Unite Students has a fantastic new opportunity in our growing Procurement team.

This role is responsible for the procurement strategy, activity and delivery for professional services at Unite - working in partnership with internal customers to develop and undertake leading procurement processes and tactics to deliver real value to our business whilst fostering strong supplier relationships that optimise performance and minimise supply chain risk.

What You`ll Be Doing

• Strategic procurement of professional services spend including Commercial (Brand, Sales, Marketing, Partnerships), Strategy, HR (inc. labour), legal, consultancy and financial services
• Sourcing, selecting and negotiating industry leading supply solutions that deliver real value to Unite, our suppliers, our customers and our shareholders alike
• Being a partner to our internal customers - listening and understanding their needs and interpreting these into leading procurement activity, explaining and sharing supply agreements and performance expectations
• Being a procurement role model - demonstrating influence and commercial acumen, an active contributor to the success of the team
• Managing risk and sustainable procurement in the professional services supply chain
• An expert in the procurement of, and market for, professional services
• Formulate category strategy and plans in conjunction with stakeholders that deliver real value, to time, to our business
• Conduct opportunity analysis, working on proactive basis to identify where and how benefit could best be delivered
• Lead and manage sourcing processes (including tenders, RFQs, vendor presentations, negotiations)
• Drafting supply contracts and negotiating terms that maximise value and limit risk
• Forming recommendations to contract that demonstrate robust procurement practices through the unlocking of value and mitigation of risk, and presenting these to internal customers at all levels in Uniteas required
• Act as a change agent - positively challenging the status quo where it leads to value
• Maintain contractual agreements and updating contracts databases
• Provide expert contractual and commercial advice to stakeholders across the business
• Demonstrate best practice supplier relationship management across accountable categories, acting as the escalation point for supplier performance management
• Actively contributing to the Unite ESG goals by listening to our suppliers and developing sustainable procurement strategies
• Demonstrating market expertise to enable innovation
• Be a procurement leader - actively contributing to the development of the function and promoting procurement in every respect

What You`ll Get in Return

• An annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday
• Pension - based on how much you save, we`ll contribute 1% more
• Flexible working opportunities
• Shared Parental Leave - 18 weeks full pay
• Other benefits include, ShareSave, Bike to Work, Charity Match, amazing discounts and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100 business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with 74,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students. Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.

We are US.