Operations Manager - Supplier Assurance

Operations Manager - Supplier Assurance

£46,400 to £58,000 (Work Level 5) plus great benefits

Manchester City Centre, in this role you’ll work in a hybrid way, splitting your time between home and the office. You can find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy 

We’re looking for an Operations Manager to join the Supplier Assurance team within our wider Co-op Business Services (CBS) organisation. CBS is made up of a number of diverse teams dedicated to delivering high-quality, reliable and cost-effective business services across our Co-op. You’ll play a key role in helping CBS to support and realise our group vision of ‘co-operating to build more value for member-owners every day’.

In this role, you'll focus on a diverse range of suppliers, ensuring that where the procurement team’s focus ends, yours begins. You’ll bridge the gaps by building structured frameworks that keep both clients and internal teams on track, ensuring everyone not only follows the process but fully understands the data you present to drive key commercial decisions. This is a unique opportunity where you’ll help shape how we work in the future, ensuring we stay commercially savvy while managing how we get services in and handle internal service provisions.

If you’re the kind of person who’s all about smoothing out the bumps, creating frameworks that set us up for long-term success, and making sure everything works like clockwork, then this role is tailor-made for you. Ready to make an impact? We thought so.

What you’ll do 

• Make informed sourcing choices through a commercial and governance lens to ensure the best decisions are made for the business.
• Ensure clients comply with developed frameworks, holding them accountable for adherence and performance.
• Influence senior stakeholders by translating complex data into actionable insights, presenting it clearly to drive key commercial decisions and continuous improvement across the business.
• Categorise suppliers, maintaining a balance between strong performers and those requiring improvement, ensuring decisions are based on accurate and up-to-date information.
• Define and implement structured frameworks, turning strategy into reality while using data to monitor progress and ensure smooth execution.
• Identify and address performance gaps, driving improvements where necessary to enhance supplier relationships and overall service delivery.
• Foster collaboration between internal teams and suppliers to maintain alignment and ensure smooth operation of supplier assurance processes.
• Track and report on supplier performance, ensuring corrective actions are taken where needed to maintain high standards.
• Promote and embed best practices, ensuring processes are efficient, sustainable, and scalable for the future.

This role would suit people who have

• Strong supplier management experience and a commercial mindset
• A proven ability to influence key stakeholders and drive key decisions
• A solid understanding of governance, compliance and accountability
• The ability to multi-task with competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Experience supporting change programmes and driving continuous improvements

Building an inclusive work environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme and all our commitments to diversity and inclusion at colleagues.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-and-wellbeing

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes between 45-60 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.