About Aston University

Founded in 1895 and a University since 1966, Aston is a long established research-led university known for its world-class teaching quality and strong links to business and the professions.

Aston University was announced as the Guardian’s University of the Year 2020 and winner of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) 2020 Outstanding Entrepreneurial University, in recognition of our support for student entrepreneurship, small businesses, and the West Midlands region.

Current Vacancies

Aston University is recruiting to a key role in the Procurement Team.  Reporting to the Head of Procurement and Insurance, this role is a great opportunity to contribute to the development of the University’s procurement function and lead on the procurement of contractors and consultants for the projects to deliver Aston's campus vision and masterplan as well contracts for ongoing maintenance and repair and smaller standalone projects.

Our Campus Vision is ambitious; it will see us create a campus that offers an outstanding experience for our staff and students, bring improvements to surrounding communities and to the people of Birmingham and utilise the opportunities presented by our proximity to HS2, Innovation Birmingham, Eastside and the city centre. Our vision sets out our aspiration to invest significantly into the delivery of a Destination Campus to meet the changing demands and opportunities faced by universities evolving in response to these in order to secure Aston’s future success. The University intends to invest £240 million over 10 years, to deliver our campus vision.
 

Our Campus Vision 

Our Campus Master Plan
 

You will be responsible for carrying out procurement for the University including running quotation/tendering processes from start to finish, strategic contract management whilst ensuring compliance with the University’s finance and procurement policies and regulations and ensuring best practice and value for money principles are upheld, maximising commercial and social value/sustainability benefits to the University.

We are looking for candidates with estates/construction procurement experience, including some public sector experience. You will have the ability to develop working relationships with key stakeholders across the University and a ‘can-do’ attitude and experience of delivering savings, negotiation and contract management. Ideally you will have a CIPS qualification or similar.

Outstanding graduate employability

Aston is a leading university for graduate employment success. With placements integrated into our degree programmes, students develop essential work skills, build industry connections and a professional profile. We have strong relationships with national and international graduate employers, as well as smaller and local employers. These relationships are extremely important and make a real contribution to graduate employability.

Career focused programmes

Aston's close and established links with business, the public sector and the professions ensure that our career focused degree programmes are inspiring, challenging and constantly updated to equip students with essential work-related skills and experiences.

Excellence in teaching and research

We are committed to high quality teaching and academic excellence, ensuring we provide the highest standard of education to our students. Hands-on teaching is specialist, relevant and practical with access to professional and technical equipment in the relevant subject areas. Aston has an excellent reputation for research which shapes and improves lives. We're proud of the quality of our research and the real world applications developed as a result - it makes a substantial and beneficial difference to people, organisations and society.

Students

With 15,000 students from more than 120 countries, Aston University is a safe and friendly campus enjoyed by a global, multicultural community. Aston’s diverse student population comprises the largest proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students in the UK (2021 Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide Social Inclusion Rankings).

Centrally located campus in the heart of Birmingham

The Aston University 40-acre campus is ideally located on one site in the vibrant city of Birmingham.  The city is recognised as a leader in leisure, entertainment, shopping and sport and is an
international centre for business, commerce and industry. 

One of the ‘greenest’ universities in the UK,  the academic campus houses all the social and accommodation facilities for our students and is within walking distance to the city.
 

Academic colleges and schools

College of Business and Social Sciences (BSS)

• Aston Business School
• Aston Law School
• School of Social Sciences and Humanities

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS)

• School of Informatics and Digital Engineering
• School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering
• School of Engineering and Technology

College of Health and Life Sciences (HLS)

• School of Biosciences
• School of Pharmacy
• School of Optometry Aston Medical School
• School of Psychology

University values

All staff are expected to demonstrate/promote the University's values and expectations, which are an integral part of our strategy and underpin the culture of the University. In addition, our leaders are expected to be accountable, help to execute strategic visions of the University and share and set clear expectations that inspire those around them. Our mission is to be the UK's leading university for students aspiring to succeed in business and the professions, where original research, enterprise and inspiring teaching deliver local and global impact.

Staff expectations

All staff are expected to:

•    Be committed to delivering high performance
•    Recognise and praise the high performance of others
•    Remain open to new ideas and seek to act quickly for positive change
•    Develop themselves, and support the development of others
•    Be ambitious, for themselves, their teams and the university
•    Engage with others, listen, observe and communicate
•    Focus on excellent customer service, finding solutions and saying "yes"
•    Make reasoned decisions without fear of blame
•    Engender trust through their own actions
•    Be fair in all matters