Director of Procurement and Financial Operations
This is an exciting opportunity to join a leading UK University in a pivotal role that will embed change, transformation and best practice across the organisation. Are you a strategic leader, passionate about process and best practice? The University of Nottingham is seeking a Director of Procurement and Financial Operations to join their team. In this role you will be responsible for setting and executing the Procurement and Operational Finance strategy for the organisation. With the aim of delivering continuous improvement and best practice processes you will be responsible for the delivery of the process transformation roadmap and the standardisation required across finance, as a result of the new Finance System ERP implementation (Digital Core). This is a broad and very high-profile role, overseeing a large team (100 people) across multiple areas with relationships and scope across the entire organisation. Primary accountabilities and responsibilities of this role include:
- Delivery of industry-leading end-to-end Procurement and financial operations activities, P2P - Compliant sourcing and tender activities
- Be the lead on all transactional finance activity including Sales ledger, Purchase ledger, credit control, debt recovery, payroll and pensions - Financial controls and audit - Leadership responsibility including an overall headcount of 100 staff whom are at a wide variety of qualification, experience levels and with differing career aspirations
- Business partner internally as well as representing the organisation externally. The successful candidate will be a proven leader, be able to demonstrate the ability to lead, inspire, and motivate people through effective leadership and management skills, emotional intelligence, creating a high-performance culture of continuous improvement within the team. You will be able to manage and delegate competing demands, demonstrate high levels of tenacity, drive and determination with an unwavering focus on successful win:win outcomes. In essence, you will be able to determine what “good looks like”, then support the SLT by leading your people to successfully deliver with an approach that is aligned with the University’s core vision, values and goals.
In addition, you will have:
- Excellent inter-personal skills with the ability to work in partnership with a wide range of people both internally and externally and deliver excellent services in a complex environment
- Ability to build trust, confidence, and credibility with a range of stakeholders
- Excellent oral, written, interpersonal and communication skills
- Proven ability of implementing continuous improvement by challenging the status quo
The ideal candidate will have a diversified broad background with significant exposure and experience of procurement, transactional finance, as well as a proven track record of working in a senior management role, leading a large team of both professional and support staff across a diverse organisation. To be considered for this role, it would be advantageous (but not essential) if you hold MCIPS professional qualification – i.e. full membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS) or other relevant professional qualification. Lean / Six Sigma Qualification e.g. Green Belt is desirable.
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a world-renowned University and make a significant impact on their procurement and financial operations. If you are a strategic leader with a proven track record of success, apply now to be considered for this exciting opportunity.