The Bank of England Procurement Apprenticeship scheme offers you an unparalleled opportunity to start a career in procurement, with a range of unique benefits. You will develop an understanding of the full procurement lifecycle process, including the opportunity to work in each of the Procurement functions on a rotational basis.
Department Overview
The Bank of England is the United Kingdom’s central bank and is now offering an exciting opportunity for a Procurement Apprentice.
Procurement offers a dynamic field where you negotiate contracts, manage supplier relationships, and analyse costs to ensure best value for the business. Procurement roles require a unique blend of commercial acumen, creativity, strong analytical and communication skills to drive strategic purchasing decisions and optimise organisational performance.
The Bank’s Procurement Apprenticeship scheme offers you an unparalleled opportunity to start a career in procurement, with some unique benefits:
- Learning and earning – begin your career with hands-on, real-world experience while earning a competitive salary. The Bank of England’s apprenticeship programme offers you a chance to gain practical skills and industry knowledge, all while getting paid. The Procurement Apprenticeship is a gateway into a business-critical career, which circumvents costly alternatives like enrolling at university.
- Gaining qualifications – work towards internationally recognised qualifications in procurement and CIPS chartered status.
- Kickstarting your career – our apprenticeship programme is a steppingstone to more senior positions, allowing you to grow and develop professionally, whether that is with the Bank or beyond.
- Gaining networking opportunities – build a strong professional network by working alongside experienced professionals and industry leaders.
- Personal development – develop essential soft skills such as communication, problem solving and time management in business.
Job Description
This role will be part of the Commercial Sourcing Team, but to ensure the Procurement Apprentices’ development and understanding of the full procurement lifecycle process, this role will give you the opportunity to work in each of the Procurement functions on a rotational basis, as follows:
Sourcing Team
- Undertaking market and spend analytics to support the Commercial Business Partners sourcing strategy decisions.
- Providing support to Commercial Business Partners with bid clarifications, evaluations, and award decisions.
- Supporting Commercial Business Partners with the uploading of sourcing projects on the Bank’s procurement system.
- Assisting the Commercial Business Partners and the Bank’s stakeholders with sourcing governance and reporting including the publication of procurement notices.
Commercial Delivery Team
- Assisting with the implementation of Contract Management Strategies to enhance the Bank’s supply chain performance and delivery objectives.
- Supporting the Bank’s Contract Owners with the implementation of the Bank’s Supplier Relationship Management Framework.
- Assisting with the implementation and reporting of Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators.
- Supporting the Commercial Delivery Team with the development of Contract Performance and Market reporting.
- Providing administrative support to all the Delivery functions including maintaining records and managing the digital signature of contracts.
Supplier Management Team
Operational Team
- Supporting the team in implementing organisational change in the context of supplier management.
- Supporting the Supplier Management Lead with the design and implementation of the Bank’s Supplier Management Framework.
- Assisting with professional standards and procedures around the management of Bank suppliers.
- Working creatively with the Lead to analyse data and translate it into insightful reporting.
Operational Team
- Supporting the Commercial Data Manager with the development and implementation of performance reporting and dashboards.
- Supporting the onboarding of suppliers on the Banks’ procurement systems.
- Assisting the Commercial Operations Team with Procurement Helpdesk queries to resolve stakeholder issues with the e-procurement system and Purchase Orders.
Commercial Policy Team
- Supporting the Lead with development and implementation of the sustainable procurement strategy for the Bank.
- Conducting supplier and industry best practice/benchmarking exercises and providing analytical support.
- Supporting the Commercial Policy Lead with stakeholder policy and governance queries and application.
By working in each of these areas, you will gain a breadth of experience and build a solid foundation to develop a career in Procurement.
The Procurement Apprentice will also support the Procurement function in other various aspects, including:
- Gathering market intelligence.
- Assisting sourcing and tendering activities.
- Ensuring compliance with the Bank’s policies and public procurement regulations.
- Managing and fielding stakeholder procurement and payment queries.
- Supporting supplier and contract management data collection.
- Supporting stakeholders with supplier disputes and other commercial issues.
The role requires good analytical skills, meeting various stakeholder needs. You will engage with a variety of business stakeholders, at different levels of seniority, across the Bank.
This position provides work-based experience which complements the learning-based elements of the Apprenticeship Framework for the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Level 4 qualification.
Minimum Essential Criteria
Minimum Essential Criteria
- As per CIPS Level 4 entry requirements; a minimum of at least two A-Levels (or international equivalent) OR a CIPS Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Procurement and Supply Operations is required. Alternatively, you will need a minimum of two years’ relevant experience in a business environment.
- A positive, ‘can do’ attitude, good work ethic, willingness to learn and ability to independently seek out learning opportunities.
- Interest in pursuing a career in procurement.
- Good planning and organisational skills.
- Knowledge of PowerPoint, Excel and MS Word.
- Strong communication skills; verbal, written and presentation skills.
Desirable Criteria
- Knowledge of procurement and its processes would be beneficial, but not essential.
Our Approach to Inclusion
The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.
At the Bank of England, we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.
We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.
For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.
Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme . If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.
Salary and Benefits Information
The Leeds salary is £22,940 and the London salary is £25,250
In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:
- Currently a non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/80th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/65th) or decrease (to 1/105th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year. The Bank has the discretion to vary standard accrual rates and dial up and dial down rates at any time and to withdraw dial up and dial down options at any time.
- A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
- An 8% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
- 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
- Private medical insurance and income protection.
National Security Vetting Process
Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice .
The Bank of England welcomes applications from all candidates, but as a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approved sponsor, we have a responsibility to comply with the Immigration Rules and guidance. As such, our ability to employ individuals who require sponsorship for immigration purposes is limited. The Bank cannot guarantee that you and / or the role you are applying for will be eligible for sponsorship and that any application made to UKVI will be successful. Eligibility will therefore be considered on a case by case basis.
The Application Process
Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.
This role closes on 7 July
Please apply online, ensuring that you complete your work history and answer ALL the application questions fully and in detail as your application will not be considered if all mandatory questions are not fully completed.
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