Head of Procurement (Labs and Medical)

University of Cambridge - Finance Division

Location:

Cambridge

Salary:

£63,606 to £67,468

Hours:

Full Time

Contract Type:

Permanent

Placed On:

16th March 2026

Closes:

23rd March 2026

Job Ref:

AG49076

We have a vacancy for the role of Head of Procurement (Lab and Medical), a senior leadership position within Procurement Services based at Greenwich House.

This is a pivotal role within the Procurement Services leadership team as we continue transforming procurement operations to deliver improved value for money across the University.

In this role, you will lead and performance manage the Category and Sourcing Managers within the Labs and Medical portfolio, setting clear priorities, delivery targets, and annual objectives aligned to the annual Plan and other initiatives. You will champion professional development, instil best practice, and ensure the effective delivery of strategic procurement activities.

The University has a highly devolved management structure, and a critical part of the role involves building strong, collaborative relationships with stakeholders at all levels across the University to ensure category strategies align with institutional goals. You will also act as a senior professional advisor to procurement teams and devolved departments.

The Role

The Head of Procurement (Labs and Medical) as part of the Procurement Senior Leadership Team, will lead and manage the Category team(s), including setting team goals and priorities, advising and investing in staff development, to ensure the teams effective delivery of procurement activities across the University.

You will provide professional leadership, management and advice to a team of procurement professionals within the Procurement team. They will also provide expert professional advice and support to devolved departments including the application of agreed processes.

You, with delegation to their team, will be responsible for developing, securing governance approval for, implementing, monitoring and regularly updating a complex portfolio of category strategies to leverage the Universities spend on organisation-wide and specialist goods and services. They will maintain close oversight of supplier relationship and contract management, developing working relationships with senior stakeholders and leading complex RFx activity to optimise efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability whilst mitigating identified risk.

Your Skills

• Extensive experience of developing category management strategies and experience of working in a complex procurement environment.
• Procurement team leadership and development, including objective-setting and ensuring high performance.
• Ability to influence at all levels both internally and externally to bring complex matters to conclusion.
• Commercially astute with the ability to identify opportunities, build compelling cases for change and driving these through to successful delivery.
• Education: Prefer CIPs and / or a Bachelor's Degree (or higher) in a relevant subject matter.

Benefits

The University offers an excellent benefit package including:

• 41 days annual leave, inclusive of Bank Holidays
• Defined benefits pension schemes
• Flexible working options
• Career development opportunities
• Support for health & mental wellbeing

Location

The University is supportive of hybrid working, where some work is undertaken on university premises and some in a remote working environment. The aim of our approach is to enable as many staff as possible to work in a hybrid way if they wish and where their role allows. Procurement Services 'in-office days' are presently Wednesday and Thursday. This arrangement is subject to change and will not form a part of the contractual terms of the role.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click 'Apply' above.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.