Procurement Specialist

Our Story Hello there. We’re Zopa. We began our journey in 2005 with the drive to deliver customer-first financial products. Fast forward to 2020, we shifted gears and became a digital bank, leveraging our customer knowledge, money expertise and technical agility to forge ahead. Our diverse team is united by a mission to create simple, fair and honest financial products that have the customers’ needs at their heart. We’re regularly recognised at industry awards for our game-changing products and are proud to be one of the market leaders in consumer lending in the UK. But our work doesn’t stop there. After securing £220 million in our 2021 funding round led by SoftBank, we’ve entered the next stage in our journey. So far, we’ve lent out over £8 billion and made money work better for over half a million people across the UK who were looking to borrow or save with us. In less than 2 years after becoming a bank, we hit £2 billion in customer deposits and we’re also a top 5 credit card issuer in the UK. And this is just the beginning. We’re set on achieving big things with ambitious growth targets to match. This means there's a range of opportunities for you to excel and develop through a career at Zopa, while building better banking products that truly matter to our customers. If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa. For a closer look at our culture, check out our latest video here. And if you want to join us, have a look at our current open roles!
We are looking for a Procurement Specialist to join our growing and dynamic team here at Zopa. We're quite a new team, and have several exciting implementation projects ongoing, so you'll be getting involved with a number of different aspects of Procurement and Third Party Risk Management (TPRM). This role would sit in the newly created Non-Financial Risk team. We're looking for someone who has experience running procurement tenders, has an understanding of risks and governance for supplier onboarding (within banking would be ideal, but not necessary), ideally with supplier relationship management (SRM) experience too. There's a lot of change going on in the department, as we become more mature and embed processes within the business. There are several key strategic projects we'll be rolling out over the next year, and we need someone who is comfortable managing projects, owning their work and taking responsibility for progressing projects. We have many key strategic suppliers, for which we work with Legal to negotiate the contracts. We are looking for someone who has some experience in contract negotiation. As we liaise with a number of other departments, it's important for us to find someone who is experienced in engaging in cross team collaboration and can hold other areas of the business to account. Ultimately, we want to welcome someone to the team who is hard working and is passionate about strategic change improvements and Procurement and TPRM, like us!

A day in the life:

• Owning projects within the business to improve efficiencies
• Supervising and performing supplier relationship management activity in line the PRA & FCA regulations. This will involve overseeing a robust supplier management programme encompassing management of contract obligations and service levels, supplier due diligence, renewal and exit planning
• Supporting internal stakeholders in the execution of supplier management policies and procedures. Ensuring oversight of commercial performance is balanced with operational risk management
• Engaging with internal stakeholders and external suppliers in the identification and execution of cost efficiency improvements.
• Ensuring cost optimisation is balanced with the management of risks
• Working closely with our 2nd Line Risk team daily to ensure alignment with internal controls
• Creating regular MI for the business stakeholders
• Contributing to the continuous improvement of frameworks and processes to manage suppliers for performance, risk and value

About you:

• You can demonstrate experience in successfully managing supplier relationships
• You’ve run Procurement tenders before, holding stakeholders to account on timescales and actions
• Have a mix of subject matter expertise and great communication skills to be able to liaise with business stakeholders, holding them to account
• You have strong problem-solving and analytical skills. We move fast... you are nimble with the ability to prioritise, work under pressure and meet deadlines whilst working accurately with attention to detail.
• Ideally you’ll have project management experience
• It would be useful to have worked in Financial Services, as you’ll have knowledge and familiarity with the new PRA Outsourcing & TPRM requirements, EBA Outsourcing Guidelines and/ or FCA SYSC8. However, this is not essential providing you are willing to quickly pick up these frameworks and understand their importance.

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Flexible working? Yes please!
Whether you want to come into our open-plan, riverside London Bridge office or work from the comfort of your own home (or both!), you’ll be able to decide on an approach with your manager, looking at what works best for you, your role and your team.
Not only that – you'll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year!* But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

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  Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice

To thrive here, you’ll need to: Champion our customers. Whatever your role, you’ll be close to our customers. We care passionately about doing the best for them. Help us make fearless choices. Our environment is fast-paced, agile and open. You’ll solve interesting and challenging problems, and be trusted and empowered to bring your ideas to life. Walk the talk. Like us, you’ll be honest, stick to your promises and face the tough moments head-on. Win smarter. You’ll be always on the lookout for a better way of doing things, going beyond ‘good enough’ and welcoming different points of view. Be in it together. You’ll join an ambitious, diverse and all-round approachable team with a mix of ideas and talents who inspire each other to be better every day.

Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to great products and unique company culture. We simply can’t expect to empower our customers to better manage their money without challenging the current status quo. Creating the best place for money is no easy task, which is why we need talent from all walks of life.