Buyer
Team: Procurement – Commercial and Procurement Service
Job Family: Enabling – CBG6
Salary: £26,824 - £28,142 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per week.
Contract Type: Hybrid – Permanent
Closing Date: Sunday 5th July
Interview Date: w/c 6th and/or 13th July
About the Role
The Buying Team plays a vital role in supporting the Council to deliver high‑quality public services by ensuring that goods, works and services are sourced efficiently, compliantly, and with best value at their core.
Key Responsibilities
Ensure:
- Purchase orders are created and maintained to meet needs identified in requisitions received from service areas.
- Requisitioners are appropriately supported and challenged when procedures are not followed.
- Best value suppliers are identified from existing preferred routes to market (or through research, sourcing and negotiation for low value items as required).
- Goods and services are supplied that meet the requisitioners needs.
- Accurate records are maintained.
About You
The successful candidate will have strong communication and interpersonal skills, enabling them to build positive working relationships with colleagues, suppliers and stakeholders at all levels. You will be confident in providing advice and guidance, constructively challenging where procedures are not followed and supporting service areas to achieve the best procurement outcomes.
You will bring:
- Practical experience of buying, purchasing, or procurement activity within a complex organisation.
- Strong administrative and record-keeping skills with a high level of accuracy.
- Good IT skills and experience of using financial or procurement systems.
- The ability to work independently whilst contributing positively to a team environment.
Desirable:
- An understanding of procurement processes, public sector purchasing or financial procedures would be advantageous, although training will be provided for the right candidate.
- Experience within local government or the public sector would be advantageous.
Our Offer
We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page
Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.
Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Daniella Stratton – Buying Team Manager at daniella.stratton@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours. Please book your place here.
More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council
Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the contract offered.