Junior Procurement and Commercial Consultant

About us

At Atkins we help our clients achieve genuine benefits from their business change programmes. We advise at senior levels on complex business problems and take a hands-on role to ensure that solutions are delivered to realise the expected benefits of investments.

We’re not like other management consultancies. We have real-world expertise in delivering innovative projects across public and private sectors, which means we know how to implement change in practice, not just on paper. We’re there to see change through from start to finish, whatever challenges arise. Helping our clients respond well to the challenges and opportunities they face is a core skill for our Business Consultants.

We operate across a number of key sectors that align well with our engineering heritage, including Defence, Aerospace, Security, Energy, Utilities, Highways, Rail and the Public Sector.

Our Procurement & Commercial team within Business & Digital Consulting (BDC) focuses on finding solutions that measurably improve the way our clients operate and deliver. We are people from diverse backgrounds enabling us to bring a unique point of view to our clients – we are passionate about their success and the value we can deliver.

The Role

We are looking for talented people with a track record of delivering to high standards. You will be given responsibility and exposure to our clients and be expected to act as an ambassador for our business. You will be accountable for the quality and timeliness of your assignments and project outputs. Our consultants are also expected to help develop and grow our business. This may include contributing to bids, and developing new business propositions or researching potential new markets. We want you to help us grow our business by:

• Working within multi-disciplinary teams (at our clients’ premises and in our Atkins’ offices, across the UK) to deliver excellent results for our clients.
• Supporting our clients through complex tendering processes (including using OJEU procedures) to engage suppliers that will provide the goods or services, including IT, that the client seeks. This may include facilitating workshops to understand the business need, preparing tender specifications, working with client legal advisers, engaging with suppliers, co-ordinating tender evaluation and supporting clients in negotiations.
• Providing contract management, supplier management or commercial advice to clients, for example assessing supplier performance and helping clients gain performance improvements from their suppliers.
• Preparing reports and presenting to a range of client stakeholders.
• Contributing to the development of our tools, techniques and methods that can be shared to build capabilities within our Procurement & Commercial team and Business & Digital Consulting practice.

We are looking to grow our team and are looking for people to work with our team of senior procurement and commercial specialists:
 

• Consultant level - ideal for those in the early stages of their consulting career or those with no consulting experience looking to transfer previous relevant experience into a consultancy environment. We are looking for academically qualified applicants with a keen interest in procurement or commercial activities.

About you

Successful candidates will be working with our clients from day one. We are looking for people who can demonstrate the following capabilities and experience across the following areas:

Client Management

• You can build good and lasting relationships with clients at all levels in a business environment.
• You are able to gain client trust and identify opportunities for adding further value to the client relationship.
• You maintain a flexible attitude to working in a multi-disciplinary environment.

Technical Delivery

• You have a degree or equivalent qualifications; however significant relevant experience will also be considered.
• You have experience in specifying tenders and selecting service providers in a commercial environment.
• CIPS accreditation or similar is desirable.
• Ideally you will have experience in one or more of our key markets (Defence, Aerospace, Security, Energy, Utilities, Highways, Rail and the Public Sector)

People

• You are a strong team player and have the ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
• You can demonstrate an ability to transfer skills and knowledge to colleagues and clients.
• You are proactive and enjoy working with a variety of people, but also comfortable working independently.

Business Development

• You have supported the development and delivery of marketing campaigns or promotional events.
• Ideally you have experience of contributing to the sale of management consulting work – including bid development and presentations

Training

Atkins develops individuals through a portfolio of training and development activities designed to help you make the best of your abilities and talents. These are reviewed with you through an annual appraisal process. We actively support staff in achieving corporate membership of relevant institutions.

Rewards and Benefits

Atkins recognises the importance of helping its employees manage their work and home life by offering flexible working arrangements that enable them to balance their working life with parental and other caring responsibilities.  For full details of our flexible working scheme and benefits package, please refer to our website.

Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability and are open to applications from those looking for flexible working.

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary it will be discussed with you at interview.
If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.