GBLCAREERS

The British Council is looking for an experienced Procurement professional to join the operations in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) as Head of Procurement (SSA). This is a senior management role that contributes to the development of global strategy

The Organisation

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries.  We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

Context and environment

The SSA Business Plan sets out ambitious growth targets for both the number of people we will work with and the income that we will generate. Turnover by 2020 is expected to be over to £90 million in SSA, driven predominately by growth in Contract income as well as Exams and Teaching centres, despite a declining grant funding from centre. We also expect to be more profitable, reinforcing financial sustainability. At the same time we aim to achieve a step-change in the quality and performance of the British Council’s Procurement function. This will be achieved through more consistent standard of Procurement enabling more informed decision making and value for money.

The organisation will achieve this by becoming increasingly efficient and commercial in its approach whilst maintaining its public service ethos and charitable purpose. This will be done through the implementation of a number of change programmes, which will result in more efficient and simpler processes. The post holder will play a key leadership role in driving the timely delivery of these key projects as the organisation transitions to a more efficient operating model.

The Opportunity

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the procurement team across Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) for continuous business improvement.  This role is part of the Global Procurement leadership team of the organisation and comprises of three main areas; Global processes, Global Systems and Global Implementation. This function acts as the driving force for the integration of procurement strategy in SSA in line with global objectives.

The Role Requirements

To be considered for this role, atleast 5 years’ experience of progressive sourcing in a senior leadership role within a global organisation is required. The post holder will provide guidance and direction aligned with a wider global strategy as established by the Director Procurement. The Head of Regional Procurement will be responsible for initially establishing and developing the SSA regional procurement team and will take responsibility for managing the regional procurement clusters. This will be achieved through the following main accountabilities:

• Procurement strategy implementation
• Supplier management
• Team management

Short-listing is carried out against the essential knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience as specified in the Role Profile which accompanies this. For further information please view the documents below:

Head of Regional Procurement
BC Behaviours.pdf
BC Core Skills.pdf

Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. The closing date is 15 June 2017 at 23:59 UK time. If you have questions which aren’t answered in the vacancy information above, please contact the HR team at

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The British Council is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and is keen to reflect diversity of UK society at every level within the organisation. We welcome applications from all sections of the community. We guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria. British Council appointments are contingent on thorough checks. In the UK, and where appropriate systems exist overseas, these include Criminal Records checks. #LI-CI1