I am currently the Council’s sole Category Manager within the Strategic Commissioning Team (SCT). I manage a team of between 6-8 procurement officers who are responsible for delivering all of the Council’s centralised procurement activity. During my time in this role the team has, among other things, significantly increased the Council’s contractual coverage, the Council’s level of local supplier engagement and the sustainable outcomes generated through the Council’s contracts. I have also personally continued to act as the Procurement Lead on a number of the Council’s key procurement requirements during this time. I am responsible for ensuring that all procurement activity across the Council is fully compliant with all the relevant internal governance and procurement regulation, and is in line with recognised best practice in the public sector as far as possible.In addition to the operational aspects of my role my work includes:• Supporting the development and delivery of the Council’s Strategic Commissioning Strategy 2021-2025.• Coordinating and leading Procurement Review meetings with Service Managers across the Council. • Developing continuous improvement processes relating to the Council’s procurement activity. • Working to recruit and develop staff to generate creative market solutions through a professional, skilled and appropriately resourced procurement function. • Developing processes to ensure that procurement benefits and financial savings are identified, secured and delivered.• Supporting the Council’s work on Community Wealth Building by improving and developing access to public sector contracts, particularly for Small and Medium sized enterprises, Co-operatives and Social Enterprises, and by developing robust local supply chains. • Supporting the Council’s work on Carbon Net Zero by increasing the focus on sustainable procurement and ensuring low carbon, waste minimising, nature-supporting, and climate resilient services can be delivered

I was asked to step into the role of Category Manager on an interim basis initially. Again, I was managing a team of between 6-8 procurement officers who were responsible for delivering all of the Council’s centralised procurement activity, though excluding Social Care at this point in time. Again, I continued to act as the Procurement Lead on a number of the Council’s key procurement requirements, including the Provision of Housing Trade Materials and Associated Services. During this time I began increasingly to represent the Council’s Strategic Commissioning function at key external bodies such as COSLA and Scotland Excel. It was also during this period I also played a key supporting role in the Council’s response to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Working closely with colleagues from Education and ICT, I helped to facilitate the provision of thousands of devices to children and teachers to allow them to initially work from home and subsequently adopt a blended learning approach. In also supported work to ensure that the relevant necessary infrastructure was in place able to cope with the significant pressures placed on the network brought about by the new devices and the new ways of working.

I joined the Council at a time when it was undergoing a significant strategic transition from devolved procurement to a centralised procurement function. My role was principally to act as the Procurement Lead on a diverse range of projects. One of my first major projects involved the procurement of the area’s first District Heating Network. In addition to leading on projects my responsibilities included: • Providing specialist procurement related advice and guidance to all levels and employees across Stirling Council. • Represent the Strategic Commissioning function at a variety of both internal and external working group. • Provide both assistance and cover for the Category Managers as required.

My role was to provide a range of administrative and logistical support in relation to the Procurement & Commercial Improvement Programme (PCIP). This role gave me a unique introduction to the workings of public sector procurement, as well as an overview of working practices at a range of different Local Authorities. My responsibilities included: • I was the first point of contact for PCIP enquiries, ensuring that these were handled swiftly and effectively in line with Scotland Excel’s customer care focus. • I was required maintain effective relationships with both colleagues undertaking customer PCIP assessments, and representatives from the participating Local Authorities. • I was also required to collate customer pre-assessment documentation and make it available to PCIP assessors, and work to support the development of high quality customer reports as a result of the assessments.

As an Implementation Advisor at Dundee City Council my role was to support the project manager overseeing major service changes within the waste department. This was my first role in local government and the role was varied and required considerable flexibility. I undertook data capture and survey work, gave practical advice to householders relating to forthcoming collection changes, and encouraged both local community groups and individual householders to participate in waste reduction and recycling practices. A key element of this role involved engaging directly with members of the public.

As a tutor at the University of St Andrews I led undergraduate tutorials. The three key components of this role were:Firstly, planning the structure and content of the tutorials in advance. This involved digesting the key ideas contained within complex texts quickly and accurately, and preparing the presentation of these ideas.Secondly, delivering the tutorials and guiding the discussions within the tutorials as was appropriate. This involved communicating complicated subject matter in a clear and accessible manner.Thirdly, marking essays and exam papers. This involved evaluating the work against a pre-set criteria. This was done in accordance with strict deadlines that were often imposed at short notice. This also involved providing students with detailed and constructive feedback on essays that covered a wide range of topics.

As an Assistant Manager for Goals Soccer Centres I was required to perform a number of duties. The three key components of this role were: Firstly, leading and guiding the workforce as required. This involved engaging with and working with staff at all levels of the organisation, from maintenance workers and external contractors to the central management team. I was also responsible for overseeing staff training and recruitment.Secondly, financial reporting and forecasting. This involved assessing a high volume of data, spotting trends in that data and reporting specific and relevant details back to the senior management. This aspect of my work also involved adapting to and working with a variety of IT programs. Thirdly, project management. This involved the planning and delivery of a variety of events and projects. For example, I oversaw the running of events including tournaments and coaching schools and conferences. This aspect of the role often involved developing and implementing marketing and promotional strategies.

As the receptionist at Goals Soccer Centres I was required to perform a number of duties. These included: providing high quality frontline customer service; addressing customer complaints as they arose; implementing marketing strategies; promoting products and special offers via the website and other social media: telesales; and the processing of bookings and payments.