card with a range of EV and hybrid vehicles to choose from
- My Car Choice our salary sacrifice EV/ Hybrid car scheme
- Private health care and health care cash plan for you (and your family)
- Discretionary bonus scheme
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Recommend a friend – get rewarded for introducing people to us!
About us
We want to be an employer of choice and a great place to work, attracting diverse and talented people, who join us and make a difference. We’re one of the Top 100 UK companies actively supporting and recruiting veterans. Our ENABLE inclusion networks bring together people who have a shared passion, to help create an environment where everyone belongs.
Our values help to shape our culture and how we work with one another. We recruit with these values in mind, to ensure your aspirations, and ways of working, align with ours.
- We’re responsible and go further for our people, clients, communities and the planet
- We’re open and seek new and better ways of exceeding expectations
- We’re together and as one team; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
- We’re ambitious and embrace opportunity, to lead essential infrastructure services for life
Whether you’re a trainee, apprentice or graduate, or progressing through your career, our people benefit from industry recognised programmes, training and development.
It’s an exceptional time to be a part of M Group.
Please note: Occasionally, job adverts might be closed before the stated closing date. Do apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.
For certain roles, successful candidates will be subject to 3rd party background checks as part of the hiring process. Some roles require drug and alcohol testing as part of induction and onboarding.
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