Sourcing Manager

Who We Are

About Network Rail...

Join Network Rail - Where People and Connections Matter

At Network Rail, we're dedicated to keeping passengers and freight moving safely and efficiently across the country. When you join us, you're not just part of a team - you're part of something that matters to millions. We believe that our people are at the heart of what we do, and every role plays a vital part in building a better, more connected railway. Click here to learn more.

We're committed to creating a diverse, inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To discover more about our ED&I commitments click here. We value flexibility and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. As a Disability Confident Leader, we'll do everything we can to accommodate any needs throughout the recruitment process. You can visit Evenbreaks Career Hive for advice on accessibility support.

If you're ready to make a real difference, we'd love to hear from you!

Some of our great benefits:

We offer generous maternity, paternity, and adoption leave to support our employees during significant life moments

Flexible/hybrid working arrangements considered

Generous annual leave up to 28 days plus statutory days (role dependant), with the option to buy/sell days

Discounts at selected stations with your Network Rail pass

Defined benefit pension scheme

75% off leisure train tickets for you and your dependents (subject to T&Cs)

Interest-free travel loan for train and car park season tickets

Volunteer leave to make a positive impact

Plus.

Vacancy Details

Duration: 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Location: This role is based in The Quadrant MK. This role is a full-time opportunity, flexible working patterns will be considered. For Quadrant:MK, you must live within 90 minutes.

Band & Salary: Band 3C £55,596 - £67,813

About the role

What does the average day look like?

You will collaborate closely with your customers and our business experts to undertake pre-market engagement with the supply chain, draft sourcing strategies and tender documentation. You will be the expert leading the sourcing project, undertake complex commercial evaluations, including using your professional knowledge to lead negotiations with suppliers. You will have excellent communications skills, both written and verbal, be proactive, have in depth experience of the end-to-end procurement process, be happy to challenge and be challenged and be prepared to go above and beyond to support our customers.

Understanding your customer's needs will put you in the best place to identify the optimum strategic direction and put in place contracting strategies that embrace change, innovation, and creative thinking. We want you to bring us new ideas to help us:

improve safety - everyone home safe every day;

be more sustainable;

be more efficient;

introduce innovation from our supply chain; and

provide creative contracting strategies.

It would also be nice if you have experience of working in a regulated procurement environment.

To help you find out more about the role we have created a candidate pack, linked below, which gives you an insight into what it's like to work at Network Rail including our purpose, our culture and values, pay and benefits, learning and development and how we create an inclusive environment for all.

And hear what some of our brilliant team members think about Network Rail in this video

About the team..

You will join the Corporate Services sourcing team within the Route Services C&P team.

Our team leads exciting, high-profile, professional services sourcing projects for our internal customers, including, HR, Occupational Health, Training, Supplies and Services, Facilities, Retail Property, Professional Services, Insurance and Consultancy.

We are a super friendly team of 20, with an effective team ethos of supporting and developing each other. We enjoy regular team events together combining an element of learning as well as enjoying each other's company!

Your experience and skills

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for dynamic procurement professionals to join our team, leading high value and complex sourcing projects.

If you love to engage with your customers, thrive on using your own initiative, have great people skills and are passionate about making a difference, please read on.

This role sits in Route Services, a business area that has been created to supply services to the routes in the safest, most cost-efficient, and effective way, enabling them to benefit from economies of scale and optimised national resources.

Network Rail's Commercial & Procurement (C&P) team leads the development and delivery of commercial strategies encompassing the whole lifecycle of category strategies, sourcing, supplier management and procurement operations.

We are passionate about collaborating with our customers and the supply chain to buy and manage great commercial solutions that deliver value for passengers. You will be working in a team that is highly collaborative and where you will be offered excellent training and development opportunities.

Essential Criteria

Educated to a Business or Economics degree standard or equivalent business experience

Deep level of Sourcing experience, with a demonstrable track record of savings delivery

Demonstrable level of negotiation and dispute resolution skill set

Demonstrable experience of contract law and financial management

Demonstrable experience of driving value from complex sourcing opportunities

Experienced with agile cross-functional collaborative working methods

Politically savvy, with the proven ability to use direct and indirect influencing strategies at an executive level

Demonstrable level of problem-solving experience of complex sourcing specific challenges

Completer finisher mindset

Please see attached job description for full details.

Desirable Criteria

Line management experience

Detailed knowledge of the UK Rail Industry, including procurement processes in a reclassified environment

Additional Information...

Closing date: 19th August. On occasions, we may need to close the advert early based upon application volumes. Late applications may not be accepted.

Next Steps: Interviews will be held W/C 24 th August, depending on business requirements.

Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our Safety Vision

All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks.

Key Information

Vacancy Details

Number of Positions:

1

Contract Type:

Fixed-Term

Hours:

Full Time

Salary:

£55,596 - £67,813

Location:

The Quadrant:MK, Milton Keynes

Closing Date:

19-AUG-2026

Job Category:

Business, Commercial and Project Management

Function:

Route Services

Asset:

Commercial & Procurement

Organisation:

ET RS CP Sourcing (618684) G2

Attachments

Attachments

Sourcing Manager JD.doc

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