Procurement Assistant

Drive value, efficiency, and compliance across one of the UK's leading Academy Trusts

At Co-op Academies Trust, we're on a mission to provide exceptional education for every child. With 38 academies across the North and Midlands and ambitious plans for the future, maximizing our resources means we can invest more back into our classrooms. We are looking for a proactive, organized, and collaborative Procurement Assistant to join our central team.

This is an exceptional opportunity for an administrative or finance professional who wants to expand their career in procurement and see their work make a tangible difference. Working under the guidance of our Procurement Manager, you will act as a vital first point of contact for our schools, providing high-quality operational support to ensure our purchasing activity is compliant, innovative, and delivers outstanding value for money. If you have sharp attention to detail, great relationship-building skills, and a desire to learn public sector procurement standards, we want you on our team.

What you'll be doing

In this role, you will balance operational support with data management to keep our procurement functions running seamlessly. Working closely with central teams and school-based staff, you will:

1. Act as the first point of contact for school-based teams, triaging procurement queries and guiding them on quotes versus tenders.

2. Review school-level requisitions and quotes to verify they align with the Trust's Financial Regulations and "Value for Money" principles.

3. Support high-value tender administration by uploading key documents to e-tendering portals, managing clarification questions, and setting up evaluation meetings.

4. Conduct due diligence checks on new suppliers, confirming insurance certificates, safeguarding/DBS compliance, and financial stability.

5. Maintain the central Trust-wide Contract Register, ensuring all local school contracts are accurately recorded and tracked.

6. Monitor contract lifecycles, proactively alerting the Procurement Manager and school leads 6–12 months before an expiry date to allow for smooth re-procurement.

7. Manage document control to ensure signed contracts, variations, and KPIs are stored centrally and easily accessible for audits.

8. Track supplier performance by gathering feedback from schools to support formal contract review meetings.

9. Maintain the Preferred Supplier Portfolio, keeping pricing schedules and contact details completely up to date.

10. Help resolve day-to-day disputes regarding delivery or invoicing between schools and suppliers.

11. Extract spend reports from our financial systems to identify trends, consolidation opportunities, and potential cost savings.

12. Assist with compliance reporting for the Finance Director and Senior Leadership Team.

What we're looking for

We are looking for an analytical individual with excellent communication skills, a professional demeanor, and a commitment to maintaining strong financial controls.

You will have:

1. Administrative experience within a fast-paced office or finance environment.

2. Experience working within a School, Academy Trust, or public sector procurement setting.

3. A solid understanding of basic financial controls, processes (PO systems, quotes, invoices), governance, and public sector accountability.

4. Good numerical and analytical skills paired with a strong attention to detail.

5. The ability to effectively organize and prioritize your workload, especially during peak busy periods.

6. Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to professionally answer procurement and banking queries.

7. Confidence using the Google Workspace platform.

8. GCSEs (or equivalent) including Maths and English at Grade C/4 or above.

It would be great if you also have:

1. Experience utilising tender processes, supplier frameworks, and e-tendering/e-sourcing portals.

2. Familiarity with the Academies Trust Handbook, DfE Guidance, or Public Contracts Regulations.

3. An understanding of internal control frameworks and the segregation of duties.

4. Experience working across multiple sites or organizations.

5. Knowledge of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and sustainable procurement principles.

Why us?

All our values are based upon the values of the Co-op Group, which will inform our behaviours.

Self-help: We do not expect to be spoon fed – we will try to do things for ourselves in the right way and at the right time.

Self-responsibility: Everyone should act in a responsible way around the academy site and in the local community. We take responsibility for our own learning; we want to become independent learners.

Equality: We are proud to be part of a very multicultural academy, with students from all over the world; it is important that we treat each other with respect and accept that others may be different from ourselves. We should all have equal chances to succeed.

Equity: We want to look for the best in each other. Rewarding others fairly to encourage all types of achievement.

Democracy: We will contribute our ideas to make the academy a success.

Solidarity: We can achieve more by working together, rather than as individuals.

Our Values

Being part of the Co-operative Group, we are both guided and driven by the Co-op values which are embedded in everything that we do within our Academy - We strive to demonstrate the following ethical values in everything we do - they are our ‘Ways of Being’:

Succeed together

Do what matters most

Be yourself, always

Show you care

So, if you believe in our values, we would love to hear from you! 

We offer a wide range of benefits and rewards to recognise the part you play in our success:

Benefits include:

1. You’ll get being a Co-op member, you’ll get a Co-op colleague discount card. This gives you a 10% discount in our Co-op Food stores.

2. 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)

3. A collaborative and supportive team environment

4. Co-operative flexible benefits (discounted line rental and broadband package, family care advice and cycle to work scheme)

5. Discounted gym membership and leisure activities which includes discounts on Merlin Entertainments (Sea Life, Legoland etc), Virgin Experience Days, SuperBreak and many more!

6. Co-operative Credit Union: save directly from your salary and receive a competitive dividend. Borrowers can benefit from very competitive interest rates & terms (in comparison with other high street lenders)

And More! 

For more information about the Co-op Academies Trust, please visit our website.

The Trust is also committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnerships.