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About the Role

Procurement Services is a key part of the University, providing professional commercial services to support the purchase of goods and services across the organisation. 

The Procurement Administration Assistant role provides essential support to the Procurement Services team by proactively monitoring renewal processes, maintaining the integrity of the procurement database, and ensuring compliance obligations are met. 

The Procurement Administration Assistant role works independently, managing and taking ownership of their own workload to ensure activities are completed successfully within the required timeframes. The role also works collaboratively with the Category Managers, wider Procurement Services team, and other key stakeholders on a range of other procurement activities and projects.

With excellent communication skills, the Procurement Administration Assistant is a trusted advisor role, proactively building networks and relationships across the organisation, providing support and guidance to colleagues on Procurement policies and procedures, signposting to associated due diligence policies where necessary. 

The start date of this position is 3 August 2026 and is fixed term for 6 months. 

Key Responsibilities

The following sets out the key responsibilities of the Administration Assistant role; the role will be provided with sufficient training and support to enable them to progress and effectively perform the following activities independently. 

• Assist with the management of non-complex under £60k contract renewals including liaising with stakeholders, providing support and advice to facilitate renewals, sharing best practice and maintaining records, escalating contracts to Category Managers for formal review as necessary.
• Review and action purchase requisitions to ensure they are processed and executed in line with university policies. 
• Support activities to ensure compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations such the publication of notices.
• Supports the Procurement Services team in providing advice and guidance on Procurement policies and procedures, including Responsible Procurement and sustainability practices, to stakeholders across the university.
• Review and maintain Procurement records for data accuracy, including periodic reconciliation with stakeholder records. 
• Produce monthly reports and pro-actively manage the process to facilitate timely contract renewals. 
• Supporting the collation of contract data as required, e.g. for Freedom of Information requests. 
• Provide support to the Category teams with tendering activities. 
• Provide administrative support to the Procurement Services team such as scheduling meetings, taking minutes and other ad-hoc requirements.
• Work collaboratively with Procurement Services team members and wider internal stakeholders on activities to deliver the Procurement Strategy and Responsible Procurement Strategy. 
• Attendance at regular team and stakeholder meetings. 
• Undertake specific tasks and projects at the request of the Head of Procurement, Deputy Head of Procurement and Senior Category Manager. 
• Further opportunities to support initiatives such as Responsible Procurement, database and process development projects if desired. 

About You

Essential

• GCSE Maths and English at Grade C or above, or equivalent.
• Experience of the Purchase to Pay process and purchasing principles.
• Ability to use IT systems with confidence and experience using standard Microsoft applications, particularly Word, Excel, Teams and Sharepoint Lists. 
• Excellent organisational skills, including the ability to work on own initiative, manage a varied workload pro-actively, managing timelines and deadlines appropriately. 
• Ability to build rapport and communicate clearly, both in spoken and written English.
• Experience of working remotely and in an office environment, with the ability to work successfully independently as well as part of a virtual team.
• A positive approach and commitment to excellent customer service.
• Strong skills in processes for record keeping and documentation management.

Desirable 

• Has or working towards Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Certificate or equivalent experience.
• Experience of using SAP Ariba and Spend Management Purchase to Pay functionality. 
• Knowledge or awareness of public sector procurement, PCR 2015 and the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23).
• Knowledge or awareness of data protection principles and GDPR legislation.
• Understanding of information and cyber security practices.
• Knowledge or awareness of the tender process and associated considerations.
• Knowledge or awareness of Responsible Procurement principles and sustainability practices.
• Working knowledge of PowerBI, Microsoft Forms and Power Automate.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

This is a full time position, however, we are able to consider part time application from 30+ hours. 

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Work location

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where you can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately once per month. 

Next steps in the Recruitment process

Interviews are anticipated to take place week commencing 1 June 2026.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications has been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented. If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following as separate documents;

• CV
• Supporting statement, up to 1,000 words, you should set out in your statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job and person specification.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.