Powered by Water, Driven by Purpose

At Pennon Group, we’re proud to serve communities while protecting the environment. Together with our subsidiaries, South West Water, Bristol Water, Bournemouth Water, SES Water, Pennon Water Services and Pennon Power, we’re leading the way in water and renewables.

We’re proud to be recognised as a leader in the UK water sector, working towards a greener future. Our goals? As well as lowering our carbon footprint, we’re working with partners to plant 300,000 trees, restore peatlands and supporting farmers and landowners to improve water quality and wildlife.

Whether you’re starting out or seeking a new challenge, our scale and ambition create opportunities for you to shape your own career.

Ready to make a splash? Join our team today.

Procurement Business Partner

About the role

At Pennon Group, we play a vital role in delivering essential water and environmental services while creating long-term value for customers, communities, and the environment. We’re now looking for an experienced Procurement Business Partner to support purchasing requirements across the Pennon Group and manage the full end-to-end procurement lifecycle. This is a full time permanent role, and can be based out of Exeter, Bristol or Redhill.

This is a highly visible, commercially focused role where you’ll develop and deliver procurement strategies for key categories of spend, drive efficiency and value for money, and support the management of commercial risks and opportunities across both operational and capital expenditure.

What you’ll be responsible for

Procurement Business Partnering

• Advise and influence senior stakeholders on procurement planning and decision-making

• Ensure compliance, accountability, and risk-aware procurement across the business

Category & Commercial Strategy

• Own and deliver long-term procurement strategies for high-value and high-risk categories

• Provide market insight and align category plans with wider business objectives

Sourcing & Contracting

• Lead the full sourcing lifecycle using best-practice tools and methodologies

• Design contracts, run tenders, negotiate terms, and make award recommendations

• Ensure legal, regulatory, and commercial compliance at all stages

Contract & Supplier Management

• Manage supplier performance through KPIs, reviews, and due diligence

• Drive continuous improvement and value through structured supplier management

Commercial Support for Projects

• Provide analytical and commercial input into investment cases and key business decisions

• Support risk modelling and evaluation of strategic procurement initiatives

Process Improvement & Governance

• Champion efficient, compliant procurement processes aligned to corporate, H&S, and environmental standards

• Embed continuous improvement and strong governance

Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing

• Support team resilience through cross-coverage and collaboration

• Share expertise to build capability across the procurement team and wider business

What we’re looking for

Essential experience

• Strong commercial and strategic mindset with a clear understanding of procurement’s role in delivering corporate goals and managing risk

• Proven experience delivering efficiency, cost savings, and value for money within a supply chain management function

• Particular experience procuring IT goods and services

• Strong negotiation skills and experience managing cost and value drivers

• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to support and challenge at all levels

• Excellent verbal communication skills and experience delivering business change

• Working knowledge of UK/EU Procurement Regulations and a range of contract and commercial models

• Knowledge of ERP systems, SRM sourcing, and e-procurement tools

Qualifications

• Required: MCIPS

• Desirable: Degree qualified

You’ll thrive in this role if you’re motivated by

• Working across a wide range of projects with diverse stakeholders

• Building trusted, collaborative relationships

• Being part of a team delivering shared objectives

• Creating contracts that have a positive, lasting impact on society

• Challenging the status quo and finding better ways of doing things

• Driving strategy, transformation, and meaningful change

What's in it for you:

• Generous holiday allowance plus bank holidays

• A discretionary Bonus

• Competitive Contributory Pension

• Share-save Scheme

• Various health benefits

• Wellbeing support programmes

• A range of Group Discounts

• Cycle to Work Scheme

• Financial support services

Why join Pennon Group?

You’ll be part of an organisation with a clear purpose, strong values, and a genuine commitment to sustainability, innovation, and long-term impact. In return, we offer a collaborative culture, opportunities to influence strategic decisions, and the chance to make a real difference through procurement excellence.

Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.

Be yourself, we like it that way. Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.

Our core values, which are essential to our success, are:

Be Rock Solid - Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.

Be You - We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.

Be the Future - Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.