The posting
Behind every great lesson is a central team ensuring our schools have the highest quality resources, services, and commercial partnerships. As our Procurement Contracts Performance Manager, you aren't just reviewing reports—you are shaping and enforcing the contract performance frameworks that ensure our school leaders and site teams receive exceptional service delivery.
In this exciting new role within our central procurement function, you will act as the key bridge between localised school realities and Trust-wide strategic oversight. You will hold suppliers strictly accountable for building, maintaining, and populating their own performance reporting suites, ensuring seamless communication and transparency across all Trust schools.
Please see the attached candidate application pack for more information.
Why This Role Matters
Your primary focus will be to centralise the operational performance of key service contracts—such as catering, cleaning, and grounds maintenance—ensuring they deliver consistent value across the Trust. You will achieve this by holding commercial partners accountable to rigorous KPI and SLA frameworks, and by synthesizing granular, school-level operational data into comprehensive, Trust-wide performance reports for executive leadership. In addition to this strategic reporting, you will govern supplier-led dashboards, oversee compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 (TPA) and PCR 2015 regulations, enforce contractual remedies when performance standards are not met, and act as a central expert to support School Business Managers with training and clear escalation pathways.
This is a hybrid all year round role working 22.5 hours per week over 3 or 4 days (to include Tuesday to Thursday) with office-based and home working. Alternative working patterns will be considered on request.
What You’ll Bring
- Commercial & Supplier Expertise: Proven experience in supplier management, contract governance, and tracking KPI/SLA frameworks within a multi-site function.
- Regulatory Knowledge: Practical experience or clear understanding of the Procurement Act 2023 (TPA) and PCR 2015 statutory transparency regulations.
- Analytical Mindset: Strong commercial acumen and data interrogation skills to evaluate supplier dashboards, spot trends or gaps, and maintain a "single source of truth".
- Stakeholder & School Focus: Exceptional communication and listening skills, with the ability to translate busy school operational needs into technical supplier requirements and support School Business Managers.
- Confidence & Leadership: A robust supplier management style with the confidence to challenge underperformance, negotiate remedies, and manage escalations.
The "Why Us" Difference
- Professional Agency: We trust your expertise. You will have full ownership of designing, reviewing, and approving supplier-led contract performance tools and dashboard architecture across the Trust.
- Agile Working: Enjoy genuine hybrid flexibility, balancing home working with a minimum of one collaborative day per week in our Central Team offices (at Rose Hill Primary School).
- Structured Impact: Work directly alongside the Head of Procurement and central operations leadership in a cohesive, supportive environment where commercial accountability and operational improvements are valued.
- Shared Growth: Support for role-specific CPLD, formal professional contract management qualifications, and clear developmental pathways.
- The Whole Person: 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and a workplace culture that respects your life outside of work.
Education has the power to change lives, communities and society for the better. At RLT we believe that we can achieve more for our pupils, trainees, staff and communities by working together rather than alone. Schools in RLT are united by a common belief in the benefits of working together, and by our commitment to shared principles.
OUR VISION is for our schools and SCITT to improve rapidly, continuously and sustainably: to be better faster together.
OUR ‘WHY?’ is that children and young people ‘only get one go’ in school and therefore as part of RLT we aim to ensure the best possible ‘go’ for our pupils.
OUR ‘HOW?’ is through the highest support and challenge for our schools and each other, underpinned by our principles.
For more information on what it is like to work for the Trust, and the benefits you could access, please see our “Working in RLT” guide. This role includes regulated activity relevant to children.
The River Learning Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing extremism. The Trust is required to conduct a variety of checks and online searches about you as part of their recruitment process in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It is an offence to apply for certain roles within schools if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. The River Learning Trust is an equal opportunities employer committed to creating a safe, inclusive environment for all staff, free from discrimination and harassment.
For all RLT Safer Recruitment Documentation candidates should click on the following link RLT Safer Recruitment Documents for Candidates. Please see our website for up to date policies including our Child Protection and Behaviour Policies.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. For further guidance for applicants click on this link List of offences that are not filtered
