Supply Chain Manager

What if you could be the procurement expert who delivers meaningful efficiencies while building a sustainable, compliant supply chain across one of the UK's largest charities? As Supply Chain Manager at Alzheimer's Society, you'll combine strategic thinking with practical partnership. You'll transform how we manage suppliers, contractors and spend - ensuring every pound goes further in our mission to end the devastation caused by dementia.

About the opportunity

As Supply Chain Manager within our Finance & Assurance directorate, you'll be one of the internal expert colleagues turn to for procurement strategy, supplier management and contractor compliance. We're on an ambitious journey to become the Society's single point of financial truth - trusted partners and credible experts who enable the organisation to make faster, better-informed decisions. This is where your procurement expertise meets meaningful impact. Where your ability to influence senior stakeholders and rationalise our supply chain directly enables us to focus on what matters most: transforming lives affected by dementia.

In this role, you'll use data and market intelligence to drive value for money and cost savings. You'll design innovative tools and dashboards that demonstrate supply chain effectiveness. Crucially, you'll be THE specialist on IR35 and contractor compliance. The person the Society relies on to navigate complex employment regulations, maintain our position on Sole Traders and Limited Company Contractors, and ensure we meet every HMRC obligation. You and your team will be the point of contact for contractor onboarding, building effective relationships across all levels while working in close partnership with our People directorate.

Working closely with Procurement Business Partners and collaborating with Finance, Legal, Risk and IT teams, you'll develop strategies for everything from tail-end spend management to sustainability-driven procurement. You'll draft contract terms, manage supplier relationships, and engage widely to build awareness and understanding of effective supply chain management.

This role would suit someone who can operate strategically while staying hands-on with the detail. Someone who builds credibility through expertise, influences through clear communication, and drives change through partnership rather than process alone.

You will be responsible for managing a team of three direct reports and developing their capabilities while role-modelling the high-challenge, high-support culture that drives our team's success.

About you:

You're an experienced procurement professional with a proven track record in supply chain management within large or complex organisations. You understand that effective procurement isn't just about cost savings. It's about building robust processes, managing risk, ensuring compliance, and partnering with colleagues to achieve better outcomes. You're equally comfortable analysing spend data, negotiating with suppliers, advising on IR35 obligations, and influencing senior stakeholders to adopt best practice.

You'll have:

• Proven ability to design and implement procurement strategies in large or complex organisations, delivering efficiencies, cost savings and improved compliance through enhanced engagement with procurement policies.
• Demonstrable experience working with contractors, including deep knowledge of IR35 and HMRC obligations - essential as you'll be the Society's internal expert responsible for compliance, reporting and contractor onboarding.
• Significant experience of contract management and negotiation, including dispute resolution, with the ability to draft terms that mitigate contractual and commercial risk.
• Strong understanding of supply chain management and the procurement landscape, including relevant legislation, regulation and third sector considerations.
• Track record of building strong relationships with senior leaders and working across departmental boundaries (particularly with HR/People teams on employment-related matters) to resolve challenges and deliver strategic procurement partnership.
• Strong analytical and data-handling skills, with experience auditing databases, developing spend management strategies and producing reports that drive behaviour change.

What you’ll focus on:

• Harnessing spend data and market intelligence to unlock cost savings and operational efficiencies across our tail spend that protect resources and maximise impact across the Society.
• Creating innovative tools, dashboards and strategies that transform how we manage suppliers and contractors, making our supply chain effectiveness visible and actionable.
• Partnering with senior colleagues across directorates to understand strategic priorities and provide expert procurement guidance that enables better, faster decisions.
• Owning the Society's approach to contractor compliance as THE internal expert - maintaining our overall position on Sole Traders and Limited Company Contractors, ensuring IR35 compliance, managing HMRC reporting requirements (including CEST checks and status determination letters), and serving as the point of engagement throughout contractor onboarding in close partnership with our People team.
• Building strategies that make procurement accessible and effective for all colleagues, including approaches for managing lower value spend that balance efficiency with control.
• Collaborating across Finance, Legal, Risk, People, IT and Sustainability teams to create a supply chain that's compliant, efficient, and environmentally responsible.

Can you see yourself as the procurement expert who combines strategic thinking with practical partnership? Are you ready to use your influence and expertise to drive efficiencies, manage risk and build a supply chain that enables our mission? Can you bring both technical knowledge and genuine collaboration to ensure our procurement approach protects our resources and maximises our impact to end the devastation of dementia?

Important Dates

The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Wednesday 5th November 2025.

Interviews will take place on 19th and 20th November 2025 and will take place virtually.

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.