Procurement Officer

Your role 

ECMWF is undergoing significant change, and this is a particularly exciting time to join the Centre. The Centre is increasing (additional premises, additional activities) and this has created an exciting opportunity for a Procurement Officer to strengthen the team and meet increased service demands. This position will sit within the Procurement Section of the Administration Department and will be based either in Reading (UK) or Bonn (Germany). 
  
The role will involve running the full procurement life cycle, including agreeing the strategic approach, drawing up and publishing relevant documentation, overseeing the evaluation, negotiation and contract signature processes, as well as monitoring subsequent contractual performance. Procurement exercises handled can range from small value standard (below 180K£) to full tenders in the tens of millions, and may involve the management of, and involvement in, tender evaluation boards.  
    
As part of a small, dispersed team, the role would suit an individual who is comfortable working with an element of autonomy and flexibility. There will also be close collaboration with both clients and stakeholders across the organisation and therefore strong communication and stakeholder management skills are essential in this role to build trust and forge strong internal and external relations.

About ECMWF 

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is a world-leader in weather and environmental forecasting. As an international organisation we serve our members and the wider community with global weather predictions and data that is critical for understanding and solving the climate crisis. We function as a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions, holding one of the largest meteorological data archives in the world. The success of our activities builds on the talent of our scientists and experts, strong partnerships with 35 Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovative technologies and machine learning across our operations. ECMWF is a multi-site organisation, with a main office in Reading, UK, a data centre/supercomputer in Bologna, Italy, and a large presence in Bonn, Germany. ECMWF has also developed a strong partnership with the European Union and has been entrusted with the implementation and operation of the Destination Earth Initiative and the Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the Copernicus Programme. Other areas of work include High Performance Computing and the development of digital tools that enable ECMWF to extend provision of data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring.

See   for more info about what we do. 

The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative

ECMWF is one of the three entities entrusted to implement the DestinE initiative of the European Commission, alongside with ESA and EUMETSAT as partners. DestinE aims to deploy several highly accurate thematic digital replicas of the Earth, called Digital Twins. The Digital Twins will help monitor and predict environmental change and human impact, in order to develop and test scenarios that would support sustainable development and corresponding European policies for the Green Deal.  ECMWF is responsible for the delivery of these digital twins and of the Digital Twin engine, the software infrastructure needed to power them of some of Europe’s largest supercomputers, those of the European HPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC).  

The second phase of DestinE covers the period June 2024 – May 2026, and future phases are foreseen (subject to funding). Phase 2 will focus on early operations with consolidation, maintenance, and continuous evolution of the DestinE system components developed in the first phase. There will also be an enhanced focus on ML activities, including the deployment of workflows of components of a ML model for the Earth system, optimisation of the Digital Twin Engine to enable efficient model training and simulations, and other activities. One key element of the ML activities in phase 2 includes training. This shall build on recent ML training initiatives at ECMWF, including the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on ML for Weather and Climate (see ). 

For more information on DestinE, see  and .

Background

ECMWF’s role in these EU funded programmes means that, in addition to supporting the core procurement needs of the organisation, the scope of work within the Procurement Section will expand to include both procurement and some contract management services, working in cooperation with scientific and technical experts across the organisation.

Your responsibilities 

• Monitoring compliance with agreed procurement procedures
• Providing procurement expertise and administrative support for high-value procurements
• Acting as a point of contact for communication with external organisations during a tender process
• Reviewing and preparing tender documentation in line with procurement procedures
• Organising procurement boards and producing written summaries for procurement board meetings for high-value procurements
• Preparing selection reports and recommendations for action based on input from experts
• Maintaining a document archive (online/or paper) for audit purposes for each procurement activity
• Undertaking contract negotiations in line with internal procedures
• Undertaking contract management and monitoring following established practices

What we're looking for

Minimum Requirements

• University degree (EQF Level 7) or equivalent in a scientific, engineering, law or business discipline or an equivalent qualification in procurement.
• Candidates should have experience across a range of scientific and/or technical procurements with values exceeding £1,000,000.
• Proven experience of drafting procurement documentation such as invitations to tender, evaluation reports and communications with tenderers
• Experience, or good understanding, of contract management tools, practices and reporting
• Comprehensive knowledge of European Union-compliant procurement procedures
• Experience with at least one electronic tendering system
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Pack Office
• Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and interviews will be conducted in English

Desirable Attributes

• Experience with at least one reporting tool (eg: Power BI,Tableau …).
• Knowledge in Excel Formulas, Pivot table and VBA.
• Experience in writing procurement related processes.
• A basic understanding of law and finance, particularly relating to procurement contracts and financial statements.
• Experience of running and managing grant awards
• A good knowledge of one of the Centre premises’ languages (Italian or German) 

Personal Attributes

• Strong communication skills, verbal and written, particularly in listening to and respecting the views of others
• Ability to work collaboratively, sharing expertise and lessons learnt with colleagues
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and pay attention to detail even under time pressure
• Ability to work as part of a team, managing multiple procurements without close supervision
• Good interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to apply these to working within and across teams with staff at all levels, preferably in a scientific or technical environment
• Client oriented mindset

Other information 

Grade remuneration:  The successful candidates will be recruited at the A2 grade, according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations. The position is assigned to the employment category STF-PS  as defined in the ECMWF Staff Regulations. Full details of salary scales and allowances available on the ECMWF website at . 

Starting date:  As soon as possible

Candidates are expected to relocate to the duty station. As a multi-site organisation, ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows flexibility to staff to mix office working and teleworking, including away from the duty station (within the area of our member states and co-operating states).

A written test and interviews by videoconference (MS Team) are expected to take place shortly after the closing date. 

Who can apply 

Applicants are invited to complete the online application form by clicking on the apply button below. 

At ECMWF, we consider an inclusive environment as key for our success. We are dedicated to ensuring a workplace that embraces diversity and provides equal opportunities for all, without distinction as to race, gender, age, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity and culture. We value the benefits derived from a diverse workforce and are committed to having staff that reflect the diversity of the countries that are part of our community, in an environment that nurtures equality and inclusion. 

Applications are invited from nationals from ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. 

In these exceptional times, we also welcome applications from Ukrainian nationals for this vacancy.  

Applications from nationals from other countries may be considered in exceptional cases.