Senior Supplier Manager

81921 - Senior Supplier Manager

This Senior Supplier Manager position will report to the Head of IS Commercial and Strategy and will work within the Information Systems directorate based in our London office. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary of Cira £70,000.00 *depending on skills qualifications and experience and a bonus of 10%. This role can also offer blended working after probationary period (6 months) - 3 days in the office and 2 remote.

Close Date: 25/01/2026

We also provide the following additional benefits

• 25 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays.
• Reservist Leave – Additional 18 days full pay and 22 unpaid
• Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme, Season Ticket Loan
• Tax efficient benefits: Cycle to Work, Home & Tech, and Green Car Leasing Schemes
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers' products
• Discounted gym membership
• Employee Assistance Programme

Job purpose:

You will be a member of the Commercial & Strategy Team in the Corporate IS function, providing the following main components:

• Supplier Management
• Commercial Management
• Partner Management

You will be accountable for the management and deployment of a SRM Framework to ensure the management and optimisation of relationships with important suppliers in the technology area. You will also build a small team of professionals, as well as collaborating with important partners, with the focus on ensuring supplier performance, alignment with UKPN's goals, and effective management of contractual obligations to maximise value and minimise risks.

Dimensions:

~2FTE

Supplier Portfolio Totex value of £70m per annum

Principal accountabilities:

Build an SRM function

• Manage the supplier relationship management function, including line management of one staff member, and managing critical suppliers.
• Management and deployment of the supplier management framework including the delivery of a clear governance framework.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Maintain and deploy the supplier performance frameworks to measure and evaluate supplier delivery.
• Conduct regular supplier reviews with Service owners and other important parties, using KPIs and SLAs to assess operational efficiency, quality, and service standards.
• Identify areas for improvement and work with suppliers to implement corrective action plans or continuous improvement plans.
• Utilise data and analytics to provide insights into supplier performance trends and outcomes.
• Ensure suppliers meet organisational goals for cost efficiency, quality, sustainability, and innovation.
• Manage any supplier related risks.

Strategic Supplier Management

• Develop collaborative relationships with strategic suppliers to ensure alignment with UKPN priorities.
• Promote innovation and co-development opportunities to deliver added value and achieve competitive advantage.
• Mitigate risks by managing supplier financial health, operational capacity, and compliance with governance standards.
• Implement governance frameworks to manage supplier interactions, including regular review meetings (Monthly Service and Commercial Reviews, Quarterly Business Reviews) and associated reporting.

Contract Obligation Management (shares responsibility with Contracts Manager)

• You will maintain the Supplier Contracts database and will ensure all contracts are identified, classified, stored and assigned owners.
• Ensure compliance with all contractual obligations by overseeing supplier adherence to agreed terms, service levels, and performance metrics.
• Be an important contact for resolving supplier / contractual issues, amendments or changes, discrepancies, and disputes.
• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of contract terms, including penalties, renewal triggers, and opportunities for renegotiation or extension.
• Collaborate with Service owners, Business owners, Procurement, Operational & Legal teams to identify and address risks related to supplier contracts.
• Provide regular reporting on contract compliance and performance against obligations by both parties.

Partner Management

• Work with Service owners and the contract management team to ensure there is effective management and governance of suppliers and ensure they are complying with the requirements of the Supplier Management Framework, including conducting audits.
• Introduce and manage a supplier management forum with important partners involved in supplier management, such as Contract Managers, Supplier Relationship Managers and Service owners.
• Collaborate with company partners, including service owners, business owners, procurement, finance, legal, and operational teams, to align supplier strategies with our goals.
• Help communication between our teams and suppliers, ensuring effective communication and issue resolution.
• Provide partners with regular updates on supplier performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Facilitate knowledge sharing and feedback loops between partners and suppliers to improve outcomes.
• Advocate for partner priorities within supplier engagements while balancing supplier capabilities and constraints.

Sustainability and Ethical Procurement

• Promote sustainable procurement practices and ensure supplier adherence to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.
• Uphold ethical sourcing principles, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

Nature and scope:

• You will help support the team in building an approach to assure the ongoing governance of supplier relationships, ensuring compliance with contract terms, and service level agreements (SLAs).
• Deliver cost efficiency, quality, sustainability, and new ideas across the supplier estate.
• Be the contact for strategic suppliers, the Senior SRM will develop a robust performance monitoring, risk mitigation, and value-driven collaboration capability.
• We offer a meaningful opportunity to lead supplier's success by leveraging strategic supplier partnerships.

Qualifications:

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in supplier management, including managing suppliers, contract management, supplier management frameworks, and best practise.
• Experience in procurement as outlined by the CIPS Global Standard.
• Strong negotiation, contract management, and performance management skills.
• Knowledge of supplier management tools.

• Negotiate with partners at all levels.
• Delivery Focus.
• Team collaboration abilities.

• Interpret data and produce relevant insights for supplier performance and strategy.
• Proficiency in using procurement tools and supplier management software. Experience of SAP Ariba is an advantage.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, supply chain management, or a related field (CIPS certification preferred, or working towards).
• Experience with supplier relationship management with experience managing strategic supplier partnerships.
• Knowledge of industry trends and best practices in procurement and supply chain management.

Performance Measures

• Achieve supplier performance targets (e.g., cost savings, delivery performance).
• Supplier contracts managed, and risks avoided.
• Implement supplier improvement and value-add projects.
• Compliance with supplier management framework.
• Compliance with sustainability and ethical procurement standards.
• Strength and effectiveness of supplier relationships and partner feedback.

Health & Safety Responsibilities:

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

If in doubt ask!

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

If you have any queries in connection to this vacancy or your application, please contact us at careers@ukpowernetworks.co.uk quoting the vacancy reference number and a member of the team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.