Legal & Procurement Business Partner/

Job Title: Legal & Procurement Business Partner
Team: Legal & Procurement Team
Contract: 12 months fixed-term contract with possibility to extend
Level: Intermediate

Please refer to our Capability Framework
Salary: Competitive for Not-for-profit organisation
Location: UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Start Date: January 2023
Apply By: November 25^th, 2022

ABOUT US

EIT Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries, and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious, mission-led programmes.

Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 400 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities, and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and uncommon actors. Historically, we have been funded by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), but we are currently transitioning to a multi-funder model.

EIT Climate-KIC colleagues are based in one of our local offices across Europe or work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch. We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools work with each other and with our Community. On occasion, we meet in-person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Procurement Business Partner supports the General Counsel and partners with the wider team on the complete range of EIT Climate-KIC’s compliance, legal, procurement and non-profit matters to manage and mitigate risk. The key focus is on procurement management for the group, supporting EIT Climate-KIC teams in their procurement activities.

The colleague will lean into complex and uncertain environments to develop and maintain a strong and coherent legal and procurement organizational framework, compliant and ethical business affairs, dynamic risk management, effective and transparent governance, well-structured non-profit matters as well as robust contracting, policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities

• Procurement management for the group (including end to end public tender management, multi-funder compliance, commercial advice, procurement planning, strategic sourcing, toolkit resources, training, and category management)
• Partner with diverse stakeholders in procurement and other areas to instil best practice, build capability and ensure value for money in line with EIT Climate-KIC’s strategy
• Assisting with advice on compliance, conflicts, anti-fraud, non-profit requirements, and operations – particularly in the context of future funding and impact pathways
• Draft and negotiate a variety of policies, agreements, and training materials across multiple jurisdictions, helping develop standard templates and streamlining processes
• Supporting with special projects (including internal initiatives) including risk and compliance

Key Working Relationships

The Procurement Business Partner collaborates with the Legal & Procurement Team and the General Counsel, as well as the People Team (HR), Finance, Business Operations/ Grant Management, Fundraising, Marketing & Communications and Policy & EU Affairs.

ABOUT YOU
You are thriving in complex frameworks of (public) funding requirements, a multi-country and multi-stakeholder environment and a highly collaborative approach to work. You are showing initiative and with a “getting things done” mindset whilst being detail oriented, proactive as well as delivery and solutions focused.

Education/Qualifications

• Tertiary level education in a relevant field
• MBA or CIPS qualification desirable
• European legal qualification desirable but not mandatory

Experience

• At least 3-5 years’ relevant experience in procurement including category expertise in ICT/consultancy/professional services/communications
• Experience drafting technical documentation, RFx, Specifications, contracts and policies
• Desirable experience in leading public sector procurement, e.g. open procedure
• Not for profit/charity sector experience is desirable but not essential.

Skills

• Ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels in a complex, multi-country, multi-stakeholder, multi-entity organisation
• Commercial acumen and ability to drive compliance, legal, procurement and/or non-profit strategy implementation steps and tangible outcomes
• Communication, cross cultural understanding and empathy, planning and budgeting
• Experience working in an international organisation would be desirable
• Fluent in English, fluency in another European language is preferred
• Experience or willingness to work with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as Miro, Zoom, Mentimeter etc.)

Qualities, Personal Style, and Approach

• Openness and ability to be innovative and think outside the box
• Flexibility and willingness to undertake a range of tasks to meet business needs
• Enjoyment of operating in complexity and uncertainty
• Collaborative approach to work
• Experience or interest in climate change is desirable
• Comfortable in a non-hierarchical work structure

Location

Candidates must have the right to work in the EU prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to a EIT Climate-KIC office, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.

At EIT Climate-KIC we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and encourages personal development, learning and growth.

When recruiting we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to that will foster success in potential employees from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate all working patterns.