Assistant Procurement Specialist

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. 

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

NHS Band 4 Salary:  £28,392 - £31,157 per annum

Hours Per Week:  Full time, 37.5 hrs

Contract Type:  Permanent

Location Base:  Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust Corporate Hub, Block 4000, Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3EN

Looking to grow your career in procurement within a respected, supportive, and people‑focused organisation? As a single corporate service (PHU+IOW), we are incredibly proud of our Procurement & Supply Chain team, and we’re excited to welcome a motivated, forward thinking Assistant Procurement Specialist to join us.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to bring their skills into a sector with purpose, stability, and exceptional development opportunities. Every product and service we procure ultimately affects patient care - and that gives our work real purpose. Join a team where your skills matter, your development is supported, and your contribution is recognised.

Why Join Us?

You’ll be part of a team that is well‑regarded across the organisation for its professionalism, expertise and positive culture. You’ll collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders across both Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Isle of Wight NHS Trust, playing an important part in delivering high quality, best value procurement services that directly benefit patient care.

You’ll enjoy:

• A friendly, supportive working environment
• A varied workload with new challenges every day
• Clear opportunities to grow your career within NHS Procurement
• A generous NHS pension scheme
• Excellent annual leave and NHS employment benefits
• Access to Health Service Discounts (travel, shopping, groceries & more)
• Financial and study leave support for your CIPS qualification

About the Role

As an Assistant Procurement Specialist, you will play a key role in supporting the delivery of procurement exercises and projects across a wide range of categories.

You will:

• Assist in producing tender documents, contract paperwork and procurement adverts
• Work with stakeholders to produce accurate and complete specifications
• Support tender evaluations, financial assessments, and value for money analysis
• Help identify savings opportunities and new areas for contracting
• Maintain procurement records, databases and work plans
• Work closely with Procurement Specialists and Managers on key projects

Your work will directly contribute to the Trust’s ability to deliver high quality, cost effective patient care - something we never lose sight of.

Who We’re Looking For

We want someone who is:

• Enthusiastic, motivated and ready to learn
• Comfortable analysing data with strong numerical skills
• Highly organised with great attention to detail
• Confident using Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint)
• Able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people
• Interested in developing their procurement career, including working towards CIPS

Whether you have public sector experience or you’re coming from a commercial background, if you’re keen to grow and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

For additional information please see attached Job description or contact Hayley Watkinson - [email protected]

Essential

• Good general standard of education including Mathematics and English Language to NVQ 4 or relevant equivalent.
• Must be prepared to work towards the completion of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPs) or equivalent.

Experience

Essential

• Experience persuading and influencing others within a Procurement environment.
• Experience of a customer service and engagement environment

Desirable

• Willingness to develop self into a full Procurement Specialist role over time.
• Appreciation and understanding of the term “whole life costing.”
• Experience of competitive quotations and tenders
• Experience of working within the public sector
• Experience with the Atamis platform.

Knowledge

Essential

• A good understanding of Procurement knowledge.
• Competent with the Microsoft Office package.
• Good Communication skills: written & oral to explain processes, offer advice and influence decision making.
• Forward thinking with good project management skills
• Interpersonal, able to work as part of a large team.
• Able to use initiative and work independently.
• Well organised & able to prioritise workload to meet specific deadlines.
• Create, develop, and maintain working relationships with all clients to achieve corporate and team objectives

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. 

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026