Procurement Support Officer (Government equivalent: Commercial Support Officer) Ref. 3863

Collaboration is key to this role. You’ll help investigate queries with relevant suppliers and stakeholders, and communicate effectively regarding processes, quotations, order status and delivery timeframes. You’ll co-ordinate supplier events and review sessions to support collaborative working across key stakeholders.

Compliance is vital to our Commercial function. You’ll contribute to compliance by reviewing contract documentation against our various policies, running commercial data reports for senior colleagues (covering management information, risk registers and spreadsheets) and supporting the onboarding of new suppliers by collecting compliance documentation and keeping records up to date.

Ultimately, your role helps the commercial department to function effectively, and without disruption. You’ll contribute to maintaining transparency and accountability in purchasing decisions and managing documentation to ensure all requirements comply with internal policies.

About you

You’ll have a GCSE in English and Maths at A*-C, 9-4 (or equivalent), or demonstrable administrative experience in a professional services environment. This role is an excellent entry point for those transitioning into a commercial or supply chain career, building on transferable skills, such as teamwork, communication and working with customers.

Alongside your experience, you’ll have strong organisational skills and be able to manage simultaneous deadlines, prioritising tasks whilst still adhering to processes and policies. Good time-management skills will be key to ensuring timeframes are achieved. In this role, you’ll work with a wide range of stakeholders, so your collaborative working style will be crucial, both to working well within a team and keeping information flowing to achieve objectives. You’ll draw on strong written and verbal communication skills to enhance your collaboration and provide support to your team.

You should be comfortable using Microsoft Excel and cloud-based tools. For example, you could be recording and tracking tenders, supporting procurement activity (goods and services), assisting with procurement evaluation and moderation results. Other aspects of your work could include looking at spend and trends in the business area, as well as work involving risk logs, contract pipelines and invoice tracking. You may be using AI to analyse data and to check or summarise documents.

You’ll be expected to spend four years within our Commercial function. Throughout this period, there will be opportunities to broaden your experience, which may include opportunities for promotion or to move into the professional entry traineeship.

Training and development

No matter your experience or background, you’ll receive dedicated support when you join. We’ll work with you to build your own Personal Development Plan, whether that’s through mentorship with an assigned partner, or cross-functional learning opportunities. From day one, you’ll get all the help and guidance you need to grow a rewarding career at the heart of national security.

Plus, you’ll be working in a culture committed to your development. There’s a wealth of core and technical skills training available within the organisation, as well as an induction into the function when you start, regular check-ins with your manager and on-the-job training. In short, you won’t be on your own. Throughout your career, you’ll be surrounded by colleagues who want you to succeed.

This role provides a strong foundation for growth in the Commercial function. With experience, knowledge, skills and ambition, the support role is an excellent first step on the Commercial Career Pathway towards the Trainee Commercial Practitioner Programme. This provides individuals with a tailored programme of learning and development, including achieving externally recognised qualifications such as the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £35,417 (London) or £32,827 (Cheltenham, Manchester) plus other benefits including:

• 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 public and privilege holidays
• opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• dedicated development budget
• interest-free season ticket loan
• excellent pension scheme
• cycle to work scheme
• facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
• paid parental and adoption leave

Equal opportunities

At MI5, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website.

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions' Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident Leader, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. (This is known as the Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• you'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation
• demonstrable experience of customer service within a business environment - to be assessed at application sift
• demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders supported by effective verbal and written communication skills – to be assessed at application sift

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, see our website for information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

1. Pre-screening questions, which will ensure you meet our initial eligibility to apply.
2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.
3. Completion of a full application form.
4. Application sift, which will assess your motivation for the role, the organisation and your relevant experience.
5. Online interview, which may include motivational questions, technical questions, scenario questions and competency questions.
6. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, subject to vetting.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 9 to 12 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply

To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more securely.

The roles are based in London, Cheltenham or Manchester, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in person interviews or assessments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.

Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel, using the most economical option, and provide original hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

Right to close applications early:

Right to close applications early Please be aware that we reserve the right to close applications once a certain number have been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid missing out. If you have a disability (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) and need additional time to complete your application, please submit your initial application. Then, contact us via the email provided as soon as possible, using the subject line "Reasonable adjustments extension" and briefly outline the support you require.