SUSTAINABILITY PROCUREMENT PROJECT MANAGER CANDIDATE INFORMATION PACK
The University of Birmingham was founded on the vision of Joseph Chamberlain in 1900 to provide a university for the people of Birmingham, ‘a great school of universal instruction… taking all knowledge in its province’. This philosophy has defined and shaped us as an institution for our city ever since, founded on equality of opportunity for all. We are proud to continue to find new expressions for these civic roots. The University is now a global institution, with our doors open, welcoming the best to Birmingham and taking the best of Birmingham to the world. Ranked in the top 100 universities globally, Birmingham is a member of the Russell Group and a founding member of the Universitas 21 global network of research universities. Ten of our alumni and staff have been recognised with Nobel Prizes, and many others are recipients of the most prestigious awards in their fields. The quality of our research has grown significantly, as demonstrated in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework results, where we ranked 10th, having enjoyed the biggest rise of any institution in the Russell Group. We rank highly amongst employers seeking to recruit graduates. Our heritage as the original ‘redbrick’ is combined with an ambitious agenda to continue the transformation of the University. In recent years, we have significantly increased our recruitment of leading academics, and have undertaken a £1 billion renewal of the campus estate. We have our own non-selective secondary school and sixth form serving the diverse communities of Birmingham, and have recently opened our new campus in Dubai. THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
We take our role seriously as an anchor institution for the UK’s diverse, youthful, and dynamic second city, and are one of the largest employers in the region. We played a central role in the success of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and value our partnerships with local organisations including through our Civic University Agreement signed with Birmingham City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority. Through The Exchange we now have a city centre base from which to work with partners. We are currently working with Bruntwood SciTech and NHS partners to develop the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus which will open in 2023. Birmingham 2030 strengthens our commitment to sustainability as one of the core pillars of our activity. This includes using our research and education to make a major global contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a headline aim to be net zero carbon for scope 1 and 2 by 2035 and overall by 2045. We are active partners in Birmingham’s Tyseley Energy Park developing new technologies to contribute to Birmingham’s net zero ambitions.
OUR UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY
At Birmingham, we teach and research across the full breadth of academic disciplines, creating a vibrant community with multi-disciplinary opportunities for research and education. We are a truly international community, comprising more than 8,000 staff, 38,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni. Our most recent staff survey indicates levels of engagement and pride which most employers would be delighted to achieve, and we are committed to building on this through the inclusion of ‘people and culture’ as a core pillar of the Birmingham 2030 Strategic Framework. We value our diversity and aim to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of the University community. We believe our diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of our academic mission. We hold a Bronze Race Equality Charter Award and a Bronze Athena SWAN Charter Award at institutional level. Our student community is not only one of the largest of any UK university, it is also highly diverse, with 86 per cent of our home undergraduate students from state schools, 43 per cent from black, Asian or other minority ethnic backgrounds, and 36 per cent in the first generation of their family to attend university. Our student population has increased by over 4,000 since 2009- 10, and we now have a total student population of over 25,000 undergraduate and 13,000 postgraduate students. We are a global community, with nearly 11,000 international students studying either at Edgbaston or overseas (at our Dubai campus, through our partnership with Jinan University, and on distance learning courses).
Our academic community achieves remarkable things. We are proud that the University has contributed to the national and international response to Covid-19, drawing on our expertise across our disciplines including virology, immunology, business, economics, law and social sciences. EXCEPTIONAL RESEARCH As a comprehensive university, the breadth of our subject base creates many opportunities for inter-disciplinary research to solve global challenges. These are encouraged by our Institute for Global Innovation (IGI), as well as our close collaboration with industry, business, and healthcare. The College of Arts and Law are involved in the delivery of world-leading research across a number of the IGI challenge themes. Our robust industrial partnerships support enterprise and innovation across a number of sectors, working with companies as diverse as Siemens, AstraZeneca and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and drawing on our innovation assets such as the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus and the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Ansty, near Coventry. One of the Shakespeare Institute’s largest research projects is ‘Everything to Everybody’, which is a £1.7 million collaboration with Birmingham City Council. We support academics to engage with policy makers, and through the work of University of Birmingham Enterprise, manage the University’s extensive technology transfer and academic consultancy business, IP protection and spinout portfolio. We have been integral to some of the greatest scientific discoveries of recent times, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson particle and the detection of gravitational waves. We enjoy world-class expertise in areas as diverse as mental health, Shakespeare, history, conflict and security, psychology, water science, air pollution, corpus linguistics, inter-faith understanding, and character education. The total value of research funding won by the University has grown rapidly to over £200 million per annum for the last two years. We have a portfolio of over 2,600 live projects with an award value to the University of over £900 million.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
We have been encouraging independent thinking and providing academic programmes that stretch and challenge for more than a century. Our stunning Edgbaston campus is a distinctive element of the experience we offer to our students. Centred around the Green Heart, one of the largest open green spaces of any UK University, our 672 acre campus also includes The Vale student accommodation village, set around a lake in its own beautiful parkland. Our research enhances and reinforces our teaching, and we value and reward teaching quality. We have continued to provide in-person teaching through the pandemic and have blended this with enhanced digital learning. Our student experience is enriched by a huge range of extra-curricular opportunities from sport and music to volunteering. A University of Birmingham degree is valued by the country’s top employers, founded on our commitment to provide our students with both an outstanding education and the intellectual confidence, knowledge, and skills required to thrive in their careers and make a difference in the world. We are pleased with our high rates of graduate employment, and our students are the most frequently targeted of any university by the country’s top employers looking for graduate recruits. Our student population has increased by over 4,000 since 2009-10, and we now have a total student population of over 25,000 undergraduate and 13,000 postgraduate students. We are a global community, with nearly 11,000 international students studying either at Edgbaston or overseas (at our Dubai campus, through our partnership with Jinan University, and on distance learning courses). We have 2,500 students undertaking distance learning courses.
Through our Birmingham 2030 Strategic Framework we have set an aspiration to become a top 50 global institution. We recognise this is a genuinely challenging aim, which will require a vibrant, intellectually exciting, and diverse University community for research and education, as well as working closely with our partners in Birmingham and around the world. With world-class research and outstanding global education as our core mission, we will strive to increase the volume and quality of our research to make an even greater difference to the world around us. We will be the UK’s exemplary civic university, remaining firmly committed to our foundations in the highly diverse communities, people, and economy of the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands. 2030 STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
The University has expanded its global presence in recent years. Most significantly, our Dubai campus is taking, for the first time, the qualities and values of a global top 100 university to the heart of Dubai’s academic city. We opened the first, start-up, phase of our Dubai campus in 2018 and opened our full campus at the start of 2022, with capacity for up to 4,500 students. The campus will be a centre for education and research, offering a growing range of undergraduate, postgraduate and Continuous Professional Development programmes. Our international strategy has an emphasis on key country partnerships. In China, we have developed a broad range of activities, including a signature collaboration with the Guangzhou Municipal Government, and well developed research collaborations in many parts of the country; we also have a dedicated China Institute to further these partnerships. In Brazil, we are developing a network of strategic partnerships with Brazilian universities and industrial partners. In North America, the University has a major collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign underpinned by a flourishing network of faculty-to-faculty relationships. In Australia, we have a growing partnership with the University of Melbourne, and in India, our partnerships continue to develop across a range of disciplines. We value our long-standing links with Europe, and have deepened our European alliances in recent years. We helped to found the EUniWell alliance of European universities and have signed partnerships with Trinity College Dublin and the University of Amsterdam, covering joint work in areas such as clinical trials, biomaterials, medical training, and equality and diversity. We are a founder member of the Universitas21 international network of research-intensive universities and play an active role in much of its work, including hosting its offices on campus. We deliver University of Birmingham degree programmes in Singapore and China, have partnership agreements with many of the world’s leading universities, and offer a range of different educational collaborations, including joint PhDs with the University of Melbourne, ‘2+2’ degree programmes, and a developing suite of Masters courses delivered in conjunction with partners around the world. We have offices in New Delhi, Shanghai, and Guangzhouodg. OUR GLOBAL OUTLOOK
A link to the Birmingham 2030 Strategic Framework can be found here: www.bham.ac.uk/2030.
The University’s Professional Services are led by the Registrar and Secretary. We aim for best-in-class Professional Services in support of the University’s academic mission. Across all of our Professional Services, we recognise that it is our people who are the heart of what we do, and so we are focussed on creating a culture for them to thrive. We support this through our sector-leading staff development programme: the Birmingham Professional. The Head of Sustainability is based in the Executive Support Division, which is led by the Chief of Staff and to whom this role reports. Our vision is to help the University to be successful today and over the next decade by working with colleagues from across the institution to deliver the University’s priorities. Executive Support includes the following teams: the Executive Office, Governance Support, Legal Services, Strategic Change, Strategic Planning. Our teams work closely with the Vice-Chancellor and the executive team to help to develop the University’s future plans, ensure robust and effective decision-making, safeguard regulatory and legislative compliance, are experts in the external policy and political environment, provide vital insight into the University’s performance, and deliver significant projects that make a positive difference. Teams in the division are involved in many aspects of the University’s work, and you will be able to draw on the advice and expertise of colleagues who understand and work with many parts of the institution. EXECUTIVE SUPPORT DIVISION
OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
Birmingham 2030 strengthens our commitment to sustainability as one of the core pillars of our activity. We will use our research and education to make a major global contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and have set out a headline aim to be net zero carbon for scope 1 and 2 by 2035 and overall by 2045. As a research-intensive University founded on social responsibility, we have the expertise and partnerships to play a significant role in tackling global sustainability challenges. You will be working in an organisation with a long record of substantial contributions to issues of sustainability through a significant programme of related research, education, and operational activities, including: • The creation of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action, led by Professor David Hannah to coordinate and develop global research excellence and profile, including engagement with COP26 • A substantial partnership with Siemens focused on a pathway to net zero for scope 1 and 2 by 2035. • Carbon accounting and biodiversity to deliver scope 3 targets by 2045. • Significant impact in climate-related research and practice which is highly embedded across all five Colleges of the University. Highlights include: Tyseley Energy Park, which is central to initiatives to decarbonise energy across the city of Birmingham; the Birmingham Institute for Forest Research, our unique study of how temperate forests manage high levels of carbon dioxide; partnering with business to investigate and develop innovative solutions to achieve responsible business success. studies of gender inequality, legislation and accounting. • A joint founder of the World Alliance of Universities on Carbon Neutrality, which brings together 28 global universities aiming to boost their contribution to fighting climate change and achieving net zero targets. • A senior academic working to embed sustainability in all our educational programmes. • A vibrant community of staff and students, including our Guild of Students, championing sustainability on our campuses. • A responsible investment strategy devised to deliver the principles of environmental, social and governance investing, supported by regular reporting on the areas of investment. • The University is a member of the UN Global Compact, a signatory to the Race to Zero for universities and colleges, and a member of the COP26 universities network.
Professor David Hannah University of Birmingham Executive Lead - Sustainability David is Professor of Hydrology, UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences, and inaugural Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability & Climate Action (BISCA). David is listed in the Reuters Top 1000 world’s top climate scientists. He was honoured with the prestigious Tison Award (2014) from the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS); and, in 2019, he became a Royal Society Wolfson Fellow.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
JOB DESCRIPTION
You will be a procurement specialist with knowledge and experience to embed effective sustainable procurement practice to help the University achieve net-zero and maximise its positive impact throughout its purchasing and contracting and supporting the University’s Strategic Framework 2030 (Sustainability Pillar). Reporting to the Head of Procurement and Insurance and working closely with the Head of Sustainability (and other key staff working on carbon reduction). We have begun this work by creating a trajectory for the reduction in our Scope 3 emissions and isolating those suppliers with the greatest spend. With the support of Hoare Lea we have begun the creation of a strategy to support the reduction of our emissions created through the purchase of goods and services and capital goods.
ESSENTIAL • A proven track record of supply chain management in a large organisation with diverse patterns of spend. • Proven expertise of how to maximise sustainability benefits through sustainable procurement, with a strong understanding and vision of how we can work towards net-zero in our supply chain. • Strong planning skills and a logical and systematic approach to work with the ability to solve problems and make decisions, as well as to think strategically and laterally. • Excellent relationship management skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with internal and external teams to influence and deliver change. • Strong business management and analytical skills and good understanding of how they apply to sustainable procurement. • IT literacy, ability to use Core systems and handle electronic data. • Good time management, with the ability to work under pressure, maintain accuracy and keep to deadlines. DESIRABLE • The ability to lead and motivate a team. • An understanding of risk management in the context of the supply chain. • A full member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply or working towards this or a sustainability or environmental related qualification.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES • Lead on the delivery of the carbon reduction strategy created by Hoare Lea for purchased goods and services and capital goods. • Support our suppliers in making reductions in their emissions as well as reporting annually through our preferred software system. • Generating ideas, proposing solutions, preparing a project pipeline to progress individual projects and interventions and working with key stakeholders to reduce GHG emissions from individual contracts and/or suppliers and creating the Scope 3 procurement project plan for a 3-year pipeline leading to business-as-usual for Category Managers. • Utilising the Hoare Lea top carbon supplier data to create the project plan and key timelines. • Coordinating and delivering the top carbon supplier discussions on carbon reduction options. • Coordinating revisions to tender documentation, contract awards, KPI’s and contract management to deliver timeline reductions in Scope 3 supply chain carbon. • Supporting and profiling behavioural change projects to support operational carbon reduction. • To monitor and measure results in accordance with the timeline and track the progress of any mitigating actions. • Working with Category Managers and relevant stakeholders to ensure that they can deliver sustainable procurement strategies. • Using purchasing analytics and computer software (Net Positives, Electronic Watch etc) to
track relevant goods from origin to delivery and to establish baselines for categories of spend, keeping an accurate record of the process and analysing performance. • Assessing and implementing new methodologies that will allow for more accurate assessment of supply chain emissions and other sustainability impacts, to allow us to measure performance against targets. • Leading the Net Zero Plus Supply Chain Workstream (NZP), co-ordinating activities amongst the procurement and sustainability teams and other key stakeholder groups across the University. • Building strong working relationships with relevant key stakeholders, including the NZP workstream leads, net-zero workstream leads and the Sustainability Service to ensure the smooth and timely delivery of projects. • Preparing reports, providing progress updates, and supporting the Head with presentations to various workstream, programme and strategy boards. • Producing guidance, operating procedures and university-wide training as new initiatives are introduced and become part of regular procurement and/or purchasing activities. • These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.
the development and implementation of policies and processes. You will contribute to setting quality and professional standards and managing service delivery against this. Your work is likely to have a medium to long term horizon and you will typically work with a variety of people from diverse teams and able to contribute to longer-term planning for your area, in line with the wider University strategy. DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW The Procurement and Insurance Division of Finance has responsibility for the effective procurement of Goods and Services within the University. It has a key role to ensure the achievement of best value for money in the utilisation of the University’s circa £340 million annual non-pay budget, ensuring statutory obligations relating to tendering and contracting are fulfilled. Procurement also ensures commercial risks and the University’s supplier base are evaluated and adequately managed. OUR OFFER TO YOU People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been
a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
POSITION DETAILS Procurement and Insurance - Finance Office
Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Location: Flexible Working (Currently 2 days per week in the office) University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £45,858 to £54,395 with potential progression once in post to £61,198 Full Time, Permanent FORWARD THINKING FINANCE Finance division plays a key role in supporting the university’s 2030 Strategy with our vision to become a valued partner delivering high quality and innovative service, our Mission is to provide advice and support to optimise the University’s financial and commercial interests, enabling the delivery of the University’s activities and its strategic aims our strategic themes are as follows. Roles at this level will be professional specialists with expertise, exercising within their functional area/section a degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion, including contributing to
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham here.
HOW TO APPLY For a confidential discussion to learn more about the role and opportunity please contact the University’s appointed recruitment partner Craig Douglas of The Management Recruitment Group on craig.douglas@mrgglobal.com .
Closing date for applications is: Sunday 10th October 2022.
Applications should consist of a comprehensive CV (of not more than 4 pages) and supporting cover letter (of not more than 2 pages) outlining key matching experience and rationale for the post.
Applications should be sent to: craig.douglas@mrgglobal.com
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